Midtown Lunch

It was a bit surprising to see that Zigolini’s at Pearl St. & Coenties Slip was planning to add a Mexican component to its solid lineup of Italian-tinged lunch offerings. The place is called Guac Star, and it opened alongside the  sit down bar and restaurant and the takeaway deli portions of Zigolini’s that had been closed for seven months after being heavily damaged by water during hurricane Sandy.

We’ve all been to those generic delis that sell pizza alongside burritos and sushi, so I was a bit hesitant to try Mexican food made by a place with an Italian name. Thankfully, they don’t try fusion here, and I came away impressed with the burrito I tried, even though it ended up breaking the $10 barrier (oops).

They didn’t have any printed menus yet, or one hanging on the wall, so I had no idea how much anything cost. Flying blind, I chose a burrito although you can also get hard or soft shell tacos or a burrito bowl.

Inside the large, steamed flour tortilla I added barbacoa (chicken, pork, steak and vegetables are other options), black beans, white rice, pico de gallo, romaine lettuce, a smidge of shredded white and yellow cheese, spicy chipotle salsa and some guacamole (for an extra charge). Grand total: $12.27 with tax. Eek! I’m guessing if you get one of the other proteins and forsake guac you can get out for $10 or less, but it was hard to tell with no menu to look at.

There were some horchata-looking drinks on ice by the counter, but I’d already spent too much money on my lunch so I passed.

The burrito wasn’t the largest monstrosity I’ve ever seen, but I’m OK with that – I was only in half of a food coma instead of a full on one after lunch. While the barbacoa was OK – lamby and salty – I wished that the shredded meat wasn’t all in large clumps but rather dispersed throughout the burrito. I found all of the other components of the burrito to be great. The rice was seasoned, but not overpowering, while the guacamole was tasty and the salsa was legitly spicy and smoky. At one point I bit down on a piece of habanero pepper, so beware if you’re spice averse.

I don’t work near Guac Star and will likely stick to Toloache for my burrito needs, but this was a good burrito. Not really $12 good, but with a look at the menu you’ll be able to avoid the price pitfalls here, or at least know about them in advance.

Guac Star, 66 Pearl St. (at Coenties Slip)