Los Tacos No. 1 is open

The long-awaited Los Tacos No. 1 is open at the corner of Warren and Church (136 Church).  (Thanks to D. and E. for the snaps.) These guys have gotten raves from food bloggers and writers across the city, so I would head over now for a taste. (Founded by two Californians and a Mexican at the Chelsea Market, this is their fourth location in the city.) There are no seats, just counters, and a simple menu: tacos, tostadas, quesadillas and mulas, made with steak, pork, chicken or cactus, plus Mexican sodas in glass bottles.

NB: the flour tortilla is what’s making waves among the foodie set — for its quality and its cultural significance.

More TK soon.

 

10 Comments

  1. I am very excited by this news. I eat at the Times Square outpost often. Can’t believe they finally opened in our neighborhood!

  2. My first time to a Los Tacos No. 1 location. The spot was pretty crowded but the line moved quickly. Not a place to linger during lunch hour. Food was fresh and extremely tasty. I will def be back.

  3. I live around the corner and was excited to check this place out. Alas, the only vegetarian option is cactus. I have no problem with cactus unto itself, but it’s not a protein – it doesn’t make much sense to replace barbecued meat with a green vegetable and pretend that’s a logical substitution. I’d have been willing to give it a chance anyway, but there was a line out the door, so it’ll have to wait for another time. I do wonder, though, whether – if the chef were a vegetarian – he’d put a little more thought into incorporating vegan meat substitutes, like a spicy vegan sausage or some sort of marinated barbecue vegan product, into his recipes. Cactus feels like an afterthought, a way of saying, sure, there’s something vegetarian, but you probably won’t like it and no one’s really ordering it, so why don’t you just kill an animal and devour its roasted flesh with the rest of us and to heck with the fate of the planet? And frankly, I hate that attitude and I’m fed up with it.

    • This is moronic. I don’t ask for the chef at a vegetarian restaurant to also offer meat.

    • Completely agree, not enough meat options.

    • Agreed. Too many venues just treat the vegetarian/vegan “options” as an after-thought. This is gradually changing, though, but still, I find it best to go to restaurants that are completely vegetarian or vegan. That way you also know that you won’t “accidentally” be served dead animals in the dish (happened to me a couple of times).

      I’m surprised there aren’t more vegetarian places in the neighborhood. It’s the main reason we don’t go dining out much and generally cook at home. The Village has lots of such options, in contrast (Souen, PeaceFood, Red Bamboo, GoZen, Dirt Candy, Organic Grill, Caravan of Dreams, Superiority Burger, Divya’s, Nix, Blossom, etc.). At least there are a few in Chinatown (Bodhi, Buddha Bodai, Vegetarian Dim Sum House), but I can’t think of any in TriBeCa.

    • Glad to see you’re doing well and still finding plenty of grave social injustices to fight the good fight against Will! Hope NYC to 190 let you raise your rates.

    • This is a taco joint, bro…and they do a pretty decent job of bringing the cuisine (and culture) to NYC – which is, in general, a Mexican food wasteland littered with poorly facsimiled renditions.

      “Love” your logic – “Hey, let’s make this all about me and my chosen dietary preferences and misplaced (and possibly misguided) philosophies…and to h3ll with a talented chef’s rendition of Mexican cuisine.”

      Meat is delicious. Los Tacos No. 1 is delicious. Other people agree with me and vote with their wallets – which is evidenced by the long lines at all of their locations. Actually, I prefer that they’re “keeping things real,” because the lines will be marginally shorter without the presence of egocentric vegans with their self-absorbed dogmas.

      And lastly, I hope you’ve eaten lots of tortillas in your lifetime – more often than not, they (or at least the good ones) are made with lard.

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