Midtown Lunch

There are a couple of hip taco places in Soho, including Tacombi and La Esquina, both of which turn out some tasty meats and vegetables in corn tortillas. Sometimes you want a good deal though instead of paying $4 per taco and dealing with lines. On Tuesdays, Pinche Taqueria (Multiple Locations) has a deal where you get a free taco if you buy two which turns out to be a cheap and fairly filling lunch.

Pinche has the usual suspects in meats: Steak, two types of pork, chicken, chorizo ($3.29 each). There’s also fish or shrimp and beans or potato if you want something a bit lighter. I went with a chorizo, an al pastor (grilled pork) and a mashed potato since that was a recent addition to the menu and one you don’t see too often.

The chorizo was plentiful, salty and went well with the avocado sauce and chopped onion. I did end up putting some of the salsa verde on it which was pretty spicy. And don’t do as I did and take a solo bite of the red salsa because it contains habanero. Caliente!

My second favorite of the three was the potato which was fried and mashed so it was like eating a hashbrown in a taco. Delicious. The al pastor taco – usually my favorite – was in dead last in this trio. The pork was pretty tough and didn’t have much flavor so again I had to turn to the salsa for help.

The total for my three tacos was just over $7 including tax, so if it’s a Tuesday and you like tacos, give Pinche a chance.

Pinche Taqueria, 227 Mott St. (btw. Prince & Spring), (212) 625-0090; 333 Lafayette (at Bleecker St.), (212) 343-9977