El Rey is a Taqueria You're Sleeping On!
Plus: Casa Carmen's mole Xico, why the $7 quesadillas at El Rey totally rock, and how to book Misipasta's $115 tastings
El Rey in Times Square should be more crowded!!!
Honestly, we should be using spreadsheets and calendar alerts to keep track of all our great new Mexican spots in New York.
Just look at all this: A second Santo Taco will debut in Greenwich Village tomorrow. A third El Chato just launched at Time Out Market in Union Square, a boon to fans of crispy vampiros. Both Jersey City and Clinton Hill have outposts of Mariscos Submarino, with their cheesy shrimp gobernados, and if that’s not enough, Park Slope will get one soon too.
These are all things to celebrate.
But one of the realities of our Modern Mexican boom is that a few new venues can go overlooked.
Matthew Schneier of New York Magazine suggested as much when he reviewed Frijoleros. The title of his piece: “A spot that should be hotter.” Indeed, that Greenpoint venue doesn’t have the same crazy lines as, say, Dolores, at least not when I dropped by this summer.
Anyway, I bring this whole situation up because El Rey Tacos — whose owners hail from a serious Mexican restaurant family — is another place that isn’t getting the right degree of attention.
The Midtown spot opened in June and everything about it is great…except that it’s never quite as bustling as it should be. I hope that changes, because it’s one of the few new guard taquerias to serve funky lamb barbacoa and meaty panucho yucateco — citrus-marinated pork over black beans.
El Rey’s quiet opening months stand in contrast to Santo Taco’s early weeks, where you’d queue up for thirty minutes (with snazzily dressed folks) before watching some dude slice strip steak off a spinning trompo.
All that burnished beef was — and still is — a beautiful thing.
But here’s what’s also beautiful: Strips of charred poblanos stinging your tongue. El Rey’s verdant peppers are a little vegetal, distinctly spicy, and even a touch astringent. These chiles have character; they bleed their colors into lush cream until the dairy turns a pale shade of green.
To me, this is luxury, the chromatic hue of a $100 bill oozing all over my favorite form of edible gold: a warm tortilla.
These are rajas con crema tacos and they cost just $4.50 each.
I reckon you’ll like them too.
Behind the Paywall: Tacos, tacos, tacos, empanadas, and patties!
Reviews of every taco at El Rey (Plus: plantain empanadas!)
Why you need to try the mole de Xico at Casa Carmen
How to book the $115 pasta tastings at Misipasta
A few quick pre-opening notes about Santo Taco 2.0
Notes on great food writing from Ligaya Mishan and Farhan Mustafa