Mexican Wrestling and Tacos

Mr. Broad saw this written up on one of his go-to websites and well, off we went ... Cause every now and then you find an unassuming small restaurant in NYC that totally shocks you and makes you want to come back. But really, tacos for lunch... this isn't such a stretch.

La Lucha

147 Avenue A

It's a taqueria (or a taco place) that does NOT serve burritos as the menu lets you know loud and clear. But who needs burritos when you have tacos like these.

But up first-- the sweet bread they give you to start. It was a bit dry but I'm a sucker for the "extras" that restaurants give you when you don't expect it.

Aah corn on a stick. This is huge "street meat" amongst the Mexican community. Tossed with chipotle mayo (or something like that), cheese and lots of other goodness it's hard to put this one down. Except to wipe your face.

I'm totally going to butcher what we ate but let's just admire the pictures. And if you want to try to figure it out for me, check out the menu.

PS- You can order without the onions if you want...

More of some tacos.

Review: La Lucha-- a small restaurant with character. There's a movie playing on the wall that shows Mexican wrestling. What more can you want? Oh and good, quality food. Cause everyone now and then Mr. Broad needs a break from the Asian food. And burgers. But that's tomorrow's write up...

Rating: 8

And I had to take a picture of how the bill is presented. Just cool right?? See that wrestling theme?

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Just Not Feeling Any German Food...

Last week Mr. Broad, myself, my Brother and Cousin got to see a private screening of Defiance. And the author spoke to us afterwards. Cause we are ohso in the know. And Jewish.

After the bawling fest followed by a speaker series followed by more inspirational talk and some sidenotes (Daniel Craig is SUCH a hot Jew! I want to name my first born Tuvia!)...it was time to eat.

Mr. Broad and I, with cousin walked around the area to figure out what we were in the mood for. Going a little outside of Mr. Broad's comfort zone we did not have any Zagat guide or NY Times review with us. We went totally by the fly. Living on the edge I say!

La Palapa
359 Sixth Avenue (other locations)

After a little bit of a stroll ("I coulda sworn it was on this street") and a phone call to a restaurant we went for Mexican in Greenwich Village. Because nothing says Sunday night Mexican like $10 pitchers of sangria! Ole!
They serve the typical spicy sauces on the table and then we waited.
Umm.
Do we get chips with that?
$2 extra.
Right. Because everyone is going through hard times. Oh but nice move La Palapa.
Putting the sauces in front of us with no chips.
1 Point: La Palapa
ARG

PLATANOS CON CREMA sweet fried plantains with crema and homemade queso fresco

We ordered plantains because I'm a sucker for plantains. It's kinda like bananas. So they are GOOD for you. Right?? Wrong.

Add on some sour cream like dipping sauce. Yum.

TAMAL DE RAJAS CON QUESO COTIJA AÑEJO y PIPIÁN VERDE corn masa baked with chile poblano, sweet onion, mexican cheese and toasted green pumpkin seed and tomatillo pipián

Mr. Broad got these next two dishes. The pumpkin pumpkin seeds made the tamale unique over a tasty green sauce.

AL PASTOR de PORK Tacos

Also ordered by Mr. Broad, this was actually a lot smaller than the zoomed in picture depics. While the tacos were good he proclaimed, it was $5 a taco. And it's smaller than depicted. And Mr. Broad known to eat his fair share of street meat thought the ones in Jackson Heights were better.

ENCHILADAS DE POLLO VERDES chicken enchiladas in a tomatillo green sauce with homemade queso fresco, mexican crema and sweet vidalia onion

HOT! Spicy! GAAAH!! Must Cool Down Mouth! More Sangria!

My cousin and I ordered this and it was great. Very spicy taste with the tomatillo sauce overpowering the and I was told the leftovers worked very well for Mr. Broad the next day.

Review:
La Palapa is a great place for a Mexican meal. We were all turned off by the $2 chips and putting the salsas in front of us for us to stare at. Really? But yeah, we still fell for it. Overall, the meal was good, I imagine there would be a wait here normally if we didn't go on a Sunday night. Prices were okaay for a dinner in NYC although I imagine the $10 pitcher of Sangria is really just a Sunday night thing. The service was "okay"- nothing special but considering it was a Sunday night with not many people there... HELLO?! We would like to order!? Regardless after a powerful movie like Defiance we could have eaten anywhere and been happy.
Rating: 7

Where are the chips?

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"I Don't Do Mild"...

That's a quote the chef said about his restaurant in a review we read in New York Times.
So guess who haaad to check that out.

Los Dos Molinos
119 E 18th St. (between Park and Irving)

Mr. Broad and I have been eating and cooking (yes, we cook!) a lot of Asian recently so Mexican was a nice change. While researching this restaurant after the fact I found out that it's actually a Phoenix based restaurant in 3 other locations there. Mr. Broad, cover your ears! Did we just go to a CHAIN RESTAURANT??

This place didn't take reservations and it was raining last Saturday night so we were really hoping for luck to be on our side. And ... we were seated right away! Circle gets the square! This is a novel concept for New Yorkers when you do not have a reservation.. One more time to brag... we were seated right away! Already we're off to good things. I think the food tastes better already...

We were given two types of salsa and chips (chip refills- $2.95. Of course they are...)

And then we ordered.

Nachos to start- it had the proclaimed spicy machaca beef sauce.

Waitress: Are you okay with spicy?? It only comes one way.
Us- Yes
Waitress (with concerned look in her eyes): Ok... it's very spicy.
Me: umm..
Mr. Broad: Perfect!

And how were said Nachos? Spicy! But REALLY good. They were still edible despite making my nose run and had a FAB sauce on it. Also- please take note of the cheese to chip ratio in the picture. Perfect. While many restaurants may skimp on the cheese or only get those top chips which either 1) leaves said chips soggy or 2) madness ensues amongst those eating by fighting for the "superior" chips covered with the toppings... This nacho platter need not worry.

I think Mr. Broad commented about licking the plate that had the leftover special sauce. He settled for a spoon.

Dinner:

Me- Grande Burro. Pretty standard in terms of what it was. I liked it a lot, was definitely grando but would probably try the fish tacos next time.

Mr. Broad- Red or Green Chili with Beef Burro
Order was placed like this:
Mr. Broad: I'll have the Green Chili with Beef Burro
Waitress (again scared): Are you aware that this is one of our spiciest dishes we offer?
Mr. Broad: I like my mouth to bleed.
Waitress (confused): Umm
Me: It's fine.
Waitress (runs off afraid)

And the item:

Result- AND... it wasn't *that* spicy! Maybe they didn't use enough of the "sauce" or the waitress got confused by his sarcasm because even I had no problems with it. The nachos were mucho spicier. However even if our mouths were not on fire and we weren't downing lots of margarit- I mean water- it was goood.

Review:

This place definitely has atmosphere- and not in the romantic way. It's loud, but lights are dimmed, and there's the feeling like there's a party going on at every table. And when they bring out the fried ice cream to sing happy birthday, the whole restaurant chimes in. The food was a bit expensive for Mexican. The margaritas while huge, strong, and soo good- came in many fun flavors however, they were not recession-cheap. Looking around it appeared that no one at the restaurant cared. Well if everyone else is doing it... We'll take 2.

The food was good, Mr. Broad thought it was a bit expensive for what it was, however, reflecting back I think it was really only our alcohol tab that might have been the factor. Oops. Oh and they messed up the bill for us. They were very apologetic but when you see an extra $16 margarita listed on your bill, you notice these things.

Grade: B+

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