It might have started with this but when I say I miss Mexicans, I mean being in such close proximity to Mexico (iving in Cali) that we are flushed with traditional or variations of great Mexican food. Besides Boston and the rest of New England, New York is about as far away (in the US) you can get from Mexico. Cross culture tends to affect those neighborhoods and environments that are closer to the epicenter of it’s origin and NY gets a slow trickle of Mexican culture when compared to “Old Mexico” that was California.
Sure you have Rosa Mexicano or Hell’s Kitchen, serving the latest in haute Mexican food born out of the future of cuisine from Mexico City. Rosa and Hells’ are serving Mexican food much the same that you could call Peep serving Thai food, Tao serving Asian food, or Sushi Samba serving Brazilian cuisine. Manhattan doesn’t have a very good offering of traditional Mexican and I’m not talking Tex-Mex (ala Chevey’s) or Chipotle either. You really have to get to the outer boughs of Queens, Brooklyn etc. to get something more “home-made”, fresh and delish.
This all came up because this morning I made Chilaquiles . A dish taught to me in the restaurant kitchens I worked at earlier on. The Mexican line, grill our sous chefs used to make this for breakfast or lunch while we were working. When we didn’t have as much time, they’d put together Migas as well and very it up with the green salsa, chorizo or different types of peppers. Both start with fried tortillas and very from there.
While we were touring Napa this last weekend I passed a Mexican market on the out skirts of Sonoma. After a quick illegal u-turn, and freaking out E, I pulled up to front because I was eager to replace my stock of carne asada spice mix I had brought over from CA. Of course the brand El Mexicano is huge in CA, so I had no trouble getting two different variants (hot an regular) as well as stocking up on flan (a rich caramel custard), horchata (an aguas frescas made of rice, barley, vanilla and sugar) and some tamarindo candies.
NY certainly is diverse and if I wanted to, I’m sure I could find all the above in some hood of the city. For now, I’ll settle for my local favorites, Florencia 13 and my taco stand, Calexico. Until a restaurant can satisfy my cravings, I’ll make good Mexican food at home…
Part of my job is to entertain customers. Regrettably yes I know, but it’s not like hanging out with your best friends; some of these people are assholes or just not the type of people I’d spend 5 hours of my time with. However, hitting all of NYC’s steak restaurants is a nice bonus for my time. I’ve had the opportunity to go to some of the best and I’m still making my rounds. Just recently I took some clients out to a new spot (to me) Quality Meats. Unfortunately the meat did not live up to the name, although the sides were really good and there were some interesting aspects of the dining experience. I’d probably recommend the spot to certain people but it’s not going in my top 5. Of all the spots I’ve tried so far, those in bold are the go to Steak spots in NYC and those in italics are honorable mentions noted below: 
This time around the trend springs from Korea and contrary to popular belief, the originator is 
Pinkberry took over the nation and quickly opened up shop in LA and now 3 shops in New York (Greenwich Village, Chelsea, Little Italy), but Red Mango is making a claim from it’s Asian fame but quickly following this trend and opening up right behind them. In fact a Pinkberry and Red Mango have each opened up on either side of each other on Bleeker St. in Greenwich Village. I decided to give each one a shot for the first time this weekend to see what all the hype is about.
