I love burritos, and have often lamented about the fact that there is not a good one in Midtown (here, here, here and here). More than anything that comes from past experience, and experiences. I have had some truly great burritos over the years, that hold special places in my heart… the Carnitas Super Burrito at Anna’s Taqueria (Boston), the Chicken Mole Burrito at Casa Diaz in Los Feliz (Los Angeles), the Baja Chicken Burrito at Baja Fresh (locations everywhere in the U.S. except Manahattan!), the Huarache I had two weeks ago at the Ballfields in Red Hook, and finally, the gigantor Carnitas Burrito at La Costena (Mountain View California)… it’s what all carnitas burritos aspire to be.
Erasing all of those delicious burritos out of your mind, there is another category of Mexican food, or tex-mex, or whatever you want to call it that is a decent meal as long as you don’t compare it to the top of the heap. For example, the Chicken Gordita Supreme at Taco Bell. A tasty concoction that is perfectly good, and with none of the “side effects” commonly associated with eating at a place like Taco Bell. It’s a deliciously soft and squishy pita type tortilla, with plain grilled chicken, lettuce, tomato, cheese and sour cream on top. No fake ground beef, no weird refried beans that send you to the toilet 15 minutes later. I wouldn’t call it “great Mexican food”, but it’s a decent meal if you have to eat fast food.
A few months ago I discovered the world of Midtown “Taco” Carts when I ate at the Sombrero topped cart on 50th btw. 6+7th. A world where nacho cheese reigns supreme, and ground beef and stewed chicken are your only two meat choices. Soft corn tortillas are nowhere to be found, replaced by those crunchy yellow things that I’ve only seen at Taco bell, and in Ortega boxes in the Supermarket. There are a lot of burritos and tacos I would choose above this type of place… but that doesn’t take away from the fact that if you are into hard shell tacos, and ground beef and nacho cheese- than this kind of place is going to be perfectly satisfying.
Thanks to an email tip, I discovered another Taco Cart (sadly, with no sombrero) for eastsiders looking for a lunch of nacho cheese and ground beef… with a surprisingly decent “chicken burrito”. Pics and the +/- after the jump….
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Posted by Zach at 12:09 pm, November 8th, 2006 under 54th btw. Mad+Park, Mexican.
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