Tacos el Bronco

I would be surprised if anyone tells me that haven't had some sort of Mexican food in their lives.  Mexican food is just a part of American culture nowadays as the hamburger.  Tacos, burritos, enchiladas, taquitos, salsa, mole, nachos, tamales, quesadillas, and guacamole.  Is your mouth watering yet?  Mine is too.

But like many cuisines across the United States corporate monkeys looking to make a quick buck destroyed the image of Mexican cuisine.  Chain and fast food restaurants like Taco Bell, On the Border, Chilis, and even Chipotle are using sub-par ingredients, dismal food pairings, and charging customers an arm and leg for it.  What's even more surprising?  People are willing to pay for it.

Mexican food is about love.  Mexican food is about simplicity.  It's not about deep-frying a burrito and covering it in three types of cheese, with a side of "Spanish" rice and beans.  It's about taking quality meats, slow-braising them until tender, and serving them inside soft, warm tortillas with onions, cilantro, and lime.  It's about taking homemade masa (corn-based dough), stuffing it with braised meats, and steaming it inside a banana leaf until tender.   In Mexico they fill their burritos only with meat and refried beans.  Whoever came up with the idea of stuffing rice, meat, salsa, sour cream, lettuce, avocado, beans, and cheese into a burrito is just looking to scam you by making you pay $12 for it.  Mexican food doesn't need all that.  As long as you have a passionate cook that knows how to handle the ingredients, you realize you don't need all the extras.  You taste the love that they put in with their own hands.




I am always on the lookout for new places to try in New York City or the surrounding areas.  Last month while doing my research I came across a place on Yelp that earned itself 4.5 stars, with pretty much every contributor going crazy.  That place was Tacos El Bronco, located in Sunset Park, Brooklyn.  The food at this restaurant, with its open kitchen, better-than-average decor, and thirty seat dining room, is as authentic as it gets, and you feel the warmth the second you walk through the front door.

What has yelpers going crazy is the TEB food truck, which is located just 2 blocks from the restaurant.  The truck, marketed towards night owls, is open only from 8pm until 5:30am.  Even at 11pm, long after an evenings dinner rush, long lines form outside the truck.  Patrons wait patiently for the trucks' fare, and in this case its just tacos and sodas.  What keeps them coming back?  The amazing taste, and the $1.50 a taco price tag.

On this particular night I decided to try out the restaurant, which has more normal hours, yet I still dined at 9pm.  Many reviews of the food truck tell you you may have a hard time ordering if you don't know Spanish. I didn't have that problem at the restaurant, though.  The young Mexican woman behind the counter was very warm and spoke English, which made the ordering process that much easier.  Now onto the meal.

The service here is fast.  As you sit down a complimentary basket of chips and salsa are brought to your table.  What I loved about this was that it wasn't a heaping basket of chips, but in fact a perfect portion for one person.  You could taste that they were fried fresh, and the one thing I loved the most about them?  They tossed them with salt after coming out of the fryer.  You'll be surprised how many cooks forget that step.

House-made Chips & Salsa

The house-made tomato salsa was amazing.  It had been slightly pureed, but you can taste the chill of tomatoes and cilantro.  The salsa also had a slight heat to it.  A perfect way to get your mouth watering for what is about to come.

Unlike the truck, the restaurant has a lot more options for food, expanding their menu to include breakfast, sandwiches, tacos, burritos, soups, salads, entree platters, and desserts.  I was here for the tacos, though.

I settled on six of them.  Salty beef, tongue, fried pork, steak, chicken, and chorizo.  Check out what was dropped on my table next.

Tacos el Bronco.  Viva la Mexico.  

I'm not even going to try to distinguish what each taco was, because honestly, it's kinda hard to.  What I will tell you, though, was how well everything was put together.  Each taco had two soft, warm tortillas, a good amount of meat, cilantro, and onions.  All garnished with wedges of lime, radish slices, and cucumbers.

With the exception of the chicken which was my least favorite, all the meats had amazing flavor, and a good underlying heat behind them.  Not enough for you?  Don't worry, because they give you two complimentary salsas to top off your tacos with.  Two mason jars of salsa verde (a roasted tomatillo salsa), and a red chipotle sauce are dropped off at your table.  The salsa verde was so incredible, with the right amount of heat but not taking away from the flavor of the salsa.  The chipotle sauce was more mild, and even though still good, I opted for the green stuff.  Make sure to wash it all down with a Jarritos (Mexican soda).

The price for all this food?  Six tacos, a soda, and a complimentary basket of chips?   $11.75.  

In case you missed that, I said $11.75.

Beat that Chipotle.