Dos Toros’ Carnitas Burrito Might Be Worth the Subway Ride
Remember that new Union Square California style burrito spot you guys went crazy for in the forums a few months ago? Well, I was treated to a fine lunch there by Ed Levine last week and today he reviewed the place over on Serious Eats: New York. He was a big fan of the quesadillas, and preferred the chicken and steak over the carnitas (which he thought was dry.) I can’t speak for anything else on the menu, but I actually enjoyed my carnitas burrito more than any other carnitas burrito I’ve ever had in NYC (although I admit that is not saying much.) They don’t off all the different ingredients properly (beans, meat, pico de gallo) so the integrity of the burrito was severely compromised after a few bites (very disappointing), but I thought the taste was there. Regardless of its faults, the choice between hopping on the Q train or going to Chipotle is no choice at all. (And Serious Eats agrees… they did a side by side Chipotle taste test and Dos Toros easily won.)
Posted by Zach Brooks at 10:15 am, January 13th, 2010 under Out of Bounds.
11 Comments | RSS comments feed for this post
11 Comments
-
-
went there last week and got the steak burrito. It’s AWFUL. DON’T GO. STAY FAR FAR AWAY.
I don’t want you plebes making me wait in line longer.
-
They just got the $25 & under treatment in the NY Times today.
-
i tried the tacos a month or so ago. just ok. will have try the burrito.
-
I have to agree with this comment on SE review:
Quote:
“I don’t have any specific beef with Dos Toros. I do have a beef with anyone that says this place is “Mission Style” or authentic. Find me one place in the Mission that uses guacamole instead of fresh avocados. The majority of the popular taquerias in the Mission (Farrolito, Cancun, etc) grill the tortillas used for burritos and refuse to steam them (for a reason). The Dos Toros “carne asada” doesn’t resemble any skirt steak I’ve ever had in the Mission. Isn’t skirt steak supposed to be thin? Dos Toros puts the NYC style red or green sauce on their food. In the Mission it’s always a fresh pico de gallo. If you do the research, these guys actually copied a generic college town “taqueria” in Berkeley named Gordos that caters to college kids on a budget from all over the country, not to the Mission or the Mexican population elsewhere. Is Dos Toros bad? No, but it is not “Mission Style.” Or is Mission Style just any big burrito with some beans, meat, and rice in it? The qualifications seem very low if that is the case.
greekzo “
-
Their food is overrated and awful not to mention overpriced. I think the only people who like that place are NYU students who don’t know what good food is.
-
Zach, you gotta hit up Grand Burrito (SW corner of 23rd/6th) before you leave town for some tasty Mexican! It’s open 24/7.
-
Without naming names — ! — the Serious Eats people have consistently demonstrated that they don’t know there elbow from a hole in the wall when it comes to Mexican food.
I have not been but my guess is that @Mamacita’s comment above offers a much better review.
(SE has a couple people who can uncritically appreciate Asian food but beyond that and the occasional commentary on Jewish and other old NYC food I would go so far as to say that SE is totally useless as a “review” site.)
@stevenp — is Grand Burrito really all that? Any details / recs?
-
Best in the area, with tongue and other options (steak, carnitas, chorizo, pastor…) in all the forms (huaraches, quesadillas, burritos, tortas, tacos). For example, the tacos are served in 2 corn tortillas with a bit of cilantro and a squeeze of lime. The food is made by real Mexican guys, meats cooked to order on the grill–not quite the level of the real Mission burritos I had a while back for the first time, but far better than the chain stuff. Worth checking out imo, and my local go-to place for Mex. The hours are great too! Everything is tasty there.
-
Went to Dos Toros today. Overall it was merely okay. I had the carne asada burrito. The place is so very Chipotle-like that I took a moment to consider leaving. Steak was not bad though (not too tough, nicely chewy). Just like Chipotle the burrito had too much rice. Flavors and quality were above average. Halfway through it dawned on me the burrito was quite salty. I probably won’t go back unless I’m in the neighborhood and starving for a taco fix (and recently had a significant sweat going so that I’m a bit salt-depleted).
-
*eyeroll* Wow, that person who made that post about Mission style tacos needs to get the eff out of here. Seriously, so they make their food a little different. Who the hell cares and the fact that they’re keeping score that closely reeks of elitism. These people will never acknowledge anything positive about this state because they’re idiots. Go back to your shitty state and stay there.
Anyone know if they’ve changed their guacamole recipe since they opened? I went about a week after they opened and thought the gaucamole tasted like paste, but now SE is saying it’s awesome?