Mixing It Up(town)
TACO MIX | 234 East 116th St. (bet. 2nd & 3rd Aves.) | 347.664.3002 | tacomixusa.com | 
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I VERY RECENTLY STOPPED DRINKING. For how long? Who knows. For now, though, remembering all of the bad things that happen when I drank is deterrent alone to keep from putting another beer or shot of Jägermeister to my lips.
However, as much as I might not want to admit, there were some good things I gained from years of frequent imbibing. One, in general, was the special handful of great friends that I acquired, who may have started out as drinking buddies, but have blossomed into great friendships well beyond the corner of bars or bottom of pint glasses.
And another, less general, positive to come from nights of drinking, is when some of those great friends introduce you to some great late night culinary fare.
I last fall had the great good fortune to have some of these special friends—Colin, Sandra, and Georgina—finally convince me to leave me neighborhood (at an hour when I'm fixin' to get home) and join them on a trip to Taco Mix, a hole-in-the-wall taco joint that has been buzzing with popularity on East 116th Street in East Harlem. They were right to sing the praises of Taco Mix's El Pastor taco, a local favorite of spicy roast pork, sliced of the rotisserie to order and spooned liberally into a freshly toasted hand-made tortilla, and topped with chopped onion.
And although that portion of the evening was and remains mostly a blur, the rich, layered, authentic flavors of those tacos remain fresh and acute in my head (and on my palate) to this day.
But these days, I am not drinking, so am up and alert and hungry earlier in the morning. And just like most of the food shops on East 116th, people who have been making their food for generations get in hours before they open to start prepping and slow-cooking their food.
So after our NY Post printed an article including Taco Mix's off-menu mixto esepciale (special mixed) taco as one of New York City's best specialty foods, I found myself up and awake early enough to take a quick 6 train ride 4 stops uptown to treat myself to a nice Mexican breakfast of lovely tacos.
This would be a treat, now only because I would get to enjoy my already fave el pastor tacos for the very first time sober, but I could also try—for the very first time ever—their previously unbeknownst to me "off menu"mixto especiale tacos.
The el pastor (in the style of the shepherd) features pork, marinated in a combo of chilis, spices, and pineapple, then is slowly cooked with a gas flame on a vertical rotisserie-like spit called a trompo (spinning top). It is served with the traditional toppings of chopped onions and cilantro, and any number of housemade salsas (house-made red chile de árbol, green habañero, avocado salsa), limes and lemons to squeeze, and radishes and whole chilis, are available for free to top and customize your tacos with.
The mixto especiale tacos (featured in the NY Post) are filled with flank steak, chopped beef stomach, and pork ear, all long-stewed in spices and a bit of vinegar, a wonderful treat for epicures like myself who love the "off cuts" of animals.
The tacos are made from recipes handed down and perfected over generations, like everything else on the menu, and like most of the food cooked and served in restaurants, in small shops, and even by street food cart vendors on 116th Street and throughout much of East Harlem. What makes the tacos—and everything else off the menu—at Taco Mix so special is the dedication to Mexican tradition of its owner George Sanchez, who—after selling his delicious food successfully in Mexico City and Los Angeles—started the biz from a small food cart on 135th Street and then branched out into opened in East Harlem and now Washington Heights as well, both neighborhoods densely populated with a beautiful mix of Mexicans, Puerto Ricans, and all flavors of Hispanic heritage who pride themselves of their authenticity, culinary and otherwise.
And I now look forward to visiting Taco Mix a bit more often. From now on—or at least, for now—it will not be because I've already had several mixed drinks, but because I'm just in the mood for some more mixto especiale!
Bun Apple Tea!
TACO MIX | 234 East 116th St. (bet. 2nd & 3rd Aves.) | 347.664.3002 | tacomixusa.com |
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