Rosie’s is a big, fun Mexican spot on the corner of 2nd Street and 2nd Avenue. The Cake Dealer and I tried a few items at the bar. They make some nice margaritas here, so definitely start with one of those. If you want a nice bar snack, get the chicharrones. They’re huge and delicious.
One of my favorite items was the squash blossom quesadilla. Everything about this was just perfect. I wish I had ordered three of them.
The tacos here are pretty good, as are the tortillas, which are made right in the middle of the restaurant. You can watch them being made at a bar, like you’re at a sushi counter.
We tried the shrimp, fish and al pastor tacos. Of these, the al pastor was the best, with the shrimp coming in just behind at second place.
We also tried the flan, which was really light and tasty.
The rib eye with bone marrow and fried chives packs a ton of flavor. I’m not sure if there’s a lot of aged flavor happening, but we both enjoyed this steak.
Choice of Cuts & Quality Available: 8
There are a few large format steaks and a few single portion steaks available on the menu here. I’m not really sure this place can be called a full blown steakhouse, but there is enough beef on the menu to justify the categorization.
Portion Size & Plating: 8
Portions are great here. The rib eye is 16oz, off the bone, which is pretty good. The only drawback is that the steak is skinny, and you run the risk of overcooking if you want a really good char on the outside. There was some gristle that I didn’t eat, but over all the fat was nice and tasty too.
Price: 7
The pricing here is scary. $85 for the 16oz rib eye seemd crazy to me. However, there are other places around the menu that are more budget friendly, and since this place is in the heart of midtown, you sort of have to expect crazy pricing.
Bar: 8
This place has a gorgeous bar at the entrance, and they mix up some great cocktails.
Specials and Other Meats: 7
The move here for “other meats” is to go with the tacos. We tried the carnitas, because we saw that there were two in the order; one for each of us.
The braised pork shank was good, but the sauce was slightly bland. I was expected a deeper, more earthy punch with heat.
Apps, Sides & Desserts: 9
We loved the roasted truffle cauliflower app. It packed a ton of flavor and was huge. This could be a meal if you’re going veg.
I already mentioned the tacos above, which we had an an appetizer; and below in the seafood section I will touch on the octopus chicharrones.
The grilled mango dessert was unique and light, just what we wanted to close out the meal.
Seafood Selection: 8
There’s a nice selection of fish here. We tried the octopus chicharrones with our appetizers, and the meat was tender inside and crisp outside. Very nicely cooked.
Service: 10
Service was excellent here, as is expected when considering the location and the price. The chips and sauces that come to the table here on the house are fantastic.
Since we were celebrating a special occasion, they even gave us each a little passionfruit frozen martini on the house. Awesome!
Ambiance: 9
This place is absolutely gorgeous inside. It’s big, it smells good, and it isn’t too loud either. I would definitely go back to try more of the menu – especially the steak tacos.
I finally made it over to Greenpoint to try out the papa restaurant to Carnitas Ramirez.
I ate two tacos here on a really quick pit stop while riding with some ebike nerd friends. I tried the tripe, which was buttery and almost tasted like foie gras, and the al pastor. The al pastor was probably the best of its kind that I’ve ever had. Nice grilled pineapple, really tasty and generous amount of flavorful and juicy meat, and a little bit of crisp skin.
This place is a winner, and there’s a reason why it draws a lot of long lines and hype. It’s worth it. Luckily for us, there were no lines and the food came out in about 12 seconds (not kidding).
TAQUERIA RAMIREZ
94 Franklin St.
Brooklyn, NY 11222
I hit up this little taco spot with some friends while riding around on our nerdy ebikes. I have to say it was really great. A little pricey at $5 per taco (before you add the crispy cheese), but totally worth it.
Best: El Pastor (gringa style with crispy cheese)
Awesome pastor tacos, especially with that slice of grilled pineapple on top.
Second Best: Bistec en Pasilla
This was really nice. Excellent spiced flavor on the meat, and tender through and through.
Third Place: Chicken Tinga
I usually don’t get this unless I need a change. It was still good, but I wish I had tried something else instead. Next time.
CHELA & GARNACHA
33-09 36th Ave.
Astoria, NY 11106
Check out my ass-kicking Ride & Review video HERE first:
This taco bar opened up in the space that was formerly Boilermaker, and it serves up some amazing cocktails, like the mushroom margarita!
My wife and I tried two types of tacos: crispy pork belly (my fave) and al pastor (her fave).
Truly both were excellent, so you can’t go wrong with either. We also had the nachos, which are vegeterian as far as I can tell. Made with mushrooms, poblanos and mole sauce.
My wife and I started with some “two for $10” tacos.
We did two orders (four tacos): two BBQ lamb, and two fish. Both were really great. The lamb was unique, and after having it, I kinda wished they had a BBQ lamb dish on the entree menu as well, for a composed plate (like lamb over rice with beans, etc). The fish taco was grilled as opposed to crispy/fried like many other places do. We loved it.
For mains, my wife ordered the chile relleno, and I ordered the cochinita pibil burrito.
This was a great burrito for $14. Hefty and tasty. My only criticism is that I don’t want sauce on the outside of the tortilla. I had to scrape it off. It was just getting too messy to eat. My wife’s plate came with a side of rice and beans, which were also good. A great deal for $17.
In fact, everything here is reasonably priced – even the cocktails ($14) and beer ($5 cans). The flan was pretty good too. Nice plating, but the coconut shavings threw the silky texture off a bit.
I’ll definitely be back here for more. At the very least we will be ordering for delivery regularly. And when you hit this place, make sure you try their orange and green sauces: DRINKABLE!
Casa Mezcal is a fun Mexican bar/restaurant on Orchard Street that serves up some great food and drinks.
My wife and I stopped in here on a whim because a place nearby where we wanted to eat was closed for renovations. It turned out to be a nice unforeseen change of plans.
We noticed that they give free shots of mezcal if you post and tag them on Instagram, so that was a no brainer for me.
Those mezcal shots were deliciously hibiscus flavored and spice-rimmed. I tried one of their sipping mezcal too and really liked it (Del Maguey Wild Jabali).
They also had awesome cocktails on the menu. We tried a couple and loved both.
Speaking of drinks, this place has an awesome bar set up. There is even seating there now, COVID be damned!
We started with the carb meat tostada, which was our favorite item of the meal.
They accidentally brought out an order of chicken quesadillas instead of my burrito. I let them know and they took it off the bill. However, rather than let it go to waste, they told us to keep it anyway. So I gave the value of the item extra in tip at the end to make up for it. That was a really nice move on their part so I wanted to make them whole.
Both were excellent, but the burrito was probably one of the best I’ve had lately. My wife got fish tacos, which I didn’t shoot, but they were the best entree.
Over all this was a really great meal with really great drinks. We will definitely be back here.
Camacho’s is a new Mexican joint with great cocktails and a fun cantina vibe. Named after the executive chef, it features a variety of classic Mexican favorites, including tacos:
Clockwise from top: shrimp, steak, short rib, cod.
Excellent guac and chips:
Tasty Mexican corn:
A nice, filling taco salad:
Yucca fries:
The “Bad Hombre” drink, a mezcal based margarita-ish concoction that’s served in a smoke-filled glass skull:
Tons of DOTD sugar skulls on the walls:
Crazy dessert shakes:
And even a suggestive neon sign that’s all the rage on Instagram:
They play some fun music too, if this is your thing; a throwback to mid- to late-90’s rap and hip hop. I dug it, and I’ll definitely be back.
Note: I was invited in by the bar’s ownership to take some photos and do some Instagram posts in exchange for a free meal.
Type 2 Creative and Be Fat Be Happy threw an awesome holiday bash at Tortaria to help promote the restaurant. But it ended up being the sort of unofficial holiday gathering for all of us foodporn slingers on Instagram.
Everyone slapped on hats and ugly sweaters to crank up the “festive” levels. This one, worn by @StuffBenEats, was by far the clear winner:
And he was even sporting some nice Mexican corn there, which looked like yellow Christmas trees covered with cheese-snow.
Here’s my sweater, in an awesome guac photo that Ben took:
The guacamole here is tight, speaking of. Lots of flavor, and good restaurant quality chips and salsa to go with.
And the pitchers of margaritas? Slammable!
A few interesting new menu items were trotted out for us; the tortas (sandwiches). This one is made with thinly sliced fried eggplant, and topped with chipotle sauce, bacon and avocado. Really nice.
The one I was drawn to most, however, was this short rib torta:
This, too, is topped with avocado. There’s also lettuce, fried onion and jalapeno peppers on there as well.
And of course, tacos!
I’ll definitely be back here. This is a great place to just get blasted and eat your face off. Nothing pretentious about it!
