Taco King Truck | Corner of Bleecker & Thompson Greenwich Village, NYC

Taco King Truck

Corner of Bleecker & Thompson

Greenwich Village, NYC 

If you can endure the cold, are in the Village, then go check out this taco truck.  It's parked on the corner of Bleecker and Thompson Street.  

Here's the skinny: They have a decent carne asada taco, definitely worth checking out.  The portions are healthy, so ordering two will be be enough.  The red salsa packs a nice light punch, if you want to control the amount of salsa you make sure you convey "salsa on the side." 

The truck is usually parked at this corner starting at 12pm,  straight through the evenings.  Might be best to go off-peak hours since it's very close to NYU.

Carne asada tacos start at $2.50, and it's $3.00 for beef tongue. 

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Pinche Taqueria 333 LaFayette Street, NYC, NY 212-343-9977 (Between Houston & Bleecker)

I wanted to hate this place, I really did. Why? Because it’s in a fashionable part of town and I heard some gringo owns it that’s why. No rational explanation, just good old fashion hatin.’ To me good taquerias exist in the barrio, off a cart powered by a propane gas tank, and not on the corner of LaFayette and Bleeker Street.  But, I was proven wrong.  Damn I hate being wrong.

This place definitely has an authentic taste. I ordered four tacos and had them in this order:

Pollo Asado

Carnitas

Al Pastor

Carne Asada

Love the single tortilla serving, if you’re not serving tiny tacos then there is no need for the second tortilla. This place automatically serves your tacos with guacamole, and of course cebolla y cilantro (If you read this blog regularly you should know what this is, if not google it).

Their chicken taco tastes like it’s suppose to… charbroiled meat (a good thing). The carnitas  (braised pork) has flavor!!!   The Al Pastor, this for some reason seems to be a tricky taco for taqueros to master, Pinche Taqueria does an excellent job at executing.  Finally the carne asada taco, the classic.  If I would have just ordered carne asada, this would have been enough.

If you find yourself in this part of town, definitely stop by.  Tacos start at $2.95. They have a 2nd taqueria on Mott Street as well. 

* If you're from the West Coast and reading this blog post and are shocked by the taco prices, I blame NYC real estate for the expensive pricing. 


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Big Enchilada 28 East 12th Street 212.627.7950 between University Pl. and 5th Ave. UPDATE: OUT OF BUSINESS

The Big Enchilda is not really big. Before walking in I had my doubts about this place. Once inside I saw a Mexican flag, old ranchera music coming out of the kitchen, a faded poster of La Virgen de Guadalupe, and on a small tv set vintage World Cup games were being televised. I thought, okay maybe this place is "authentic" as they have positioned themselves... NOT!

It came across as TexMex on a budget, the asking price was unrealistic and overpriced for what it is. The steak taco came with too many fixings, in fact I think it could of easily passed for a vegetarian taco. The chicken quesadilla was uneventful. Sure, my lunch was made by Mexican nationals, but the overall execution was mediocre and it might as well have been made by two recent Cambodian immigrant arrivals who knew nothing about comida mexicana.

My overall thoughts on Big Enchilada, I think you know where I stand.

Florencia 13 (Sullivan Street between Bleeker and Houston)

Florencia 13 (Flow-rhen-cea Trez-say) on Sullivan Street in the village is named after one of LA’s oldest street gangs which is concentrated in South Central. The gang got its name from the major street Florence Avenue which runs West to East. The restaurant’s décor radiates Chicano and Pachuco lifestyle culture which is an anthropological study of its own.

The restaurant names its dishes after LA neighborboods (ie, Echo Park Enchiladas or Elysian Park Flautas). The El Sereno Al Pastor Tacos are basically Tacos Al Pastor which is a rubbed pork with marinade taco, pretty good, reminded me of home. I also tried their enchiladas and steak tacos which are good. I’ve been to some places here in NYC where their enchilada sauce came straight out of can (Que horor)! This is a good place to get your feet wet and waaaaaayyyyyy better than that in-authentic place “Benny’s Burritos,” their only down fall is they don’t serve Tacos de lengua. This place is definitely worth a try.