A Great New Pastrami Taco Arrives From Mexico City
Three new places worth knowing about
Cariñito pops up for six months in Greenwich Village
For decades, our comrades in Los Angeles have been turning out untraditional dishes utilizing pastrami — big smoky hunks of it, principally in burritos, but also in things like burgers, shakshuka, tacos, and quesadillas. In the meantime, most Big Apple restaurants and delis stick to sandwiches, with the pink cured meat appearing occasionally in other creative contexts — such as the gargantuan pastrami rib at Tatiana, and, sprinkled with pickled mustard seeds in a taco at Empellon Taqueria.
Now a new pastrami taco appears on the horizon, from a pop-up that promises to stay around for six months, so we can at least get to know it. Cariñito NYC, at 86 University Place south of Union Square, is an offshoot of a celebrated Mexico City taqueria. The place previously hosted pop ups in Singapore, Paris, and other locales. The name is a term of endearment — something like “little sweety” — and the menu offers Cantonese and Thai flourishes, the tacos heaped with sauces and herbs.
What is it about pastrami that it marries so well with Mexican antojitos? Like cecina and machaca, it’s a cured meat of concentrated flavor, but it also bears a similarity to Texas barbecue, and the union of the two flavor sets makes the perfect taco filling, at once instantly familiar and emphatically apropos.
Here, New York elements are incorporated, too — such as pastrami that’s been grilled rather than steamed, in a taco called “What she’s having” — referencing When Harry Met Sally, I guess. The taco has a thick strip of pastrami topped with fresh green chiles, frizzled onions, pickled cucumbers, and cilantro, with a schmear of Chinese mustard — the long-forgotten condiment that used to keep company with the duck sauce in the carryout bag. Somehow, the flavor of pastrami shines through, and this, despite the steep ($9) price for a moderate-size taco, is a good alternative to a pastrami sandwich if you’re jonesing for the big “P.”
The Isaan taco, with pork belly, mint leaves, cracklings, and jaew sauce — their idea of a Thai flavoring scheme — was even better, with the pork belly fatty and steamed. Aside from a handful of other Thai- and Cantonese-leaning tacos, and Thai guacamole, there’s also a “crunchywrap” in emulation of Taco Bell’s crunchwrap, loaded with ground beef in a folded, fried, and grilled flour tortilla. At $15, it was a rich repast, but half would have been enough for me.
The invasion of the hand-held burekas
Small squarish or triangular Turko-Israeli burekas — rather than the bigger and rounder Balkan ones — have been enjoying their moment in the desert sun. First came Taboonia, a Druze bakery in the Wholesale District at 832 Sixth Avenue. It offers potato or cheese-stuffed rectangular bureks sprinkled with sesame seeds at $8 each. The drawback: The pastries are sold at room temperature.
Soon thereafter, Buba Bureka appeared at 193 Bleecker Street in Greenwich Village. While Taboonia also peddles Druze pizzas and pita-based sandwiches and desserts, Buba (“grandma”) sticks to burekas. Four in number (cheese, potato, corn, and spinach-artichoke), they come on a platter (or in a box) furnished with what makes one into a full meal. The burekas are triangular and bigger by about 50 percent than Taboonia’s. Priced at $16 each, the extras include pickles, olives, a boiled egg, tahini, zhoug (cilantro-garlic sauce), and crushed fresh tomatoes — making an irresistible meal.
The burekas are served hot, but usually reheated — sometimes to the point of being burned. The spinach-artichoke turns out to be the best. And now that the long lines of its early days have dwindled, you may be able to get one without much waiting.
Giant Korean lunches in the Financial District
Koba is a small local chain of fast-food Korean eateries that opened a branch last year at 136 William Street, steps south of the Fulton Street subway station. It offers a compact menu of Korean standards — barbecue, dumplings, gim-bap (nori rolls), fried rice, and the ubiquitous bowls, all priced at less than $20. But the best deal on the menu should only be ordered if you want a gigantic, belt-busting meal, or drag along a friend to share it with: the lunchbox set ($20).
It comes highly organized in a lacquered wooden box and includes four fried pork or vegetarian dumplings, a large serving of rice, a choice of three vegetables from a list that runs to spinach, carrots, Korean squash, bellflower roots, mushrooms, and spicy radish (selection varies by day, but no kimchee when we went), and choice of main course, which included bulgogi, kalbi, marinated kalbi, spicy chicken, and spicy squid. Though there are a bewildering number of choices to make — soup can be substituted for dumplings, for example — and the bulgogi is inexplicably better than the tough marinated kalbi, the entire meal totally rocked, especially since they give you a marshmallow moon pie for dessert.
Love the Cariñito mothership in CDMX!