Zaragoza Grocery

215 Ave. A, East Village, NY

7.3

map & more

Neighborhood
East Village

Cuisine
Mexican

212-780-9204

Official Website

By Andrew Steinthal
July 18, 2011

We do a lot of complaining about NYC’s Mexican food. We can cry all day long, but nothing’s gonna change. NYC has gourmet Mexican covered, we don’t need anymore La Esquinas or Empellons serving three tacos for $16 and margaritas that cost double digits. What we need are taquerias on every corner like pizza joints. However, the reality is, selling tacos for $3 a pop isn’t a sustainable business model in Manhattan. That’s just fact. People have gotten carried away with the food truck movement and believe Mexicue is the answer to all our taco needs. It’s not, by the way, even in storefront form.

Instead of taquerias on every corner, our city has bodegas. Bodegas we usually won’t consider buying much more than a bottle of water and box of cereal from. Unless, of course, they’re of the Mexican variety. I lived in the East Village for five years before realizing Zaragoza was more than just a dirty looking deli. I walked by every day, without even considering entry. Don’t always judge a book by its cover. Zaragoza is the best place for a quick Taco Fix in the East Village. Although eating in is an option, this should only be thought of as a Serious Take-Out Operation . We risk potential bed bug scares enough in this city, no need to enable anymore.

Zaragoza isn’t mind blowing, but gets the job done right. It’s satisfying, affordable and always super quick. Before Mexican Cokes experienced a comeback recently (which we fully back, by the way), Zaragoza was one of the few places you could actually find a such glass bottle treats. Their kitchen equals the four by four foot space behind the register, fully armed for battle with hot plates filled with the daily meats, a microwave and a whole lot of tortillas. As far as we can tell, all preparation is done in this tiny space. We imagine there’s got to be a home kitchen involved, but who the hell knows.

Food Rundown:

Tacos
Each day brings new taco options at Zaragoza, but you can always count on Chipotle Chicken and Pulled Pork. In addition, they get crazy with Ground Chorizo, Potato, Goat and and all kinds of beef, one of our favorites being the Beef Tongue. The small tacos (there is also a jumbo taco option) are double wrapped in tortillas and overflowing with the meat of your choice. Theirs are three biters, sometimes four, and for $2.50, that’s a pretty good deal. Two tacos, a flauta (more on that below) and a Mexican Coke makes for a tasty, quick and delicious dinner.

Burritos
Your choice of meat wrapped in a warm tortilla with beans, lettuce, tomato, pico de gallo and sourcream. This is the kind of big ass burrito Matt & Kim would be down with.

Flautas
This could very well be our favorite thing here, The chicken flautas are awesome. Rolled up tortillas fried to a crisp and then reheated up in the micro. Every once in a while they come out a little soggy, but even so, the flavor is perfect. Definitely get at least one of these. They’re $1.50, you can afford it.

Tamales
Another item to keep on the radar, these have just the right amount of moisture, corn and meat.