As anyone will tell you, it’s a rough road trying to find good, inexpensive Mexican food in New York City. Sure, there are a handful of yummy high-end Mexican, Tex-Mex, or Southwestern restaurants, but when you have a craving for cheap, good tacos and burritos, you’re outta luck.
Before seeing West Side Story on Broadway tonight (thanks for the ticket, Erin!), two of my girlfriends and I met for dinner at Tulcingo del Valle in Hell’s Kitchen. We usually only end up on the west side of Manhattan if going to a show or play, or bowling once every two years at the Port Authority (it can actually be a lot of fun, see for yourself) and we’ll try a different restaurant in the area each time.
I’d read some favorable reviews on New York Magazine’s restaurant web site (my usual go-to for recommendations) about Tulcingo del Valle, and when the food came out, it did look mighty appetizing:
Unfortunately, none of the dishes really came through on flavor. My tacos al pastor were markedly missing the sweet pineapple tang, the meat was dry, and I poured out a deep puddle of oil before taking a bite. The guacamole was tasteless. A reviewer had said they were fabulous, so maybe I got stuck with the evening’s understudy? I did enjoy the crunch of fresh radishes with salt as a condiment.
The triple meat salad was characterless and the pipian de poll0 (chicken in pumpkinseed sauce) also a no-show, bland and also with pools of oil, as you can see above. The sangria was booed offstage, as sweet as church wine and featuring a host of little floaty pieces of indistinguishable fruit.
We’ll keep forging ahead in the delicious cheap Mexican food search. In Hoboken, we’ve recently been blessed with The Taco Truck, which I’d choose over tonight’s meal any day of the week (and often do).
Oh, and West Side Story was enjoyable – particularly Anita, what a spitfire! Adored her performance.