Tacos & Not So Random Run-ins At El Mercadito in Jackson Heights
Channeling CDMX on La Roosie
Bryam Morales brings the flavors of CDMX to Roosevelt Avenue.
There are so many delicious things to eat in Queens and so little time that I often suffer from foodie FOMO, case in point the Mexican pizza at El Mercadito located in a minimall on 84 and Roosevelt, where in addition to buying groceries, meat, and Mexican food at the “little market” in the front one can get a piercing or permanent eyebrow tattoos.
El Mercadito no longer makes Mexican pizza, but I was pleased to learn from my pal Rob Martinez that they started serving tacos fashioned after those from newly minted CDMX Michelin star taqueria El Califa de Leon. I was eager to try them because I had a terrible version of these simple grilled meat tacos at Tacombi a while back where the meat was rather tough, and I like redemption meals almost as much or more than tacos.
Reminds me of the Ray Brown tune “Taco with a Pork Chop.”
El Mercadito makes its own tortillas using a scaled down version of a tortilla machine, so I was quite excited when I ordered two tacos, a gaonera–beef tenderloin–and a thin smoked pork chop. While I was waiting for my tacos I perused the fixings bar, which contained several salsas as well as rajas. I dressed both tacos with the salsa verde and a bit of guacamole and fried serranos. The meats were tender and perfectly grilled, but the smoked pork chop was truly excellent. While I was eating, fellow food aficionado Howard Rappaport walked in and ordered the same two tacos dressing his with rajas and salsa. “Wow those are spicy,” he said of the strips of pepper and onion as I recalled that Bryan Chunton from Zaab Zaab, no wimp when it comes to fiery fare, had said the same.
Later I chatted with El Mercadito’s young owner Bryam Morales, who it turns out is the son of the family that runs the Homemade Taqueria chain, no wonder the chuleta ahumada tasted so familiar. For the record Howard said he prefers Bryam’s smoked pork chop because it’s thinner and he’s right. At $4 a taco, it made for an inexpensive and tasty Friday lunch.