Mexican in Brooklyn - II

Continuing our quest for authentic Mexican food, we finally got down to the much discussed Red Hook ball fields. Despite the presence of the busy Ikea in the neighborhood, this place gets largely ignored by non soccer players rest of the year around; but on summer afternoons, becomes a buzzing beehive teeming with Mexican and Hispanic food afficiaonados. All along the boundries of the soccer fields, people line up outside mobile carts vending everything from corn on the cob and gigantic quesadillas to ceviche and tacos; and we stood in line to get ours. The stall offered 'huaraches' which were super sized tacos on a masa flour tortilla and we opted for a chorizo version. The Hispanic man at the counter brusquely asked we we wanted guacamole and proceeded to dab a rather large helping on to the huarache. He topped it with some shredded lettuce and some creama fresca.

The Huarache was quite tasty; all ingredients freshly made and with a quick squeeze of lime made for a perfect start. The only downside - the tortilla started getting soggy in the center, weighed down with all the toppings and needed to be eaten rather quickly to prevent it from turning into a mush.

On the other hand, the tacos which were similar in concept but smaller in size, held their composure rather well. No guacamole here; we laid on a couple of spoons of their bright red and green salsas; now, this was definitely better; possibly a pointer to why tacos are the more popular dish between the two.
We washed it all down with some agua fresca - chose pineapple juice which turned out to be fresh and refreshing.

Took a long lazy break lazing around watching the football match that was playing out in front of us. The blue team had gotten a penalty which they duly converted into a goal. We felt like screaming 'goaaaal' the way latino commentators do but decided against it as no one else including the winning team looked excited enough !

We couldn't leave without trying the pupusas on offer. Looked around and decided that the best one was the one with the longest lines ! The pictorial menus looked enticing; displaying everything from corn tamales to chicharron and plantain chips. Pupusas were obviously the most popular and we quickly hopped into line for ours.After what was a seemed an interminable wait, we got to the counter. The enterprising stall owners had a person out taking orders from people way back in the line and that was for a reason. Pupusas take real long to cook and need to be eaten hot off the griddle.They are really savory pancakes made out of a rice flour or corn flour shell and stuffed with vegetable or protein of your choice. We chose ours - cheese and flor de loroco - which are buds of a national flower of El Salvador. We couldn't resist adding a side of the lusciously long and crunchy plantain chips. The pupusas were dished up topped with pickled cabbage slaw also called 'curtido' and pickled jalapeno slices. We added a dash of their bright red salsa. The stuffed cheese had melted and flowed out forming a nice brown crust on the griddle becoming one with the outer rice shell.

The loroco was probably a bit tart by itself but mixed with the gooey stringy melted cheese and the mildly fermented rice shell, it was rather difficult to distinguish; kind of like finely chopped okra for the lack of a better description. Nevertheless, all of the ingredients and accompaniments gel together creating a nice melange of flavor.

The chips were fresh and crunchy; with a bit of heft that is uncommon in traditional banana chips from India. We chose a quite refreshing mango agua fresca to wash it all down. These vendors at Red Hook ball fields were a revelation and brought NYC back in contention for good Hispanic street food.

Mexican in Brooklyn - I

NYC is deemed a bit of a culinary wasteland when it comes to authentic Mexican cuisine. Even it's most faithful denizen would agree that many other large metropolises; LA, Houston, San Antonio even Chicago etc. have it beat on most things Hispanic whether it is burritos and tacos or more complex moles and ceviche. However, there is a sizeable Hispanic population in the Sunset Park neighborhood of Brooklyn. And that made it probably the best place to get ourselves an authentic taco fix. Just like any true ethnic neighborhood in the outer boroughs of NYC, Sunset Park too has this ability to envelop and transport you to another land. The people walking the streets, the grocery stores offering exotic latino ingredients like achiote pastes, dried epasote leaves and cactii in the produce aisle or small shops vending phone cards with 'Especial' (sic) rates to Santiago, Mexico City and Bolivia; all elements that get you feeling you've landed someplace in Latin America; not a tony borough of the Big Apple. Even on a lazy Sunday afternoon, parking was a bit of a pain but we got a fairly sweet spot right next to Sunset Park. We had to have disciplined ordering.. the aim here was to cover as much ground as possible; or atleast as much as our stomachs allowed us to. First stop was Tacos Matamoros; the place that Chowhounds seem to rave about. Oddly, this place did not resemble your inexpensive Mexican restaurant. It had soft lighting and wood paneled walls, akin to an upscale bar. We ordered a 'Tostada de Ceviche' - kind of like a 'Sev Puri' minus the sev or the potatoes; replaced instead with a sweet seafood salad and topped with humongous avocado slices. The tostada was nice and crunchy and the squid and shrimp were fresh and barely 'cooked' in the marinade; however the sauce had a cloying sweetness which overpowered the refreshing cilantro-limey sour tang that one expects in a well marinated ceviche. Next on order were the star attraction - the tacos. We stuck to our agenda limiting ourselves to a plate of tres tacos - 3 tiny soft tortillas topped to the gills - one with tender well seasoned meat - the 'Al Pastor' - pork shaved off the spit (like the Lebanese Shawarma or the Greek Gyro) , another with Carnitas - supposedly roast pork - which had turned rather dry. Finally, last but not the least, the Chorizo sausage was greasy as expected - some of the red oil threatening to drip off the open end of the tortilla but the sausage itself was quite flavorful and tender. All of the tacos were copiously topped with finely chopped onion and cilantro. Yes, the meat on the Carnitas lacked a bit of character, and the proportion of raw onions and cilantro to the meat seemed to border on the excessive. But that would be nitpicking. The tortillas were soft and fresh; accompanied with slices of raw radish; a quick squeeze of the lime slices, a dash of the salsas - both roja (red) and verde (green) and we were transported well south of the border. Make no mistake, this may have been no LA, Houston or even Chicago quality but it was miles better than the chain offerings of Baja Fresh and Chipotle. Compared to Taco Bell? Lets not even go there! Tacos were cheap - $1.50 for each while the Tostada was $3.50; well in line with expectations of a true authentic down home Mexican meal.

Our next stop was just across the street - Tacos Xochimilco (pronounced 'Zoshimilco') - another place held in rather high esteem by chowhounders. This was a smaller simpler place with more spartan interiors and not as many families/kids. They brought out a helping of fresh tortilla chips with a couple of bright green and red salsas. The chips were really crunchy out of the fryer but a tad bit oily. Not in a mood to set off a taco comparo, we decided to get something different. Settled on the corn tamale and a Pambazo Torta. Now, these were vegetarian treats - the corn tamale a traditional Latin American dish involving corn masa dough wrapped in a corn husk and steamed to cook through. Here, it was brought steaming to the table and was quite flavorful. There are numerous variations available with all kinds of meats and cheeses; even sweet ones with raisins and dried fruit. However we ordered a plain one with some salsa verde. The Pambazo Torta looked really interesting - a dish from the Veracruz region of Mexico, its a sandwich made by coating the bread with a red guajillo sauce and fried to a somewhat crispy crust.
Then, our version had potatoes layered on topped with crema (sour cream), queso fresco (cream cheese) and shredded lettuce. Tastewise, it fell a bit short since it lent itself to comparison with the pan Indian Pav bhaji or the Kutchi Dabeli which given the somewhat similar ingredients (crunchy spiced sandwich stuffed with spiced potato), have a much more complex flavor profile and easily trumped this torta.

Sunset Park around the corner turned out to be the ideal place to walk off a wee bit of those calories that we had packed on! We dragged ourselves up the rather steep walking track and our efforts were rewarded with some nice views of lower Manhattan

The park was bustling with families lazing around enjoying the summer sun and and as we rounded the turn we spotted Lady Liberty gazing back from across the harbor. From here, it truly appeared as if she was longing for a taste of Mexico here in Sunset Park.