Midtown Lunch

From Midtown Lunch’er “Ariel”: “Pampano Taqueria’s been close since last Thursday due to “Emergency Plumbing Issues”. I was there yesterday and it was still not open. Do you have any idea if it is open today or could you start a new thread where someone will comment when it does reopen?” A call to the restaurant confirms that not only is the Taqueria closed, but also its upstairs fancy restaurant, Pampano. The issue has been fixed, but they are still waiting for the city to come back and say they are clear to reopen. (Sounds like a DOH thing, but the restaurant completely denies that.) The city told them they’d be out on Monday, but as of 11am this morning they haven’t shown up.

When Chipotle opened up in the bottom of my building I spent a full week lamenting how bad Midtown (and even New York in general) had become for finding good Mexican food.  Of course, “Good Mexican food” can mean alot of things to alot of different people.  For me, it means there are a) no good burritos (hold the “cilantro and lime rice” please), and b) no good authentic tacos.

If you need an example of what I’m talking about, go to Tehuitzingo on 10th Ave. (btw. 47th & 48th) after work one night.  It’s far west, but worth the trip.  It’s a tiny bodega that happens to have a small window in the back, where these two women turn out some of the best tacos I’ve ever had.  And by “best” I mean done the way they do them on every street corner in L.A. (where I spent the two years before I moved to NYC).  Nothing fancy… just good.  Two soft corn tortillas, some delicious meat (roast pork, delicious stringy beef, stewed chicken, etc), onions, cilantro and some salsa verde on the side.  Delicious!  No hard shell tacos served from a cart with a sombrero.  No fancy rice or grilled vegetables.  The real deal.

When I wrote these things a month ago, I got a number of suggestions for good Mexican food in Midtown- and they all pointed me to the same place:  Pampano Taqueria.  It was recommended to me as a great place, with delicious tacos and burritos, in the basement of this building on 3rd Ave. btw. 49th & 50th.  With visions of Tehuitzingo East running through my head… I ventured cross town in search of some decent Midtown Mexican!

My disappointment, happy surprise, pictures, and the +/- all after the jump…

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