As I have mentioned before, I am obsessed with the amazingness and culinary goodness of the Breakfast Taco. Here in New York that passion is one fraught with frustration due to the severe lack of options when I’m fighting a craving. But, this morning, my self and two good friends walked the Williamsburg Bridge to see if a new entrant to the Breakfast Taco scene in NYC might rival my previous conclusion that the best Breakfast Tacos in New York were at Lobo (see the original post HERE)

Whirly Bird (254 S. 2nd Street – Williamsburg) is a pretty simple place with only two things for your consumption: espresso and Breakfast Tacos. And, as their signs claim, both are top notch.

First up was the appropriately named “The #1″ which featured scrambled eggs, oaxaca cheese, homemade salsa on a crispy corn tortilla w/jalepano chips and some of the best chorizo I’ve had outside of Texas.

Secondly was the monstrosity known as “The Waldorf” which took “The #1″ to a whole new level by adding another crispy corn tortilla and swapping the scrambled eggs for a perfectly fried egg right in the middle of the yummy goodness.  It’s presentation was great, as was its taste, but the practicality of eating it was a little bit suspect due to its size, but the overflow of toppings made for a nice pool of scrumptiousness waiting in the basket to finish off with a fork.

Even though Jeff the owner isn’t from the south (he’s from CT), he is considering adopting the slogan of “Don’t Mess with Breakfast” and is doing his part to bring smiles to the faces of folks with a passion for the growing cravings of hipsters and southern transplants alike, the oh-so-wonderful Breakfast Taco.

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Brown ground beef and onions in large skillet before adding them to 5+ quart Crock pot/slow cooker. Add chopped green pepper, diced tomatoes, clovess and bay leaves. Simmer on low heat for 1.5 hours. Remove bay leaves and cloves before adding the beans, chili and garlic powder, and tomato paste. Salt to taste.  Simmer additional 4-5 hours stirring once each hour.

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Since moving to New York, my timid declaration that I am an aspiring foodie has been exposed and I’ve seen I’m a foodie novice at best. But, there is one culinary delicacy that I’d be willing to go toe to toe with anyone in New York on: Breakfast Tacos.

The simplistic beauty of a perfectly prepared Breakfast Taco has yet to spread far beyond the borders of Texas. Some folks have asked if I mean a breakfast burrito (as they try and refer me to McDonalds) and others have suggested I get with the local culture and just start eating bagels with a variety of flavored cream cheeses.

But, with as much determination as I can muster, I’ve fought on. In the past two years, after sharing my quest with friends, family, and (perhaps most importantly) the internet, I’ve only found three Breakfast Tacos options in all of New York City.

Lobo – Cobble Hill (218 Court Street Brooklyn, NY – http://lobonyc.com/)

This was my latest find (yesterday) when Annie and I were finishing a 30+ mile bike ride. She suggested Lobo as a good Mexican food lunch since we were close by in Brooklyn. When I walked in, much to my delight, there was a huge Lone Star Beer sign hanging above the bar. That was the first hint that I might find a glorious surprise waiting for me on the menu. I flipped it over and line item number three on the breakfast menu: Breakfast Tacos! (pictured above)

I ordered one with chorizo (spicy sausage) and one without to gauge the difference. Both were wonderful, especially when dressed up with the pico de gallo, guac, black beans, and the house salsa. It is safe to say that I inhaled them.

Thus far these are by far the closest thing to a true Breakfast Taco that I’ve encountered in NYC.

Tacombi (at Fonda Nolita – 267 Elizabeth Street New York, NY – http://www.tacombi.com/)

This was the first Breakfast Taco that I found in New York. The restaurant is a fun open warehouse with metal folding chairs, plastic tables, and a couple different options as far as ordering. To get the Breakfast Tacos, go to the cashier on your righthand side when you walk in and purchase some tickets (like you’re going to the State Fair) and take them to the back chef’s hut.

There are three options for your Breakfast Tacos and I’ve had them all. And they are all good.  But, being a connoisseur, I would say that they’re not great. Being the first Breakfast Tacos that I’d found in the city, I was overly excited the first time I had them as they were like an oasis of goodness to my deprived taste buds. But, upon a second and third visit, the adjective that I find myself say in describing them: frou-frou.

Definitely better than not eating a Breakfast Taco, but not quite the awesomeness I think a city of this culinary achievement should be treating their palettes too.

La Esquina Taqueria (114 Kenmare New York, NY – http://esquinanyc.com/)

La Esquina, the much talked about restaurant, might be one of the more fun dinning experiences in the city if you can get a reservation. You walk into the unassuming and small Taqueria and, should the hostess find you name on the list, you are escorted downstairs through the kitchen to the best ambience you’ve ever seen in what feels like a cave.

But that is not the experience I had in attempting to try out their Breakfast Tacos. I walked to the Taqueria on three different occasions to attempt to partake, each time finding out that they either weren’t serving Breakfast Tacos because it was the weekend (strange but true) or that they wouldn’t be serving them until 10am because if was a weekday (really?). So when I finally made it on a day when they felt like serving me Breakfast Tacos, my biases against their offering were already pronounced.

And unfortunately, they green sauce smothered presentation didn’t restore enough moistness to the dried out corn tortilla for it to make me smile. But, I needed a third Breakfast Taco to make this blog post complete, so there you go.  Very disappointed by this one.

So all told, Lobo in Cobble Hill Brooklyn is the far away winner of the Breakfast Tacos in NYC culinary exploration SO FAR. But, the search continues and I am taking all suggestions and input that I can get. I am tired of having to fly to Austin to get my fix once a month, let’s remedy this situation here in NYC!Tweet

Last week Annie and I were in the Hamptons for her birthday and discovered some of the best Mexican Food that we’ve had in New York. The Hideaway in Montauk is aptly name and only determined foodies will find it on their first try. But the Black Bean Mango Salsa is a great reward for those that do.

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Last night, Annie and I went out with one of our favorite couples to The Smith in the East Village.  Our dinner conversation ranged from the insanity of extended families to politics to Bob Ross’ Joy of Painting (happy little trees!) The discussion also turned to the lists that we all wrote down as kids about what we wanted out of life when we grew up. We all recounted the categories and the hilarity of the details that we went into when describing our expectations of the future.   My favorite was the description of the perfect husband though the eyes of a 17 year old: “He must be good looking (if at all possible) and not go bald.”

This morning, still relishing in the glow of the great dinner (think beer battered green beans, bacon wrapped apricots, and a culinary piece of perfection:”Stout Braised Beef Short Ribs.”), I got to thinking: when do we stop writing down what we want out of life with the expectation that it is still something that can and should happen? When do our lists have more to do with this week’s to-dos and less to do with the biggest ideas that we can imagine? When did the lists we make change from our dreams and goals to a detailed account of this week’s groceries and bills that need to be paid?

My favorite book in the world is The Alchemist by Paulo Coelho. Early on in the book main character, a young boy name Santiago, meets a wise king. The king exhorts the young boy to not believe the world’s greatest lie:

“What’s the world’s greatest lie?” the boy asked, completely surprised. The King responded, “It’s this: that at a certain point in our lives, we lose control of what’s happening to us, and our lives become controlled by fate. That’s the world’s greatest lie.”

At a certain point we all run into a brick wall on our way to achieving what we committed ourselves to when we had the innocence of a child. That brick wall, the first failure or set back of our adult life, is the end of their pursuit of the much larger vision they envisioned for themselves before the toils and responsibilities of “growing up” were upon them. That first roadblock is enough of a disappointment for the majority to stop, slow down, and put away their childhood lists. It is enough to convince them to believe the world’s greatest lie.

But for others, like Santiago in The Alchemist, it is just the beginning of an incredible adventure up, over, around, or through that wall.  It is hitting that wall, and the next, and the next, that strengthens our resolve to go through this life with a resolve that we were made for the things of our dreams and the only thing standing between us and the life we’ve imagined is our own cowardice and willingness to turn our backs on the dreams of our youth.Tweet

My favorite show, and the only one that I actually watch on TV religiously (other than Modern Family) is Chopped on the Food Network. I love the idea of competitive cooking and seeing what these chefs come up with in their “mystery basket” of ingredients. Reminds me of college when we would just put whatever we had into some sort of edible meal.

So tonight, since I was home alone, I decided to see if I could take the Chopped Challenge myself. I went to the store and got 4 “mystery ingredients” that I frankly had no idea how they would work together:

- Tilapia

- Clementines

- Winecap Portobello Mushrooms

- Brussel Sprouts

I gave my self 30 minutes on the clock and then gave it my best shot! And, I am very happy to report, my taste buds are still thanking me. I pulled together a Brussel Sprout and Mushroom black pepper hash as the side that complimented my blackened lemon tilapia that I served with a clementine, cucumber, and cherry tomato cajun slaw as a garnish.

I pair it all with a Sauvignon Blanc from New Zealand and smiled with each bite.

There is nothing better than an enthusiastic meal: the one that you put everything you have into it.Tweet

Last night, I had one of the most interactive dinners of my life.  At the very popular Inamo Restaurant in Soho London there aren’t waiters to take your order.  The entire menu and ordering experience happens on your table thanks to an overhead projection display system.

Using the small track pad on the right side of your plate, you can see the menu, read about the dishes, and most amazingly, see them visualized on the plate in front of you.  After deciding exactly what you want to eat, you can watch your dish be prepared on the live “Chef Cam” there on your table. Each dish we ordered arrived in less than 10 minutes.

We learned that reservations are very tough to come by and once you are there you have exactly 1.5 hours to complete you dinner before you are “encouraged to continue your dinning experience in the downstairs bar.”

All in all, from the food, to the technology, to the service, I was a fan.

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My love for Breakfast Tacos is pretty well documented.  My sadness about not being able to find many good options here in NYC is as well.  But this morning, Annie and I made our way to Locanda Verde in TriBeCa with some friends and found a brunch that made me forget all about Breakfast Tacos (for a couple hours, then the longings returned.)

The freshly made Focaccia bread was ridiculously good. We had to remind ourselves not fill up on the breadbasket and not leave room for the main event.

There were a variety of pastries on the menu and even a sampler plate in case you couldn’t decide.  Annie loves all things lemon, I love all things Rosemary, so the Lemon Rosemary Scone was the obvious choice.  And it quickly became the obvious source of jealous from our friends.

The dish that we had heard about for a long time and everyone was excited to try: Lemon Ricotta Pancakes.  They lived up to any and all expectations.  Just incredible.

Scramble eggs are often over looked.  These shouldn’t be.  Fluffy, well seasoned, with leeks: wow.

One of the best things I have ever eaten was Shrimp and Grits at Hominy Grill in Charleston, SC.  So when I saw “Scampi and Grits with Coddled Eggs’ it was a no brainer.  Not only were the spicy shrimp and finely pureed grits wonderful, the coddled eggs took them to a new level.

It was a wonderful morning with great friends.  And if you can get  a reservation, you have to go.

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Today is a day of celebration.  Today is the day that I found a grocery store in New York that carries REAL salsa, not “that stuff made in New York City!”  There is a big difference. (Classic Pace Picante commercial) Even if the jar was on the bottom shelf underneath all the other “mexican sauces,” there is just something right about eating salsa made in Texas.

But, that said, the hunt still continues to find really good Tex-Mex in NYC.  There are a couple contenders (Mole, Zarela, and La Esquina) but no true victor.Tweet

Last night Annie and I met up with a couple of friends at Gonzalez y Gonzalez on Broadway for some dinner and to continue the quest to find the best Mexican food in NYC.  We were completely spoiled (and frankly I get cravings) by Mi Cocina in Highland Park Village.    A Mombo Taxi (or 2) with a order of the perfect guacamole and the best, yet seldom ordered, item on the menu: Sunset Style Fajitas: Perfection.

So the quest to find a suitable replacement continued.  Gonzalez y Gonzales was pretty good.  The table side guac was great as was the white sangria.  I felt like I won the contest for guessing the best thing on the menu when my Tacos de Pescado arrived.  Who doesn’t like seeing a whole avacado sliced and artfully arrange over a creamy chipotle sauce infused fished tacos?

But perhaps the best thing that happened as a result of dinner is that I now have 3 new recommendations to go try.  As I sat down for dinner, I checked in on Gowalla.  I pushed my check-in out to Twitter and to Facebook alerting my respective networks that I was in search of some good Mexican food here in NYC. When I got home and did my “social media tour” before heading to bed, I was pleasantly surprise to find that I had recommendations waiting for me.  One within Gowalla (in App comments are amazing), one on Twitter, and one on Facebook.  I also had some additional commentary by other Mexican food lovers and their quest to find the best queso.

I know that I am a little biased being so closely associated with Gowalla, but, it is always kind of nice to know that what we are building works and benefit from it first hand.

Now, off to try and get a table at Mole next weekend.Tweet