Tag: mexican food

Restaurant Review: Domo Taco

Details: I went to the holiday stall at Bryant Park in New York City. The official site is http://www.domotaco.com/

Domo Taco is a place that specializes in tacos and burrito bowls, but with an Asian twist. I came down to Bryant Park for lunch again and decided to try this place out. I’ve actually been to the food truck before and I think I got a burrito bowl.

This time, I ordered the three tacos for nine dollars deal. I got the teriyaki steak, the tempura fish, and the five spice pork tacos. They were all pretty good, but the steak was by far the best taco. If I could go back and order again, I would probably just get three steak tacos.

Score: 5.3/10 All right place to get lunch. I would come back for a burrito bowl or their steak tacos.

Restaurant Review: Dos Toros Tacqueria v. Chipotle Mexican Grill vs. Qdoba Mexican Eats

Details: All three restaurants have multiple locations. Official websites are as follows: https://chipotle.com/, https://www.dostoros.com/, and https://www.qdoba.com/

I’ve eaten Chipotle so much that I figured I might as well write something about it. Although it needs little explanation, Chipotle is a chain of Mexican (sort of) restaurants that serve burritos, burrito bowls, tacos and chips. You generally pick your rice, a meat and then some toppings (cheese, pico de gallo, lettuce, hot sauce, peppers and onions). Oh, and they have guacamole which costs around $2.50 for a freaking scoop. It’s simple but pretty good. The Chipotle company generally advertises itself as a healthy to eat option, but recently they’ve had an E. coli scare and the price of their stock has dropped. With that said, every time I got by a Chipotle in New York City, they do not seem short on business.

To me, Chipotle is just fuel. It’s a balanced bunch of food groups that solves the problem of hunger. It’s not exactly the healthiest thing to eat, but healthier than fast food (McDonald’s, Burger King, Taco Bell, etc.). Plus, it’s relatively fast and convenient, perfect for your lunch break if you ignore the ridiculous lines Chipotle has.

Dos Toros is essentially the same as Chipotle except with some small difference. The primary difference is that its slightly more expensive. Chipotle is about $9.00 for a chicken burrito bowl without guacamole, Dos Toros is around $10.00. They also crush and sprinkle chips in your burrito bowl if you want it. As for taste, Chipotle tastes slightly better.

Of the three Mexican fast casual restaurants in the title, Qdoba is easily my favorite. The primary reason for this is because they have a melted cheese sauce. I can’t count the number of times I walked into a Chipotle wishing they had some sort of nacho cheese sauce, but they don’t and neither does Dos Toros. Furthermore, Qdoba is slightly cheaper and tastes slightly better than the other two in my opinion. Unfortunately, there are no Qdoba’s in Manhattan so if you want to try it, you need to get out of the city.

Qdoba Score: 6.3/10 The winner of Mexican fast casual, but fewer locations than Chipotle and no locations in Manhattan.

Chipotle Score: 6/10 Second place.

Dos Toros Score: 5.8/10 Last place.

Restaurant Review: Toloache (NYC)

Official site: http://toloachenyc.com/media/toloache.html

Came here for dinner but forgot it was restaurant week. Oh, well. We went to the location on Thompson Street.

Normally, I group most Mexican food with Italian food; just different forms of the same three or four ingredients. Nothing special. Sometimes though, I’m surprised by something that is just a little better than what you normally get with these kinds of foods. This was one of those times.

I had the prix fixe menu, which came with a quesadilla de buratta, the entrana (steak), and the flan de dulce de leche.

The quesadilla was all right, but it had this citrus-y dressing on it which made it great. The entrana was perfectly cooked steak, but what really made this dish amazing was the brussel sprouts. The steak came with these amazing tasting brussel sprout salad in some kind of seasoning and dressing. I could’ve eaten bowls of just those brussel sprouts. The flan was also great. Good texture and tasted even better with the berries.

My friend had some tacos, a margarita and Mexican corn. She said it was good, too.

Score: 8.2/10. Looking forward to coming back again.

Restaurant Review: Rosa Mexicano (near Union Square, NYC)

Went here over the weekend. The restaurant is advertised as fine dining Mexican food. I don’t know about fine dining, but it was good.

The space is very large. There are high ceilings, and a separate dining and bar area. I enjoyed the color scheme as well.

Sangria was all right.

Service was nice.

If you come here you must order the table side guacamole. That’s really the main point of coming here. If you don’t order that, you might as well go somewhere else… like Taco Bell or something.

We also ordered the Flautas de Pollo (roller tortillas filled with chicken, covered in salsa and cream), Costillas de Res (beef tacos that come with a side of Mexican corn), and the Pescado de Mahi Mahi (fish tacos, come with Mexican corn). Everything was really good. I hate spicy food and there was some spice in there, but still good.

Score: 6.8/10 Good place for slightly better Mexican. It’s definitely not fine dining, but still good. The interior is the most noteworthy aspect of this restaurant.

Official site: http://www.rosamexicano.com/newyorkcity/unionsquare/index.php?action=page&id=1976&group_id=1955&location_id=9

Restaurant Review: Korilla BBQ

Details: Located at 55th and Broadway, New York, NY 10019, among other locations. Official site is http://korillabbq.com/

I’ve been to the Korilla food truck a number of times now so I figure I should write a review. The Korilla food truck is pretty much the same concept as Chipotle and Indikitch, except with Korean flavors. I’ve been to the food truck a number of times, but I’ve never been to the brick and mortar location near St. Marks.

The food truck gives you two options: bowl or burrito. Like Chipotle, it’s the same ingredients, just different forms. You then choose your meat (bulgogi, pork, chicken, or tofu), rice (kim chee rice or sticky rice), cheese or pico de gallo, and a small assortment of pickled vegetables. You also get to choose a sauce. The truck moves around the city and you can track it on their twitter page (https://twitter.com/korillabbq). The price comes in at around $10, which is about Chipotle and Indikitch prices.

It’s pretty good eating and convenient for those of us working in the city. There is slightly less food here than at Chipotle or Indikitch, but it’s nice to get some Korean flavors in an area of the city with few Korean restaurants. Definitely convenient for those working in the city and tired of the restaurants in the surrounding area of your office. While I would avoid eating this on my days off, it is a nice thing to have for lunch on a work day.

If you want a recommendation on what to get, I usually get the spicy pork with kim chee rice, with everything, and with Korilla sauce (a kind of Chipotle mayonnaise). I don’t normally like spicy food, but this wasn’t too spicy.

Score: 6.8/10