Tacos Matamoros

According to my visitor referrer stats, lots of people are googling for info on Tacos Matamoros.  For better or for worse, a psychological profile would reveal that I aim to please others.  So if you've come for an opinion on Tacos Matamoros, I'm about to give you what you want. 

Tacos Matamoros is, by far, my favorite delivery place in Sunset Park and they serve, as far as I know, THE BEST TACOS IN NEW YORK CITY.  There, I've said it.  Let the haterade begin, I'm sticking to my guns.  Yes, I've been to that Matamoros Puebla Grocery on Bedford.  Yes, I've tried a 14th St. taco truck.  Yes, I went to a grimy place off 10th Ave. where the other clientele were only drinking Coronas.  Yes, I've been to El Huipil, Bonita, La Flor Bakery, Tacos Nuevos Mexico, Taqueria D.F., Ricos Tacos.  No, I have not tried Queens Mexican or Bronx Mexican because I DON'T NEED TO ANYMORE. 

Situated on the lively corner of 45th St. and 5th Ave. in Sunset Park, Brooklyn, Tacos Matamoros has ended what I thought would be an endless search for palatable Mexican food in New York City.  It's a clean, modest room with a pretty white tile arch proscenium framing the always bustling kitchen.  There are few tchotchkes on the walls and no Mexican blankets on the fake wood veneer tables.  There is a deafening jukebox in the front of the room which you better hope nobody wants to pump quarters into because that shit is so loud, it will start digesting your food for you.

The clientele seems to be mostly young neighborhood Mexicans and their families.  I've noticed on Chowhound that lots of people seem to walk by but few actually walk in.  Don't be afraid.  It's alright if you don't speak any Spanish.  You'll be welcomed there.  The amiable waitresses speak little English, but the menus were reprinted last year with a smattering of English translations, so all you need is one working pointer finger.  They're open everyday from 8 in the morning or so to 1 or 2 a.m. on the weekends, maybe midnight during the weekdays.  It never seems to be empty (though I'm usually there at meal time on the weekends), which is why diners are often propositioned tableside by Chinese ladies selling bootleg DVDs from their backpacks, or men with arms full of brass candlesticks.  The only time I've ever felt like an outsider there was one time when I went with Miho, also a Matamoros devotee, who brought her camera out to take a picture of our lunch.  I swear, everyone in the place fell silent and stopped mid-bite to stare at las dos chinas cooing over the tacos.

Anyway, you really only need to know one phrase -- al pastor.  I turned my back on California with one bite of their tacos al pastor -- double-stacked little corn tortillas, lightly edge-crisped and softened in a little oil, topped with their savory, crispy shawarma spit-roasted red pork, finished with a dollop of mild red salsa and a liberal sprinkling of sweet chopped onions and sprightly cilantro.  This is the kind of food that makes my eyes roll back into my head.  The taco al pastor is one of the most delicious things you can eat in New York City, and at $1 per taco, with cut radishes and lime wedges, there's no better deal.

The lengua tacos and chorizo tacos clock in at $1.50 each, and they're both worth trying.  Silky, cholesterol-rich cubes of tongue are draped with the mild green tomatillo salsa.  The greasy chorizo's red oil will inevitably wind up in your lap, but you won't be worrying about the mess when you get the tart, spicy browned sausage into your mouth. 

I'm also a huge fan of their chalupas -- single corn tortillas, simultaneously crisp and softened, topped with either their green or red salsa, a rich swirl of Mexican sour cream, grated cotija cheese and chopped white onion.  They sound simple, but they're perfection.  I prefer the red, Miho and my friend Shelley (who gets credit for introducing me to Matamoros) prefer the green.  In mixed company, we order half and half.  Hey, at $2.50 for an order of 4 chalupas, you could treat every person at the table to the color of their choice.

Also incredibly delicious is the shrimp cocktail, served just like it is in Mexico City, in a tall old-fashioned sundae glass.  The cocktail sauce is pretty sweet, chock full of creamy ripe avocado cubes and a ton of impossibly fresh, plump shrimp.  Squeeze a little lime in there and share it as a decadent appetizer for two for only $6.

When it gets cold again, you can clear up your sinuses with the caldo de camaron, a hyper savory, fiery red soup that packs a marine punch with dried jumbo shrimp in the broth base and fresh cooked shrimp.  Or when you need a little stomach salve for Saturday lunch, get the rich white posole with toothy hominy and soft stewed pork.

They've got your standard assortment of Mexican sodas like the apple-flavored Cidral and the fluorescent Jarritos.  The cinnamon rice milk horchata is lovely if too sweet for my taste, as it almost always is.  The other drink they usually have in the little beverage percolator is a cantaloupe agua fresca, which my companions have told me is divinely refreshing.  I've had a sip or two here and there, and it tastes pretty good, but I've got an allergy-related aversion to melon flavored anything.

Now, this is not to say that everything on the menu is perfect.  Chicken tacos come with bland boiled chicken and the mild tomatillo salsa, making for a rather boring taco.  The torta milanesa meat is pounded so thin that all you can really taste is the engulfing, pillowy white roll and the piquant pickled jalapenos.  The mixed seafood tostada is just strange -- the fuchsia tinted octopus is sweet enough to put a diabetic down.  The whole back panel of the menu has entrees which tend to be lackluster but familiar tasting, though I always finish the runny refried beans and achiote-tinted rice. 

But even if everything else sucked on the menu (which it happily does not), the tacos al pastor would be enough saving grace to stave off the California dreamin' for years.  Do you think there's a better taco in New York?  I invite you to prove me wrong. 

Total: Today's delivery was $8 per person with tax and tip for a burrito each, a shared order of chalupas, and a soda.

Will I return?  I hereby pledge my undying devotion to Tacos Matamoros, the place that finally convinced me that you can get ANYTHING YOU WANT in this town, even good Mexican food. 

Tacos Matamoros
4503 Fifth Ave. at 45th Street
(718) 871-7627
R to 45th St. or N, R, D, M to 36th St.

*****

One of the most curious things I tried in Mexico City (or rather, just outside it) was a dish of huauzontles, a wild herb that consisted of seed clusters on six inch indigestible branches.  The branches are blanched, dipped in an egg batter, then fried and served with a tomato sauce (or a green sauce as pictured).  You pick up a branch, slide it into your mouth, bite down, and strip all the good stuff off with your teeth, leaving you with an bare, dry antler-like branch.  They were mild-flavored and very fun to eat -- order them if you're lucky enough to see it on the menu anywhere.