Why do some people go out of their way to eat in especially bad restaurants?

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I was taken to Maz Mezcal, an "upscale Mexican" place on E. 86th St. in NYC by a certain unnamed relative, and it was downright foul. Everything tasted like it came from a can, even the beans (!), and I felt sick the next morning. This relative swears by the place and has been there a bunch of times. I don't just mean the food was bland or uniteresting, I mean it was disgusting. Why do some people prefer bad restaurants to good ones? There must have been a dozen places in walking distance from where we were that are better.

― A-ron Hubbard (Hurting), Wednesday, 11 October 2006 13:55 (nineteen years ago)

HI DERE INDIVIDUALIZED TASTEBUDS WAHT IS IT MADE?

― Young Fresh Danny D (Dan Perry), Wednesday, 11 October 2006 13:56 (nineteen years ago)

maybe you were rude to them and the cook/waiter tainted only YOUR food?

― Konal Doddz (blueski), Wednesday, 11 October 2006 13:56 (nineteen years ago)

upper east side mexican restaurant in 'being unspeakably wrong' shocker!

― Euai Kapaui (tracerhand), Wednesday, 11 October 2006 13:57 (nineteen years ago)

This is not like the Mezcal "chain" strewn throughout Brooklyn (Park Slope at Union and 5th, CG at Court and 1st Place, etc etc), is it? Because that place is great.

― snumbers (snumbers), Wednesday, 11 October 2006 14:06 (nineteen years ago)

I utterly love those dodgy Thai cult food vegetarian all you can eat buffets. I'm sure lots of people would find the food revolting, even inedible. (Including a snobby, meat-loving relative I took to one of them once.) I don't know; I just love them. I recognise their faults, but sometimes you just want crap - salt and gluten and TVP and all that.

― Three In A Bed Socks Romp (kate), Wednesday, 11 October 2006 14:07 (nineteen years ago)

snumbers that place is alright - it's in brooklyn for starters! although there is a HIDEOUS brooklyn tex-mex place whose name I've blocked out, it has two locations, one in carroll gardens and one in park slope... the cheese in their quesadillas is LITERALLY nacho-cheese-from-the-movie-theater.. i think they have deer heads on the wall and stuff.. ugh

― Euai Kapaui (tracerhand), Wednesday, 11 October 2006 14:09 (nineteen years ago)

As a Chicagoan, I don't trust Mexican food in NYC at all.

― jaymc (jaymc), Wednesday, 11 October 2006 14:10 (nineteen years ago)

that place, whatever it's called, also comes to mind because a friend of mine has had TWO get-togethers there now, and he KNOWS what good mexican tastes like! he eats at los pollitos like twice a week! we've drooled in absentia over castro's in clinton hill! it makes no sense!!

xpost hmmmm

― Euai Kapaui (tracerhand), Wednesday, 11 October 2006 14:11 (nineteen years ago)

the thai places are alright, but you get much better crap elsewhere.. i went there looking for FILTH and it just wasn't bad enough for me tbh! it was too.. mediocre!!!

― ken c (ken c), Wednesday, 11 October 2006 14:11 (nineteen years ago)

Deer heads really add tone to a place.

― Ed (dali), Wednesday, 11 October 2006 14:11 (nineteen years ago)

Well, sometimes you want *authentic* food, and sometimes you just want the comfort food version.

― Three In A Bed Socks Romp (kate), Wednesday, 11 October 2006 14:12 (nineteen years ago)

Mr Wu's the place to go for proper gunk. oh yeah, it's bad.

we ain't talking authentic are we? i thought we're talking BADNESS! there should only one result of a comfort buffet and that is to feel ILL afterwards.

― ken c (ken c), Wednesday, 11 October 2006 14:15 (nineteen years ago)

Yeah, but this place wasn't even good in that Chili's Cheese-Smothered Tex Mex Enchiladas kind of way. It was just nasty.

― A-ron Hubbard (Hurting), Wednesday, 11 October 2006 14:15 (nineteen years ago)

I've never heard of Castro's but I guess I've got a new place to add to my list of "must go."

― snumbers (snumbers), Wednesday, 11 October 2006 14:16 (nineteen years ago)

Ed, any particular way you like to prepare the deer heads?

Presumably you marinate the antlers until the antler velvet can be gnawed off?

Then DEER BRAWN is the obvious option I suppose, but I stand correction on that.

― Tim (Tim), Wednesday, 11 October 2006 14:17 (nineteen years ago)

oh yeah! seriously. los pollitos has just opened a new branch right near them on myrtle and while i love pollitos, love it very very much, castro's offers something different and it really deserves to live, it is the BOMB

xpost mentalist

― Euai Kapaui (tracerhand), Wednesday, 11 October 2006 14:18 (nineteen years ago)

are we counting the restaurants that are bad but somehow GOOD because it's really expensive?

― ken c (ken c), Wednesday, 11 October 2006 14:18 (nineteen years ago)

This place was not cheap. Oh, did I mention it was freezing cold, poorly lit, and generally unpleasant?

― A-ron Hubbard (Hurting), Wednesday, 11 October 2006 14:20 (nineteen years ago)

CASA BONITA HELLO? YUMMMM!!

― i've dreamt of rubies! (Mandee), Wednesday, 11 October 2006 14:20 (nineteen years ago)

Deer head pie I think, with the antler poking through. I don't think deer has enough fat for brawn.

― Ed (dali), Wednesday, 11 October 2006 14:21 (nineteen years ago)

http://www.witz.org/images/haroldkumar.jpg

― got yourself a fish biscuit! (nickalicious), Wednesday, 11 October 2006 14:23 (nineteen years ago)

is this questionable even answerable? why do people like bad stuff?

― s1ocki (slutsky), Wednesday, 11 October 2006 14:24 (nineteen years ago)

OMG I wish I hadn't done that GIS search, now I CRAVE THE WHITEYS.

― got yourself a fish biscuit! (nickalicious), Wednesday, 11 October 2006 14:25 (nineteen years ago)

http://www.onedigitallife.com/images/white_castle.jpg

I will eat you in one sitting motherfucker.

― got yourself a fish biscuit! (nickalicious), Wednesday, 11 October 2006 14:26 (nineteen years ago)

Oh god... oh god... oh no, I can't look. Those things don't even have any actual meat in them. I can eat a packet and not get food poisoning.

― Three In A Bed Socks Romp (kate), Wednesday, 11 October 2006 14:27 (nineteen years ago)

Why do some people go out of their way to eat in especially bad restaurants?

a) happy hour drink specials
b) to watch "the game"
c) they have a coupon
d) they just don't know any better
e) they are stoned
f) they are orcs

― got yourself a fish biscuit! (nickalicious), Wednesday, 11 October 2006 14:36 (nineteen years ago)

Mmmmmm antlery pie.

What else could we make brawn from, surely not only our chum the swine?

― Tim (Tim), Wednesday, 11 October 2006 14:37 (nineteen years ago)

There's a particularly fine one in ol' Durham Town...

― mark grout (mark grout), Wednesday, 11 October 2006 14:38 (nineteen years ago)

I has to be fatty meat, I shall investigate.

― Ed (dali), Wednesday, 11 October 2006 14:39 (nineteen years ago)

As a Chicagoan, I don't trust Mexican food in NYC at all.

rawfull

― 0xDOX0RNUTX0RX0RSDABITFIELDXOR^0xDEADBEEFDEADBEEF00001 (donut), Wednesday, 11 October 2006 14:41 (nineteen years ago)

OH GOD THAT WHITE CASTLE LOOKS SO GOOD

― Fluffy Bear, among 100% of the population (Fluffy Bear Hearts Rainbows), Wednesday, 11 October 2006 14:41 (nineteen years ago)

As a Minnesotan, I don't trust Lebanese food in NYC at all.

― Young Fresh Danny D (Dan Perry), Wednesday, 11 October 2006 14:42 (nineteen years ago)

A brief google and it appears that even predominantly non-piggy brawn requires a pigs trotter. So maybe venison brawn would work if you threw in a bit of pork belly as well. Need a lot of heads though.

― Ed (dali), Wednesday, 11 October 2006 14:46 (nineteen years ago)

Maybe if we used cute ickle baby deer? With suckling pig belly.

― Tim (Tim), Wednesday, 11 October 2006 14:47 (nineteen years ago)

Mmm suckling pig belly.

― Eppy (Eppy), Wednesday, 11 October 2006 15:29 (nineteen years ago)

I swear White Castle got better since that movie came out

― Dr. Alicia D. Titsovich (sexyDancer), Wednesday, 11 October 2006 15:36 (nineteen years ago)

this is my nabe. i've never been to Maz Mezcal, which I had gathered was good but not great. however, there's a cheap hole in the wall just a few blocks away called Taco Taco that serves very good Mexican food. there's also a pricier nouvelle Mex a few blocks in the other direction, Zocalo, that's suppposed to be better than Maz Mescal. and the UES, writ large, is also home to Maya, arguably the best creative Mex in NYC, and some taco place up by Mt Sinai that's supposed to be great. so it would seem to be a pretty good neighborhood for Mexican food.

― gabbneb (gabbneb), Wednesday, 11 October 2006 15:41 (nineteen years ago)

but to answer the question, many people pick restaurants based more on looks or ambience or menu style than on how the food actually tastes. they pick them for comfort, for familiarity, for how welcoming they are, sound level, etc.

― gabbneb (gabbneb), Wednesday, 11 October 2006 15:44 (nineteen years ago)

As a Minnesotan, I don't trust Lebanese food in NYC at all.

Is there a sizeable Lebanese population in NYC? I'm not sure. Maybe if you said Somali, this statement might make sense.

― jaymc (jaymc), Wednesday, 11 October 2006 15:46 (nineteen years ago)

Is there a sizeable _____________ population in NYC?

― Allyzay lives aprox. 200 feet away from a stadium (allyzay), Wednesday, 11 October 2006 15:47 (nineteen years ago)

― TOMBOT (TOMBOT), Wednesday, 11 October 2006 15:49 (nineteen years ago)

Is there a sizeable flatworld population in NYC? OH NO, I JUST RAN INTO ANOTHER F*CKING TRIANGLE!

― Fluffy Bear, among 100% of the population (Fluffy Bear Hearts Rainbows), Wednesday, 11 October 2006 15:50 (nineteen years ago)

We keep em ghettoized in Flatbush.

― Eppy (Eppy), Wednesday, 11 October 2006 15:54 (nineteen years ago)

http://cdn.euroclick.com/contents/5668/chilis_728_animtan.gif

― roc u like a § (ex machina), Wednesday, 11 October 2006 15:56 (nineteen years ago)

To seriously answer your question, I will totally go to a bad restaurant if they have one dish I particularly love. Unfortunately, this dish is usually an appetizer.

― Eppy (Eppy), Wednesday, 11 October 2006 16:00 (nineteen years ago)

jaymc, your spreadsheet has failed you!

― Young Fresh Danny D (Dan Perry), Wednesday, 11 October 2006 16:02 (nineteen years ago)

Also, one of the things about eating in NYC is that sometimes the hole-in-the-wall restaurant will give you the shits, and sometimes it will be the best $3 of food you've eaten in your life, and it's hard to tell the difference. So if you're just out somewhere wandering around you'll go with the clean, well-lit place with nice menus.

― Eppy (Eppy), Wednesday, 11 October 2006 16:03 (nineteen years ago)

"You" meaning "Eppy."

― Euai Kapaui (tracerhand), Wednesday, 11 October 2006 16:06 (nineteen years ago)

Burger Kebob
A fabulous platter featuring shrimp, onion rings, french
fries, feta cheese, cole slaw, lettuce, tomato, beets,
olives, chili seasonings, and 1/4 pound Grecian
Burger Croquette - A BJ Original

― m coleman (lovebug starski), Wednesday, 11 October 2006 16:10 (nineteen years ago)

Yeah, I get it: NYC is a big place. And so obv. I haven't tried every Mexican restaurant in every borough, but the couple I've been to have been pretty shitty. Plus, there's hardly any taquerias but a whole lot of Burritovilles, which doesn't really bode well for me.

I mean, is it so weird for me to suggest that a city with 500,000 Mexicans is going to do Mexican food better than a city twice the size but with only 150,000 Mexicans?

― jaymc (jaymc), Wednesday, 11 October 2006 16:10 (nineteen years ago)

As a Texan, I don't trust any Mexican north of the Mason-Dixon.

― . . .and a soda on the side (Molly Jones), Wednesday, 11 October 2006 16:13 (nineteen years ago)

as a los angelean or whatever we're called who is a former chicagoan or rather northwest suburban i don't trust mexican food in mchenry county at all except for this one place.

― gear (gear), Wednesday, 11 October 2006 16:14 (nineteen years ago)

i'm guessing chicago mex is probably better on average than nyc mex, but that doesn't mean that nyc mex is bad. because it's a huge place, there's lots of bad food of every kind (and tourists are more likely to eat it because they don't know where to go?) as well as lots of good.

― gabbneb (gabbneb), Wednesday, 11 October 2006 16:20 (nineteen years ago)

I mean, is it so weird for me to suggest that a city with 500,000 Mexicans is going to do Mexican food better than a city twice the size but with only 150,000 Mexicans?

No, but I'm thinking more of New York's fiercely competitive restaurant scene and the general level of quality, from Dominican to Indian to Cuban to Italian - you have to be really good in New York to survive for more than a coupla three years. I've never seen a city like it for that, except maybe Paris, which doesn't have the diversity, obv

― Euai Kapaui (tracerhand), Wednesday, 11 October 2006 16:22 (nineteen years ago)

Also, I think most of us mean "Tex Mex" when we're talking about Mexican food here

― Euai Kapaui (tracerhand), Wednesday, 11 October 2006 16:23 (nineteen years ago)

What is Tex-Mex besides Chili's?

I ate at a place on the Lower East Side (forget its name) which served tacos with like ground beef and hard shells. There's a place in Chicago that has this on the menu but calls it a White Boy Taco.

― jaymc (jaymc), Wednesday, 11 October 2006 16:25 (nineteen years ago)

there's hardly any taquerias

not true!

― lauren (laurenp), Wednesday, 11 October 2006 16:27 (nineteen years ago)

Tex Mex - any place that serves both sour cream and guacamole, either together or separately

― Euai Kapaui (tracerhand), Wednesday, 11 October 2006 16:28 (nineteen years ago)

WHERE CAN ONE BITCH GET POTATO OLES IN NYC?

― 0xDOX0RNUTX0RX0RSDABITFIELDXOR^0xDEADBEEFDEADBEEF00001 (donut), Wednesday, 11 October 2006 16:28 (nineteen years ago)

yeah, because of what euai said, i would assume that average nyc food of most varieties is generally better than average food anywhere else except maybe sf. while chicago might have an edge in mex, it's probably a small one (and does nyc have a bigger salvadoran community?).

― gabbneb (gabbneb), Wednesday, 11 October 2006 16:29 (nineteen years ago)

new yorkers assuming new york better at everything SHOCKAH!

― s1ocki (slutsky), Wednesday, 11 October 2006 16:32 (nineteen years ago)

since NYC has a generally larger population of people than general populations in other U.S. cities, NYC is generally better at most things than other cities are generally good at.

― 0xDOX0RNUTX0RX0RSDABITFIELDXOR^0xDEADBEEFDEADBEEF00001 (donut), Wednesday, 11 October 2006 16:32 (nineteen years ago)

More like NYers pointing out a sampling of like three Mexican joints isn't exactly a representative sampling of Mexican food in the city.

― Allyzay lives aprox. 200 feet away from a stadium (allyzay), Wednesday, 11 October 2006 16:36 (nineteen years ago)

As a Chicagoan, I don't trust Mexican food in NYC at all.

Okay: as a New Mexican turned Coloradan turned Chicagoan turned New Yorker, I think I can vouch for (Tex)Mexican food in NYC not generally living up to the kind of baseline across-the-board quality of Mexican in Chicago or the southwest (which is to say that a random sampling of NYC Mexican will probably not turn out as good as a random sampling of Chicago Mexican). I assume this has to do with both (a) NYC having a much smaller Mexican population and (b) NYC not having any coherent regional style/culture of Mexican food. (I mean, I think one of the reasons stuff like Tex-Mex or LA-Mex works is that it becomes a coherent cuisine unto itself, with its own standards and expectations; NYC Mexican is more of a scatter, done any which way the proprietors feel like doing it. One way this might be good news is if you want really super-genuine Mexican, because you'll get tacquerias here where people are just making the stuff exactly as they did back in Mexico.) (I hate to admit it but I'm not actually a fan of that, as it often involves paying a bunch of money for something that tastes like the workaday product of a minimal homespun kitchen.)

But generally we are totally lacking in Mexicans here, and I miss them.

Okay but so what I will totally rep for in NYC is Florencia 13 on Sullivan just north of Houston -- I think I've done this on here before -- where they make self-consciously southwestern-style Mexican, which is to say that you can get a big fat tasty cheesy burrito that's not dry and packed with rice, and you can get it WET, and swimming in green chile, and all those other southwestern goody touches. The one thing you can't get, there or anywhere else in NYC that I know of, is delicious doughy puffy sopapillas -- the few places that have them just have corn chips soaked in honey.

P.S. Mandee I had totally forgotten Casa Bonita until the other day I flipped past a South Park where Cartman was all excited about going there, and I was all like: Casa Bonita! I had totally forgotten Casa Bonita! With the cliff divers and shit!

P.P.S. Jaymc I think you are thinking of San Loco Taco, which is basically like a non-multinational Taco Bell. And which I'm fond of for basically that reason -- sometimes a 70s style grocery-kit taco is just the thing, especially after drinking.

― nabisco (nabisco), Wednesday, 11 October 2006 16:38 (nineteen years ago)

ALSO in answer to the actual thread question, a lot of people go to horrible Mexican restaurants especially -- particularly these huge places that are like circus shows and have mariachi bands and people pouring tequila down your throat and so on, these total floor-show Mexican-fiesta crapholes where everything is supposed to be "fun" but the actual food, when it shows up, is this cruddy bag-of-beans afterthought, but since there are 1000 people in the building and you're with a party of 20 including your boss from work, it hardly seems worth complaining about it to anyone.

― nabisco (nabisco), Wednesday, 11 October 2006 16:40 (nineteen years ago)

the tequila can help too.

― . . .and a soda on the side (Molly Jones), Wednesday, 11 October 2006 16:42 (nineteen years ago)

the tequila does help. when i lived on 88th st. i occasionally stopped in at maz mezcal for happy-hour margaritas and chips, both of which were tolerable. nabisco, thx for the florencia recommendation -- my dad's from santa fe and is endlessly grumbly about pretty much any mexican restaurant outside new mexico, but maybe i'll drag him down there next time he's in town.

― gypsy mothra (gypsy mothra), Wednesday, 11 October 2006 16:48 (nineteen years ago)

haha that reminds me, I was at this Mexican place the other day (1/2 price draft beer happy hour! good chips!) on the patio, and the wandering mariachi guys were playing "Guantanamera" which I vaguely know the words to (thanks Wyclef!) and was singing harmonies all WOOHOO, which had the regretable after-effect of them serenading our table (me & a bro) for like SIX MORE SONGS...they asked us what we wanted, something fun, something romantic...I think they thought we were on a date. So we held hands.

― got yourself a fish biscuit! (nickalicious), Wednesday, 11 October 2006 16:49 (nineteen years ago)

Yes, yes, do so: the whole place seems specifically designed for people from the southwest who grumble about the quality of northeastern Mexican. My first meal there was the first cheesy chile-covered burrito I'd had since leaving Colorado, and it was like getting a piece of my childhood back. They do their tacos in that LA-ish way with the, like, hard flour shells (you know, those tacos that look kinda scalloped on top?), and have Cali-styled fish tacos, and decent enchiladas, and I think a pretty good chiles rellenos, too. But they keep getting written up in Time Out as like "best margarita" and crap like that, so it'll probably get super-busy up in there.

― nabisco (nabisco), Wednesday, 11 October 2006 16:54 (nineteen years ago)

WHY YALL TALKING SHIT ABOUT NYC?

DO YOU REMEMBER THAT FATEFUL DAY?

― ▒█▄█ ▄▄▄ ▒█▄█ , Wednesday, 11 October 2006 17:01 (nineteen years ago)

OLIVE GARDEN TO THREAD, YO!

― Eisbär (llamasfur), Wednesday, 11 October 2006 17:03 (nineteen years ago)

As a Chicagoan, I don't trust Mexican food in NYC at all.

this is just silly -- see also transplanted philadelphians bitching about not being about to get a good cheesesteak in NYC (truth is, there are more than a few places where you can).

― Eisbär (llamasfur), Wednesday, 11 October 2006 17:05 (nineteen years ago)

Eisbar, are you named after the Grauzone song?

― ▒█▄█ ▄▄▄ ▒█▄█ , Wednesday, 11 October 2006 17:05 (nineteen years ago)

Everyone I know seems to enjoy/love a bunch of chains I can't stand (Chili, TGI Fridays, El Chico, etc.).

The food isn't necessarily awful, but it's overpriced and never worth the hassle of going out. Given the choice between a good deli sandwich and a Chili's 'steak,' gimme the deli.

― milo z (mlp), Wednesday, 11 October 2006 17:06 (nineteen years ago)

it's german for polar bear

― 0xDOX0RNUTX0RX0RSDABITFIELDXOR^0xDEADBEEFDEADBEEF00001 (donut), Wednesday, 11 October 2006 17:07 (nineteen years ago)

yes to both mikeoptins and donut bitch.

― Eisbär (llamasfur), Wednesday, 11 October 2006 17:07 (nineteen years ago)

this is just silly -- see also transplanted philadelphians bitching about not being about to get a good cheesesteak in NYC (truth is, there are more than a few places where you can).

Carl's Steaks has infinitely better cheesesteaks then anything I've ever had in Philadelphia.

http://www.carlsteaks.com/

i think i wil get one now

― ▒█▄█ ▄▄▄ ▒█▄█ , Wednesday, 11 October 2006 17:08 (nineteen years ago)

think one of the reasons stuff like Tex-Mex or LA-Mex works is that it becomes a coherent cuisine unto itself, with its own standards and expectations; NYC Mexican is more of a scatter, done any which way the proprietors feel like doing it.

also maybe because if say we want rice and beans, we may eat Cuban, etc. before Mexican

― gabbneb (gabbneb), Wednesday, 11 October 2006 17:09 (nineteen years ago)

Red Lobster: A Good Value or Ghetto?

― Eisbär (llamasfur), Wednesday, 11 October 2006 17:14 (nineteen years ago)

You know, we may have talked about this before, but the thing I trust least about NYC food is the stuff that's actually supposed to be best in NYC -- stuff like reubens and bagels and eggs benedict. I assume this is because every crappy place in the city feels a need to throw out some half-assed version of these things, in some weird off-brand style where something is horribly missing (e.g. if you're not going to put Russian on my reuben at least give me some mustard, and if you're gonna serve a jacked-up benedict with cooked salmon on it, please have a normal one as a second option) -- whereas anywhere else, when they make these things, they're totally self-conscious about making it by-the-book and tasty.

Also while I enjoy NYC deli sandwiches I think we should all own up to the fact that they're basically an arms race in the conspicuous consumption of cured meats, which is a total waste of resources because 90% of normal people just remove half the meat from the sandwich and leave it on the place. I mean, Jesus, there's no good reason for that much meat beyond showing off.

(xpost also Gabbneb the thing I'm scared to admit on here is that I don't find really truly authentic Mexican food all that tasty, at least not the way you usually get it here -- an "authentic" Oaxacan taco, for instance, isn't exactly a delicacy in Oaxaca, is it? It's a street-stand food. And so "authentic" in the U.S. often turns out to mean stuff like "filled with rice to stretch out resources.")

― nabisco (nabisco), Wednesday, 11 October 2006 17:16 (nineteen years ago)

that's a lotta meat

yeah nabs i am the same - it's just too greasy for me (!)

― Euai Kapaui (tracerhand), Wednesday, 11 October 2006 17:24 (nineteen years ago)

meaning real-deal mex food i mean

― Euai Kapaui (tracerhand), Wednesday, 11 October 2006 17:24 (nineteen years ago)

Oaxacan food is admired throughout Mexico, and the world. I've never heard of a particularly Oaxacan taco, though. I bet I would like it, as I prefer Tex Mex to Mex Mex.

We've been having this Mexican in NYC C or D argument for like 5 years now! Is this ILX's version of Nietzche's eternal return?

Someone try this place that I read about today:

http://events.nytimes.com/2006/10/11/dining/reviews/11unde.html?ref=dining

― Mary (Mary), Wednesday, 11 October 2006 17:41 (nineteen years ago)

"A Particularly Oaxacan Taco" sounds like a Severed Heads song title.

― Young Fresh Danny D (Dan Perry), Wednesday, 11 October 2006 17:42 (nineteen years ago)

nabisco OTM about NYC delis going overboard on the meat. no-one's mouth is that big.

― Eisbär (llamasfur), Wednesday, 11 October 2006 17:49 (nineteen years ago)

Are you talking about random corner delis or lie, Katz's? Because if it's the latter then I totally agree. Random corner delis put a lotta meat on there but it's not too much for me, especially since those $3 subs are "dinner" for me a lot of nights.

― Euai Kapaui (tracerhand), Wednesday, 11 October 2006 17:52 (nineteen years ago)

A smoked-meat sandwich from Schwartz's in Montreal:

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/e/ec/SmokedMeatSandwich.jpg/800px-SmokedMeatSandwich.jpg

― jaymc (jaymc), Wednesday, 11 October 2006 17:53 (nineteen years ago)

nabisco otm about the lousy Mex restaurants.

jaymc, your spreadsheet has failed you!

― Ruud (jaymc, don't you know about Dan Perry's sense of humor by now?) Haarvest (, Wednesday, 11 October 2006 17:55 (nineteen years ago)

m - i was interested in the place in the tortilla factory, but that review actually kind of turned me off. the tacos don't sound very impressive.

― lauren (laurenp), Wednesday, 11 October 2006 17:55 (nineteen years ago)

Yea, the review sounds kind of like, here is street-cart food that you can eat in no-longer under-the-radar barnlike location.

― Mary (Mary), Wednesday, 11 October 2006 17:57 (nineteen years ago)

Where ever that picture upthread is from, you got screwed on your potato chips.

― Mr. Que (Mr.Que), Wednesday, 11 October 2006 17:57 (nineteen years ago)

On the other hand, you got THREE sandwiches in one.

― Laurel (Laurel), Wednesday, 11 October 2006 17:58 (nineteen years ago)

*licks screen*

― gabbneb (gabbneb), Wednesday, 11 October 2006 18:01 (nineteen years ago)

I got stuck in bad traffic in Upstate New York this weekend and after a few hours this place appeared by the side of the road, so we stopped there and ate and rode out the jam for an hour. We were way out of our way, but we got to eat at a pretty good restaurant. If it had been in the city, I'll bet it wouldn't have been as good.

To answer the original question, aren't there some people who view restaurant-going as a kind of slumming, and think that the greasier it is, the more authentic it is? Of course I am referring primarily to member of the younger generation, the urban hipster set.

― Ruud Comes to Haarvest (Ken L), Wednesday, 11 October 2006 18:09 (nineteen years ago)

I was taken to Maz Mezcal, an "upscale Mexican" place on E. 86th St. in NYC by a certain unnamed relative
Of course, when you go out with somebody's parents or an older relative, whatever they say may sound to you like "I'm paying, so it must be good!"

― Ruud Comes to Haarvest (Ken L), Wednesday, 11 October 2006 18:11 (nineteen years ago)

I think I offended the nice elderly Italian guy who makes the sandwiches at my favorite deli (who was giving me twice the normal amount of meat and cheese) when I started asking him to put less cheese on them. Meat I can take off, but melted cheese is forever.

― milo z (mlp), Wednesday, 11 October 2006 18:14 (nineteen years ago)

Aha, now I remember where we had some of this discussion before.

― Ruud Comes to Haarvest (Ken L), Wednesday, 11 October 2006 18:16 (nineteen years ago)

jaymc where did you take that picture?

― s1ocki (slutsky), Wednesday, 11 October 2006 18:43 (nineteen years ago)

Thank you guys for reminding me about Casa Bonita, seriously one of my best childhood memories, EVAH.

Oh, and after seven years in Chicago as an ex-Arizonan, I still couldn't stomach most Chicago Mexican food. Sorry, jaymc.

PS- Nabisco OTM in his usual 500+ word way.

― researching ur life (grady), Wednesday, 11 October 2006 18:49 (nineteen years ago)

CASA BONITA!

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/c/c2/711_image_09.jpg

― Eisbär (llamasfur), Wednesday, 11 October 2006 18:55 (nineteen years ago)

jaymc where did you take that picture?

I didn't. It's from Wikipedia, and Perpetua posted it on his LJ.

― jaymc (jaymc), Wednesday, 11 October 2006 19:32 (nineteen years ago)

yucatecan food >> oaxacan food, but i love both.

― a portal to squee heaven (Jody Beth Rosen), Wednesday, 11 October 2006 19:43 (nineteen years ago)

Chicago and San Francisco are my favorite places for Mexican food. I've been to San Antonio and Tucson, but never LA or, you know, Mexico. Chicago mostly for nostalgic, hung-over, leaving town breakfasts with friends.

Seattle had a good-ass Mexican place in Ballard that billed itself as Oaxanan food. I was actually sort of suprised, being Seattle and all, but damn. I don't know much about the Mexican population of Seattle, but driving across the state from eastern Washington we did stop in a town where every single person we saw was Mexican and all the signs for lawn care, craft sales, and lost kittens in the gas station were all in Spanish. I swear I saw a mariachi band at a baseball field there too.

― joygoat (joygoat), Thursday, 12 October 2006 02:40 (nineteen years ago)

Seattle's more than 3% mexican

― gabbneb (gabbneb), Thursday, 12 October 2006 02:57 (nineteen years ago)

which is half of SF, and more than NYC

― gabbneb (gabbneb), Thursday, 12 October 2006 03:00 (nineteen years ago)

and a fraction of Chicago

― gabbneb (gabbneb), Thursday, 12 October 2006 03:00 (nineteen years ago)

1) NYC is notoriously lacking in the Mexican population department (this might have changed in the last few years since I left, I don't know), and the fact that nearly everyone jumped on jaymc for knowing this is tremendously amusing.

2) NYC restaurants are, in general, mediocre at best. I admit I haven't been to that many of the very upscale ones. This is something I didn't realize until I left NYC.

3) I have never heard of a good upscale Mexican restaurant. This doesn't mean they don't exist. There's a pretty good mid-scale Mexican restaurant here in Portland, I suppose. It serves chocolate-covered grasshoppers. Amongst other things.

― Casuistry (Chris P), Thursday, 12 October 2006 03:00 (nineteen years ago)

my favorite restraunt around here is TACQUERIA MICHOACAN, chiefly for the totally sweet tacos de lengua and sopes de asada. plus they got tamarindo and mexican phone card posters in the windows and all that. i don't care that the parking lot smells like urine, i don't care that the tables are perpetually un-wiped off, i don't care about the "health inspection violation" ok because the PROOF IS IN THE PUDDING and the pudding are these awesome tacos

― ath (ath), Thursday, 12 October 2006 03:29 (nineteen years ago)

I wouldn't be so foolish as to claim that there's NO good Mexican food in Manhattan, but it's one cuisine I find surprisingly hard to find considering the size of the city. The only good "authentic" place I've been to was in Brooklyn. We do happen to have a great place right here in Jersey City though so when I get the craving I just walk over there.

BTW, years ago Robert Sietsema reviewed El Oaxaqueno in New Brunswick, NJ, and at the time he claimed there was no real Oaxacan place in NYC. That may have changed since then.

― A-ron Hubbard (Hurting), Thursday, 12 October 2006 03:37 (nineteen years ago)

2 good downtown NYC Mexicans

The Little (Bigger) Place, 61 Warren St
Tajin Restaurant, 85 Greenwich St

― gabbneb (gabbneb), Thursday, 12 October 2006 03:56 (nineteen years ago)

This is a very loopy thread.

― Ned Raggett (Ned), Thursday, 12 October 2006 04:23 (nineteen years ago)

no, very lupe

― timmy tannin (pompous), Thursday, 12 October 2006 04:27 (nineteen years ago)

Chris compared w/Dominicans and Puerto Ricans yeah NY doesn't have many Mexicans (approx 186,000) but the latter are actually the fastest growing demographic in the city

NYC restaurants are, in general, mediocre at best.

?? Um OK

― Euai Kapaui (tracerhand), Thursday, 12 October 2006 08:02 (nineteen years ago)

NYC restaurants are, in general, mediocre at best.

gonna take this w/a grain of salt, if not the whole shaker.

if nothing else, Mexican food in NYC has improved by leaps and bounds with the recent influx of immigrants. in the 80s it was all margarita mills pitching cheezy enchilada platters and grain alcohol margaritas to that class of folks we called yuppies at the time. around ten years ago the "fresco tortilla" chain + imitators started the revolution with decent & cleaner-tasting fast food Mexican. Nowadays there are authentic taquerias all over the boroughs, just take a walk down 9th avenue in hell's kitchen.

Lupe's on lower 6th ave in soho/tribeca has long been a good, inexpensive Mexican restaurant that's only gotten better in recent years. High-end Mexican is dicey, but I really enjoyed Pampano, a Mexican seafood spot in the east 40s when we went last year.

good neighborhood delis were long gone when I moved here in 1981!

― m coleman (lovebug starski), Thursday, 12 October 2006 09:59 (nineteen years ago)

Chris, I believe "notorious" is the wrong word in that sentence but whatever. There is a blatantly obvious geographical reason as to why the population of Mexicans would be higher on the west coast than east (and why the population of, say, Dominicans and Cubans would be much higher on the east coast), but as Tracer/m coleman already pointed out, they're by far the fastest growing demographic in the east now, which has lead to a lot better selection of Mexican food in the major eastern cities now, especially NYC.

Which has shockingly little to do with restaurants, what with the sheer number of white- (and other-) owned Mexican restaurants I've been to out west.

Also, sorry you went to so many shit restaurants, you must've lived on the Upper East Side too? Cos I've never had a problem finding good places to eat outside of that area, but it seems to be the trouble spot on this thread!

― Allyzay lives aprox. 200 feet away from a stadium (allyzay), Thursday, 12 October 2006 11:50 (nineteen years ago)

Euai Kapaui - the LITERALLY nacho-cheese-from-the-movie-theater from lobo that yr complaining about, is of course chili con queso - possibly the most common dish @ any texmex place. if yr eating mexican anywhere in texas or oklahoma or new mexico etc it just gets put on the table the w/chips when you come in (like salsa, ok).

and then there's this Tex Mex - any place that serves both sour cream and guacamole, either together or separately plz stop

and there's the liking castro's - which is one of those places that really shows the downside of authentico. it's the mexican equivalent of a really bad diner. super salty tough beef, scary pork, frozen guacamole. yucky.

nyc mexican is subpar but getting better - there's some pretty good spots but not tons of awesome taquerias everywhere like we need. which is why whenever i'm in california i devote myself fully to fish tacos.

el rey del solis pretty good - the garden is lovely in warm weather.

la taqueria is la closest good taquria to me. recommended: pablano burrito.

bonita is good too - i've heard rumors there's one opening in ft greene where that italian place on dekalb was (ceranos? i'm blanking).

― jhoshea megafauna (scoopsnoodle), Thursday, 12 October 2006 12:22 (nineteen years ago)

oh and in other news the broken angel caught on fire a couple days ago but is pretty much ok

― jhoshea megafauna (scoopsnoodle), Thursday, 12 October 2006 12:38 (nineteen years ago)

scoopnoodle, your rey de sol link leads to lobo instead.

― Ruud Comes to Haarvest (Ken L), Thursday, 12 October 2006 12:50 (nineteen years ago)

around ten years ago the "fresco tortilla" chain + imitators started the revolution with decent & cleaner-tasting fast food Mexican

i dunno, i can't remember having anything clean-tasting from a fresco tortilla? but i haven't tried them much, admittedly.

― gabbneb (gabbneb), Thursday, 12 October 2006 12:55 (nineteen years ago)

i think there was an original fresco tortilla that was good, and then about 500 crappy imitators. they all use press clippings from the first one, which iirc has been the subject of a lawsuit.

― lauren (laurenp), Thursday, 12 October 2006 12:57 (nineteen years ago)

the tasti d-lite of tacos

― gabbneb (gabbneb), Thursday, 12 October 2006 12:59 (nineteen years ago)

yoops! el rey del sol

― jhoshea megafauna (scoopsnoodle), Thursday, 12 October 2006 13:00 (nineteen years ago)

that place is gross.

― lauren (laurenp), Thursday, 12 October 2006 13:08 (nineteen years ago)

― jhoshea megafauna (scoopsnoodle), Thursday, 12 October 2006 13:13 (nineteen years ago)

the margaritas are good and the patio is super good. the food is, you know, kinda covered in cheese, but pretty good for that sort of thing.

― jhoshea megafauna (scoopsnoodle), Thursday, 12 October 2006 13:16 (nineteen years ago)

i don't like that sort of thing and i couldn't care less about eating outside, so my few trips to el rey (for bday parties) have not been enjoyable.

― lauren (laurenp), Thursday, 12 October 2006 13:29 (nineteen years ago)

it's opposite day!

― Euai Kapaui (tracerhand), Thursday, 12 October 2006 13:36 (nineteen years ago)

i think there was an original fresco tortilla that was good, and then about 500 crappy imitators.

the tasti d-lite of tacos

exactly.

some enterprising soul should bring cali-style fish tacos to NYC.

― m coleman (lovebug starski), Thursday, 12 October 2006 13:40 (nineteen years ago)

Euai Kapaui - the LITERALLY nacho-cheese-from-the-movie-theater from lobo that yr complaining about, is of course chili con queso - possibly the most common dish @ any texmex place.

If you are seriously calling what they serve there "chili con queso" and not exactly what Eli described it as, I can only say that one should take your further recommendations with an enormous, enormous grain of salt.

― Allyzay lives aprox. 200 feet away from a stadium (allyzay), Thursday, 12 October 2006 13:47 (nineteen years ago)

http://www.cwpost.liunet.edu/cwis/cwp/clas/bio/salt.jpg

― Laurel (Laurel), Thursday, 12 October 2006 13:49 (nineteen years ago)

scoopsnoodle i am really sorry you had bad food at castro's. it is honestly one of my favorite restaurants in all of new york. fluourescent bulbs, flies buzzing, laminated tablecloths and freaking delicious food. i MIGHT have believed you - places can have off nights - if you hadn't DEFENDED the unconscionable LOBO just prior!! you are letting your side down. LOBO serves mac and cheese! they have something called "the sassy margarita" FFS.

the 7th ave taqueria i have no problem with but it gets old fast and there is something way too tame about it for me. it is good and fresh but it's by the numbers.

try some mofongo dude. seriously. it is very very scary and it is made of pork but it just may change your life.

― Euai Kapaui (tracerhand), Thursday, 12 October 2006 13:50 (nineteen years ago)

All y'all motherfuckers should just make your own mexican food and stop complainin'. In all seriousness, I really don't get people who go to high-end Mexican joints, going back to the original topic (kinda). I mean, do you go to high-end Chinese joints too? What's the purpose of that?

― Allyzay lives aprox. 200 feet away from a stadium (allyzay), Thursday, 12 October 2006 13:51 (nineteen years ago)

(actually i don't think mofongo is mexican. oh well. maybe we can get into a huge chest-thumping brawl over who has the best puerto rican food! R.I.P la terrazza)

xpost in London the only Mexican joints are high-end, and they're actually Spanish and serve blinis.

― Euai Kapaui (tracerhand), Thursday, 12 October 2006 13:55 (nineteen years ago)

Amen to that, although Lauren claims to have found a good one.

― Ed (dali), Thursday, 12 October 2006 13:56 (nineteen years ago)

mofongo is puerto rican

i don't go to high-end chinese joints, but as a bad jew i don't much like chinese food anyway

― gabbneb (gabbneb), Thursday, 12 October 2006 13:57 (nineteen years ago)

If you are seriously calling what they serve there "chili con queso" and not exactly what Eli described it as

it is chili con queso - made w/velveta as served all over the texas, the sw etc. it's not the best i've had, but it is easily recognizable for what it is. btw didn't say lobo was good - the food is blah and the place is annoying. they do have these kinda funny huge margaritas tho.

euai - despite my dislike for it i have eaten at castro's a number of times, we'll just have to disagree on this one. i've never had their mofungo - maybe i'll have to give it a try as it is my favorite name for a dish ever (well not quite as favorite as plov, but still.).

I mean, do you go to high-end Chinese joints too? What's the purpose of that?

I can only say that one should take your further recommendations with an enormous, enormous grain of salt.

― jhoshea megafauna (scoopsnoodle), Thursday, 12 October 2006 14:06 (nineteen years ago)

Before I listen to any of y'all's recommendations, I am going to take a big bite of lime.

― Ruud Comes to Haarvest (Ken L), Thursday, 12 October 2006 14:16 (nineteen years ago)

Also, sorry you went to so many shit restaurants, you must've lived on the Upper East Side too?

I did, briefly! But I ate at all sorts of places south of 96th. Actually there were some pretty good and inexpensive places in Astoria when I lived there in the late 90s.

The fact that Mexicans are the fastest growing group in NYC seems just to reinforce the idea that there weren't many of them there to begin with. I didn't really mean "notorious" in the sense of some evil conspiracy to keep them out of town or anything, but if you think of NYC as some sort of cultural jigsaw puzzle, they were one large piece that was noticeably missing.

― Casuistry (Chris P), Thursday, 12 October 2006 15:17 (nineteen years ago)

it is chili con queso - made w/velveta as served all over the texas, the sw etc.

I feel really, really sorry for you if you actually think this is acceptable. Speaking as someone who spent many years in the southwest.

I also feel really, really sorry for you that you couldn't tell my previous post to this thread was a joke. But you're the one reppin' Velveeta.

xpost Chris, my point was that large piece was missing all over the east coast; the point you/jaymc are making seems odd to me, it'd be like LOL@Arizona for not having a huge Cuban population. Plus it seems unfortunately vaguely irrelevant to restaurant culture.

― Allyzay lives aprox. 200 feet away from a stadium (allyzay), Thursday, 12 October 2006 15:20 (nineteen years ago)

I think jhoshea might be one of the people this thread question is talking about!

― Euai Kapaui (tracerhand), Thursday, 12 October 2006 15:22 (nineteen years ago)

bonita is not good, sorry. totally got sick after eating there.

― hstencil (hstencil), Thursday, 12 October 2006 15:22 (nineteen years ago)

There are a lot of restaurants and joints on the west coast/southwest owned and operated by whites, asians, and mexicans. I've been to one run by a Korean guy that way actually not bad! So I guess what I'm saying is that the point seems weird to me. If your area has a higher population of X culture, you'd assume that your area's X culture restaurants are better but that doesn't always correlate. Especially since the person working in the kitchen making the food is 9 times out of 10 not actually Mexican/Italian/Chinese on any given day. The only types of restaurants that it ever seems to hold true that X Culture cooks X Culture's food all times are Japanese restaurants.

So, in closing, I think the point is weird and maybe romantic!

xpost Tracer I think you might be right. He is the zen answer to the zen question.

― Allyzay lives aprox. 200 feet away from a stadium (allyzay), Thursday, 12 October 2006 15:24 (nineteen years ago)

I feel really, really sorry for you if you actually think this is acceptable. Speaking as someone who spent many years in the southwest.

where? this is such a tex mex standard. can we get a ruling from a texan plz.

I also feel really, really sorry for you that you couldn't tell my previous post to this thread was a joke.

i have no idea what yr talking abt is this a joke help oh no. but thank you for feeling really really bad for me. wtf.

― jhoshea megafauna (scoopsnoodle), Thursday, 12 October 2006 15:35 (nineteen years ago)

they do have these kinda funny huge margaritas tho.

so does dallas bbq

yeah there's lots of velveeta cheese in TX texmex, but that doesn't make it good

― gabbneb (gabbneb), Thursday, 12 October 2006 15:43 (nineteen years ago)

VelVEEta?? I thought Monterey Jack shredded with cheddar was the proper TexMex substitution.

― Laurel (Laurel), Thursday, 12 October 2006 15:45 (nineteen years ago)

i don't know if it's actually velveeta - my palate is not sensitive to that product (:D) - but my understanding is that it might as well be

― gabbneb (gabbneb), Thursday, 12 October 2006 15:46 (nineteen years ago)

i didnt say it was good - i was just telling tracer that it was a standard dish not a weird movie theater nachos aberration created by a fake ass brooklyn mexican place.

― jhoshea megafauna (scoopsnoodle), Thursday, 12 October 2006 15:46 (nineteen years ago)

I really don't order queso b/c it's typically bad and for the whiteys. What jon is describing is standard at keg parties as far as I'm concerned.

― . . .and a soda on the side (Molly Jones), Thursday, 12 October 2006 15:47 (nineteen years ago)

they use velveeta cause it melts into a perfect goop - doesn't seperate, congeals slowly. the wonders of processed food.

― jhoshea megafauna (scoopsnoodle), Thursday, 12 October 2006 15:49 (nineteen years ago)

seriously though actual real queso in con queso dishes keeps getting rarer and rarer because apparently the velveeta version is right up there with voting republican and drinking bud light with shit huge numbers of americans prefer to do that boggles my goddamned mind every time

― TOMBOT (TOMBOT), Thursday, 12 October 2006 15:50 (nineteen years ago)

wasn't tracer talking about velveeta in a quesadilla? that really is a travesty. i did see that in a "mexican" restaurant in new york once. ::shudder::

― . . .and a soda on the side (Molly Jones), Thursday, 12 October 2006 15:51 (nineteen years ago)

If your area has a higher population of X culture, you'd assume that your area's X culture restaurants are better but that doesn't always correlate.

Ally, this is what I was saying up top about (e.g.) the southwest having its own particular Mexican-food culture and standards, authentic or not. It's not just a matter of having more Mexicans around to make the food -- it's more a matter of having Mexican food being enough of a thing in the area that styles and standards can develop. Hopefully that makes sense. I think one of the reasons NYC Mexican isn't often good is that NYC tends to have zero idea what kind of Mexican food it's going to eat, so you get loads of places half-assing it in any given direction, and eaters who aren't likely to demand any particular type of quality. (E.g. you can serve a "burrito" around here that's just 90% brown rice in a spinach wrap and call that "Mexican," and nobody's gonna argue with you too much.)

One reason Florencia 13 is so damn tasty = it's so damn self-conscious about recreating a fully developed and fine-tuned regional Mexican style. Whereas most places in NYC seem to me to just be casting around wildly with no idea how to go about it, with the result that lots of the cheaper Mexican places are basically selling health-food burritos -- you know, rice + whole beans + dry not-very-spiced steak + a tortilla that seems like it should be on a salad wrap at Whole Foods + some salsa.

― nabisco (nabisco), Thursday, 12 October 2006 16:20 (nineteen years ago)

I think we can all agree that mission style burritos are the number one food in the solar system tho rite

― TOMBOT (TOMBOT), Thursday, 12 October 2006 16:21 (nineteen years ago)

The simplest "Mexican" food in NYC seems fine to me -- but then, in Michigan we like our "Mexican" in "taco" form, in a hard corn shell with iceberg lettuce, cheddar cheese, and Old El Paso ground beef seasoning. Therefore this whole conversation is happening several miles above my head.

― Laurel (Laurel), Thursday, 12 October 2006 16:25 (nineteen years ago)

there's a place opening around the corner that claims it's real new york city barbecue. i'm v worried abt what this might mean.

― jhoshea megafauna (scoopsnoodle), Thursday, 12 October 2006 16:29 (nineteen years ago)

i'm going to open a puerto rican restaurant and call it the latin kings

― jhoshea megafauna (scoopsnoodle), Thursday, 12 October 2006 16:33 (nineteen years ago)

Americans like Mexican food!

― Steve Shasta (Steve Shasta), Thursday, 12 October 2006 16:37 (nineteen years ago)

Yay!

(Someone seriously mentioned Velveeta? Oh dear.)

― Ned Raggett (Ned), Thursday, 12 October 2006 16:39 (nineteen years ago)

I AM JUST TELLING IT LIKE IT IS PEOPLE

― jhoshea megafauna (scoopsnoodle), Thursday, 12 October 2006 16:46 (nineteen years ago)

GOOD, I THINK WE CAN ALL AGREE THE BEST FOOD IS IN NYC AND NOT IN THE PROVINCES.

― ▒█▄█ ▄▄▄ ▒█▄█ , Thursday, 12 October 2006 17:26 (nineteen years ago)

there's a place opening around the corner that claims it's real new york city barbecue. i'm v worried abt what this might mean.

Dead hookerz

― The Bearnaise-Stain Bears (Rock Hardy), Thursday, 12 October 2006 17:30 (nineteen years ago)

crivens, a meme

― Ed (dali), Thursday, 12 October 2006 17:31 (nineteen years ago)

From the way I just ate my burrito from Chipotle you'd think I was one a them snakes what dislocates its jaw and just wraps itself around the food like

― TOMBOT (TOMBOT), Thursday, 12 October 2006 17:52 (nineteen years ago)

Chipotle >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> Qdoba

― TOMBOT (TOMBOT), Thursday, 12 October 2006 17:52 (nineteen years ago)

NYC/SF latino cuisine >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> DC latino cuisine

― TOMBOT (TOMBOT), Thursday, 12 October 2006 17:53 (nineteen years ago)

I just want a big bucket of Chipotle's lime-cilantro rice.

― milo z (mlp), Thursday, 12 October 2006 17:57 (nineteen years ago)

Punching yourself in the stomach a few times >>>> Chipotle

― Eppy (Eppy), Thursday, 12 October 2006 18:04 (nineteen years ago)

Not true!

― TOMBOT (TOMBOT), Thursday, 12 October 2006 18:05 (nineteen years ago)

IS CHIPOLTE "BARBACOA" RILLY BOILED COW HEAD???

― Dr. Alicia D. Titsovich (sexyDancer), Thursday, 12 October 2006 18:07 (nineteen years ago)

l.a. restaurants >>> chicago restaurants >>>>> nyc restaurants

― gear (gear), Thursday, 12 October 2006 18:11 (nineteen years ago)

xpost Well I do enjoy venveeta and Bud Light.

― Eppy (Eppy), Thursday, 12 October 2006 18:15 (nineteen years ago)

Er velveeta. Venveeta is Dave Eggers' pet name for his wife.

― Eppy (Eppy), Thursday, 12 October 2006 18:15 (nineteen years ago)

Real Mexican food is high-end. If you eat at restaurants in Mexixan City, it's much like French food, heavy on sauces. Which is why I'm not a big fan of it.

oh god this thread

― Mary (Mary), Thursday, 12 October 2006 18:16 (nineteen years ago)

that's the food of the Castilian oppressors.

― milo z (mlp), Thursday, 12 October 2006 18:18 (nineteen years ago)

I've had great real mex food on Elizabeth St too

I just want a big bucket of Chipotle's lime-cilantro rice.

I'm convinced that stuff is coated in high fructose corn syrup. something they serve is, at least

― gabbneb (gabbneb), Thursday, 12 October 2006 19:04 (nineteen years ago)

Adjunct to the original question: Why do people go out of their way to eat at a Indian/Mexican/Cajun/spicy-menu restaurant and then spend hours giving the wait staff a hard time because the food is spicy.

― Elvis Telecom (Chris Barrus), Thursday, 12 October 2006 19:09 (nineteen years ago)

xpost Chris, my point was that large piece was missing all over the east coast; the point you/jaymc are making seems odd to me, it'd be like LOL@Arizona for not having a huge Cuban population.

Ally, but:

Is there a sizeable _____________ population in NYC?

...is all I'm saying, if you see what I'm saying.

― Casuistry (Chris P), Thursday, 12 October 2006 19:11 (nineteen years ago)

i think we can all agree that food.

food.

yes.

agreement.

― hstencil (hstencil), Thursday, 12 October 2006 19:18 (nineteen years ago)

http://www.dustygroove.com/images/products/m/mfdoom~~~~~_mmfood~~~_101b.jpg

― gear (gear), Thursday, 12 October 2006 19:19 (nineteen years ago)

-- Elvis Telecom (quartzcit...), October 12th, 2006.

The other day in the local Taqueria, some dude with a kid started arguing with the owner about the fact that he doesn't serve guacamole. And there's a Chili's like five blocks from there too.

― A-ron Hubbard (Hurting), Thursday, 12 October 2006 19:20 (nineteen years ago)

gear otm.

― hstencil (hstencil), Thursday, 12 October 2006 19:22 (nineteen years ago)

i have the opposite problem, indian and thai places never make my food as hot and spicy as i want it. it's gotten to the point that i have to subtly emasculate the waiter to get it hot enough.

― ▒█▄█ ▄▄▄ ▒█▄█ , Thursday, 12 October 2006 20:18 (nineteen years ago)

u tough

― hstencil (hstencil), Thursday, 12 October 2006 20:20 (nineteen years ago)

i had a guy send back a dish that was two fillets of fish with the head still on eyeballs and all because it tasted too "FISHY".

― researching ur life (grady), Thursday, 12 October 2006 20:27 (nineteen years ago)

you been to Sri Pra Phai, mike?

― Dan Selzer (Dan Selzer), Thursday, 12 October 2006 20:28 (nineteen years ago)

nah, i don't think. i've had thai in woodside before, so maybe?

stencil, i'm overstating. it usually goes like this:

me: i'd like it hot
waiter: ok
me: no, real spicy, like what you ate before you started your shift
waiter: i don't think you could handle that
me: oh, i didn't know this is one of those trendy "fusion" thai places..
waiter (evil grin): no problem, we'll make it very spicy sir

― ▒█▄█ ▄▄▄ ▒█▄█ , Thursday, 12 October 2006 20:38 (nineteen years ago)

there's a bunch of other Thai places in Woodside, but spp is unique.

― Dan Selzer (Dan Selzer), Thursday, 12 October 2006 20:41 (nineteen years ago)

supposedly most authentic that outside of thailand...most of the dishes there don't look or taste like the kind of thai food you get at every other that restaurant everywhere else in america. I've had problems with dishes being too spicy for me there even when I asked for mild.

― Dan Selzer (Dan Selzer), Thursday, 12 October 2006 20:45 (nineteen years ago)

I mean, do you go to high-end Chinese joints too? What's the purpose of that?

????!!!!

Are you serious, Ally. Chinese cuisine is one of the most varied and exqusite on the planet. High-end Chinese food is amazing, and incidentally, there have been some fancy Mexican and pan-latino places like the late Alma (before Johnny decided to move to Tahoe) which were excellent and well worth it.

― M. White (Miguelito), Thursday, 12 October 2006 20:49 (nineteen years ago)

Amma

http://newyork.citysearch.com/profile/35158451

Is one hell of an upscale Indian restaurant. Devi is almost as good.

Never had upscale mexican in NYC, the only good mexican I've had has either come from a truck, or places in Sunset Park or Sunnyside. There are good tacquerias in manhattan, but they're all hole in the walls.

― Dan Selzer (Dan Selzer), Thursday, 12 October 2006 21:05 (nineteen years ago)

Real Thai food is horrible! I basically prefer the American version to any kind of authentic food, except for Japanese.

― Mary (Mary), Thursday, 12 October 2006 22:12 (nineteen years ago)

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