Los Cuñados Mexican Prada

MÉXICO 🇲🇽

📍 195 Monroe Street, Passaic, New Jersey

EDITOR'S NOTE: I was originally working on a piece about this market and weekend barbacoa purveyor at the end of 2019 and as the pandemic began in 2020. It was going to be a bigger project to pitch to a local outlet because of the special nature of the place and people. As things ground to a halt and I eventually moved to Los Angeles in summer of that year, it obviously fell through the cracks. The restaurant is still operating and expanding, and should be part of your plans if it has not been already.

The first and most important thing you should know about eating barbacoa in the back room of this otherwise sleepy Passaic market is that like in the most popular spots in México, you need to plan on being here by mid-morning at the latest. Any later than that and the most coveted cuts of lamb have already been purchased by families who came closer to 06:00, just after the restaurant opens on Saturdays and Sundays.

Since barbacoa made right requires cooking overnight, it is a weekend morning tradition, and groups start filling tables here as soon as the sun is up (and before in winter). Lamb and goat barbacoa makes their way onto some menus in New York City and New Jersey, but more likely than not these preparations do not involve the proper rubs, high quality meats, and long slow cooking that make for the best. And that is of course why people are not lining up at those places like they are here.

The restaurant sells both lamb barbacoa and carnitas by the pound on weekends, orders of which are served with freshly made tortillas, salsas both red and green, limes, pickled peppers and onions, and cilantro. Many people take their booty home to share with family, but you can eat here just as easily if you are coming from far away.

It would be wise to include at least one bowl of consomé to an order, made from the overnight lamb fat drippings and fortified with chickpeas and many hearty bits of meat. Dunk your extra tortillas in this oily extravagance, going back and forth between self-prepared tacos de barbacoa and the consomé seems like the business of heaven.

You can also come for prepared tacos if you desire (below), without the commitment of pounds of meat. They make big tacos on their large fluffy homemade tortillas sold individually, perfect for anyone coming alone. These are available for both barbacoa and carnitas, and again if you come early enough you can select your preferred cuts of each.

The only negative comments that seem to be spoken about the restaurant are the relatively high prices, but the quality and care seem to brush these aside almost immediately for those that know the difference. The old phrase "you get what you pay for" is quite appropriate for a good meal here.

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Pho Ketkeo

LAOS 🇱🇦

[COVID-19 UPDATE: Pho Ketkeo is allowing limited capacity dine-in seating in accordance with current Connecticut rules. Staff are masked and the dining room is well-spaced. Delivery and takeout are options here as well.]

Admittedly, New Haven is pushing the bounds of what this website defines as its territory. If there was great sushi, or Italian, or even regional Chinese, New Haven would probably be considered too far. For Lao food though, the boundaries are being stretched a bit, because it is a cuisine that flirts with New York City here and there, but always leaves it disappointed for something permanent.

There are trains and buses, and for those privileged enough to own a vehicle, once you pass Co-op City in the northern reaches of the Bronx, New Haven is just a bit more than an hour up I-95 on a good day. This Lao restaurant is worth the trouble no matter how you arrive.

As with most Lao restaurants in the country, the cuisine of Thailand is also offered on the sign outside and throughout the menu. Here they do not separate it into sections and dishes unique to each country intermingle on each page. You probably will not be disappointed by the Thai selections, but this will be about Lao food, somewhat harder to find and what makes Pho Ketkeo a special place.

Nam khao (8.95, above) is a staple dish in the country and should not be missed here at Pho Ketkeo. It could not be better. Sometimes classified as a salad, this is a next-level fried rice dish that includes hunks of fried sticky rice that give each bite a beautiful crunch and spice from curry. This intermingles with the sourness of Lao fermented sausages and plenty of fresh herbs.

Having recently enjoyed a couple bowls of khao poon in soup form, it was with a great eagerness that the thum khao poon ($7.95, above) was ordered. This is served as a salad (thum) rather than in broth, which they have as well. It looks simple but is full of so much flavor that comes at you from all directions.

The soup of this order was all-time favorite kaeg nor mai ($12.95, below right), a bamboo soup originally served to kings and queens. Eating it usually makes you feel like royalty even today, as it is so luxurious and delicious. Along with the bamboo, there are different types of mushrooms, squash and zucchini, lemongrass, and flavored by yanang leaves

Despite its absence in most versions anywhere on the east coast, tripe is an essential part of larb seen ($10.95, below), a beef larb also full of Thai chilies, kaffir lime leaves, lemongrass, onions, mint, cilantro, lemon juice and fish sauce, and the crunchiness of toasted bits of sticky rice.

The larb might be the best example of a dish that proves the kitchen's insistence on bringing the most real foods to New Haven that Lao people miss from back home. They also serve a few types of pho, which are widely consumed for breakfast in Laos, a country full of Vietnamese people as well.

🇱🇦🇱🇦🇱🇦
NEW HAVEN Connecticut
21 Temple Street

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Caleta 111 Cevicheria

PERÚ 🇵🇪

It is hard to imagine Caleta 111 in a couple months from now, after the predictable New York Times review comes out and this tiny corner space under the J train in Richmond Hill is bursting with humanity. Will the sea-blue walls be able to contain everyone hungry for some of the best ceviche in town?

The colorful walls are the new home of Chef Luis Caballero, who has previously cooked in Lima and most recently in Williamsburg at Llama Inn. He still wears his chef coat from Raymi, an upscale Peruvian restaurant in Midtown. No doubt he did excellent work at all of them, but he seems at home and completely at ease in his new Queens cevicheria, leading a small team in the execution of everything.

While small is definitely a theme that comes back again and again here, forego any open tables in the back and grab a seat at the bar. The kitchen is right in the front window, so all of the action is right here. But better yet, this is a guaranteed way to get involved, as Chef Caballero is a very talkative man and will make sure you are happy.

Despite having opened on the 21st of September last year, the restaurant still has that new car smell. Rhythms and moods are not established yet, they are still selling themselves to newcomers. Everyone is friendly, but by the end of the meal, the chef will have asked you about all your travels in Perú and any previous experiences with the food.

For now at least, the limited menu only focuses on the sea. There is no chifa food here, nor are there rotisserie chickens, but you will not miss either. Even the desserts which do have a spot on the menu have not quite arrived yet, although were promised soon. What is on the menu and what you will come here for first is ceviche, available in three individual ways (fish, shrimp, and seafood) and two mixes, one of which is customized by the patron if desired.

To get your taste buds kicking, a dish full of roasted Peruvian corn (above) will arrive before the main attractions. As you would in Perú, pair this with a glass of their house-made chicha morada ($4, not shown), by far the nicest in the city. This Andean-origin drink made from culli, or purple corn, is just the right amount of sweet while full of the tastes of fruit, cinnamon, and cloves.

For the standards of New York City, a place where you usually must spend ungodly amounts of money for seafood that does not seem old or from a freezer, this ceviche de corvina ($21, above) is damn near perfect. The thick chunks of of corvina, a fish found in the Pacific waters of Central and South America and beloved for ceviche, are "cooked" just right. Not too little, not too much. You could almost tell before putting it in your mouth how good it was going to be.

Chef Caballero's special sauce blend is sometimes served in shot glasses on the side, more as presentation than anything because the liquid would travel to other parts of the plate, but this ends up being a great way to eat. Some bites can be dipped for more lime tartness, some can remain more basic. Paired with pieces of a lovely sweet potato, crispy plantain chips, and big pieces of hominy, it is hard to go wrong. Even the seaweed garnish is from Perú, and delicious.

There is an option to pair your ceviche with either one of three seafood causas, a dish prepared with what becomes something of sculpted mashed potatoes, or arroz con mariscos ($21, above), which can in a pinch be compared to a seafood paella. Even the big, meaty clams are as fresh as ever, again requiring a re-grounding when remembering you are eating this in New York City.

Besides the rice, clams, mussels, octopus, and shrimp, the entire bowl is spiced throughout with ají panca, a deep reddish-brown pepper beloved in Perú. This mild punch is balanced with a bit of Peruvian beer as well, but the rice is still much less "wet" than most paellas.

The prices listed above are for individual orders of each dish, but the combos are a flat $35.

Chef Luis Caballero in his comfort zone.

As you can see with the logo, netting, a ship wheel, and serving dishes shaped like whales, the point here is to remain safely away from dry land. The maritime theme is duplicated on almost everything. Despite the J train rumbling overhead, when summer comes, the front of the shop is open to the street, and warm humid air makes it way to your table, life might seem like it is headed in the right direction.

Don't despair if you have found yourself seated at the back with those "premium" seats at the bar full. When the chef has a moment to spare between orders, he quickly makes his way back to hear from his customers, whether they be friends or strangers.

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RICHMOND HILL Queens

111-27 Jamaica Avenue

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Dubrovnik Restaurant

CROATIA 🇭🇷

While Bosnian cafes populate most of the city's boroughs and fancy Serbian dining is well known in the East Village and more rustic in New Jersey, folks searching for Croatian fare have been limited to the restaurants that grew from sports clubs in Astoria. Even there, the focus was on classic Istrian fare, which shares much in common with their coastal neighbors to the north in Slovenia and Italy.

It takes a visit to New Rochelle in Westchester County to find Dubrovnik Restaurant, a place focused quite a lot on the seafood-heavy diets along the Dalmatian Coast of Croatia. The "About Us" section of the restaurant's website aptly starts with "We miss Croatia," going on to talk about mothers grilling freshly caught fish and the smells from the sea.

The full prices are listed here, but do be aware that a weekday happy hour from 15:00 to 18:00 offers each and every appetizer at half price, a steal for the quality of food arriving. Before diving into the seafood realms, the Dalmatian platter ($14, above) offers a plate of prosciutto and smoked beef with a couple cheeses, olives, and Croatian pickles.

This is far from a normal plate of dried meats though, the smoked beef is especially satisfying, a thick cut perfect for placing on a slice of bread from the basket that will arrive with any order.

The plate above combined two separate orders, in the back were five large grilled jumbo shrimp ($16), with the grilled octopus ($19) in front. Both came with a nice char and the smoky flavors that you want from the grill, especially when combined with such high-grade seafood.

The shrimp are placed on a bed of savory cream sauce and accompanied by a few grilled vegetables to make sure you get a well-balanced meal. The octopus is thick and fatty and almost melts away in your mouth, barely seasoned with a bit of Croatian olive oil and herbs because it needs so little.

Another dish using the country's olive oil and fresh octopus, and a wonderful surprise was none's style octopus salad ($15, above) which was reminiscent of so many German-style potato salads eaten over the years. The soft potatoes are tart with lemon juice and wine vinegar, the mix also includes capers and onions. Grandma would be proud.

All of these appetizers were filling and deeply satisfying, and probably should have signaled the end of the meal for the two people eating it, but by this time the restaurant had filled up almost completely with hungry Croatians who somehow seemed to be enjoying dinner even more. The meal obviously had to continue.

After a bit of a rest, the pasta section of the menu was flipped to (on their iPad), and an order of teletina na lovaćki ($25, above), a type of veal ragu served with house-made gnocchi. At first it did not appear as much, but the bowl seemed bottomless and made already stuffed stomachs approach their critical points.

Tender pieces of veal in the savory ragu were just right as a counterpoint to all the light and fresh seafood, while the soft and porous gnocchi was the perfect combination to pull all these flavors inside.

It was with great luck that this meal had already taken place at the bar, as it would have required superhuman strength to pull these bloated bodies up to the high chairs from the dining room. The full bar here of course has a nice selection of Croatian wines and Karlovačko beer ($9, above), but also some spirits that can make your crawl home a little easier.

Desserts like palacinke, Croatian-style crêpes filled with ricotta and covered in the sweetness of your choice, can be ordered, but the end of this meal required a glass of Maraska pelinkovac ($9, below). This bitter liqueur is made with wormwood and many other herbs, has a sweet and bitter finish, and did the heroic work of digestion that was necessary.

As the restaurant owners desire, the evening from start to finish was a superb "portal to Croatia."

🇭🇷🇭🇷🇭🇷
NEW ROCHELLE New York

721 Main Street

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Golden Rich 好想吃

TAIWAN 🇹🇼

Lovers of Taiwanese-style stinky tofu will know right when they open the door that they are in for a treat. The smell of fermentation hits you right at the front, enough so that a stinky tofu rookie was actually observed stopping in her tracks and retreating back out to the street when it reached her nose. Open up the restaurant's menu and five large photos of stinky tofu dishes take two out of the four pages.

The other two pages and the back focus on a surprisingly wide breadth of Taiwanese favorites from the bento boxes made famous on railways to three cup and popcorn chickens. The Taiwanese couple that runs the tiny corner shop is dedicated to bringing as much of their cuisine to Sunset Park as possible, a neighborhood that has a few choices for Taiwanese but usually from a mainland perspective and very focused.

Of course on any Taiwanese menu these days is beef noodle soup ($9, above and below), a dish whose "moment" does not want to fade. The version here is certainly near the best in the city, with super tender high quality meat and unique house made noodles. Lift them up with your chopsticks and notice the wavy edges. Bite into them for the wonderful chew and mouthfeel.

Recommended is to resist the urge of the spicy version they offer and do it yourself by adding the chili oil that is on each table. This lets you focus on their delicate savory broth and put just the right personal touch into it.

Don't be shy about the tofu, unless you already know it's not your bag. The fried blocks here are definitely stinkier and funkier than most locations that offer it but dumb it down quite a bit. With Golden Rich's version, you can vividly remember your first experience with the dish in a Taipei night market whether that be positive or negative.

In addition to a plate of ungarnished stinky tofu, they specialize in what they call "stinky hot pot." Four offerings are available with beef, seafood, pigs feet, intestines, or a combination of everything that is the signature dish. The beef stinky tofu hot pot ($13, below) uses those same beautiful cuts that were found in the noodle soup, but surrounds and submerges them with the tofu.

Also really enjoyable amongst the dish and rich soup of the hot pot is a really nice pig blood cake, dense with glutinous rice, as well as the tiny bowl of braised pork over rice that is served with every hot pot.

Amongst the Taiwanese favorites hinted before is their really simple bowl of pork chop over rice (below), a meal that usually never lives up to the one at Hua Ji in Chinatown. Here it is successful though, and uses a perfectly fried chop, bits of fried pork belly, pickled mustard greens, and a nice yet sparingly used sauce over the rice.

Come back many times and enjoy quintessential dishes like noodles with soybean paste ($7.50, below). This tofu is of the unfermented kind and is combined with ground pork and put over the same noodles found in the beef soup. Any dish that uses these should be considered, as they really are a star.

A nice array of flavors is in the dish, make sure to mix it up thoroughly to make sure the greens and sauce gets to every last noodle.

A couple burritos populate the menu as well, but thankfully this is not some sort of unfortunate fusion food and just an interesting way to translate. The beef burrito ($7, below) is actually niu rou juan bing (牛肉捲餅), rolled up goodness surrounded by a crispy fried wrapper. The essential pairing with the beef inside of these is scallions, some of which stick out one end with other crunchy greens. A lovely layer of sweet hoisin sauce permeates the whole thing, making every bite almost a dream.

The second time the roll was a bit soggy, but hopefully this is the exception to the rule. For such low prices, it is fascinating that everything can maintain such a high quality here across the menu, using good ingredients. Golden Rich is a real gem.

🇹🇼🇹🇼🇹🇼
SUNSET PARK Brooklyn

4001 8th Avenue

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La Estancia de la Espiga

MÉXICO 🇲🇽

Besides two storefront addresses and one phone number, the nondescript green awnings over La Estancia de la Espiga match the rest on the block yet give little hint of what takes place inside. On one it says simply: Bakery. On the other: Restaurant. On a sunny weekend with eyes squinting to avoid glare, you can barely catch a glimpse of what takes place through the open doors and on the other side of two big windows.

Because of these factors, the first notice of this restaurant actually came through Instagram as the owners are using it quite proficiently to announce the daily guisados available on weekdays. Dig in a bit further though and you might catch what is not announced much any longer: Weekends here bring some outstanding barbacoa and carnitas starting very early, and the neighborhood does not need social media to remind them.

Once your eyes do adjust inside, the combined space and tables are often buzzing, especially on Saturdays and Sundays when families sit down together and place big orders. Cars are double parked and men carry multiple bags out of the store to take home. When you see this occurring, you should always investigate more to see what is so popular.

A bright orange sign outside uses a popular meme of carnitas preparation (see end of article below) and wordplay of the Spanish for Frosted Flakes cereal (Zucaritas) to announce different types available. Just inside of this window, a woman keeps the giant cauldron moving, the simmering meats giving the air a deliciously appetizing layer.

In the other window a bucket full of masa is leaned on its side and regularly scraped from, as giant light tortillas are made to order for each taco and as accompaniment to soups. This station is also in charge of shaping masa discs for tlacoyos, sopes, and all the rest of the antojitos available.

Noon on a Sunday ended up being too late to procure any of the weekend special barbacoa (the server said it was gone "muy temprano" on this day), but there was still consomé de chivo ($8, below), a beautiful bowl of tender meat and bone broth served with three of the aforementioned tortillas. A side of cilantro and onions came as well for those wanting to turn the goat into tacos.

Going back and forth between enjoying the tacos and the consomé on its own seemed to be the best way to go about things, the rich broth on its own needing to be cut by citrus and fresh greens every now and then. Two homemade salsas in ketchup and mustard bottles provided nice additions to anything they came into contact with. The tomato-based red salsa here is a smack in the face, use with caution.

On another visit, tacos de barbacoa ($4.50, below) were procured, served on a large homemade tortilla as is customary.

Invited in by the sign, three tacos de carnitas ($4.50 each, below) were ordered in three different varieties. Maciza is the beginners carnitas, simply lean meat, while buche is made from the stomach and surtida is a combination of everything. You can order these on packaged tortillas for a dollar less, but this seems like a bad decision and no one was taking that route.

Buche.

As expected from the visual clues so far and the delightful aromas, each carnitas taco was excellent. After the initial disappointment of being to late for barbacoa, these quickly erased all bad mojo from the meal.

The restaurant seems to be a fan of memes, between bites be sure to look on the walls to enjoy a couple more. The meal was also joined by the random karaoke performer that wandered in with his own equipment and sang mellow ballads to the dining room from right next to the carnitas cauldron.

At the last minute a picadita ($6 with cecina, above) was thrown into the order as a way to "make up" for no barbacoa, but this turned out to be unnecessary. The salted beef was good enough, but the deep fried masa base and simple adornment of Oaxacan cheese was a far cry from the other items it shared the table with on this day.

When the normal cutoff times for getting barbacoa were inquired about, the server was hesitant to give a specific answer. On this day she spoke of large orders that had come in early in the morning and taken most of the available stock. It sounds like it will always be a crap shoot for this, but coming as close to their opening time as possible would always be the best bet.

[UPDATE 05 OCTOBER 2019: A quick return trip for the weekday menu]: As alluded to earlier, a rotating schedule of guisados is ready to go each weekday, keeping La Espiga busy during most lunches. On a recent Thursday, the temperature dropped dramatically and promised rain, so the chef decided to offer the pozole that is usually available on the weekends.

Pozole blanco estilo Guerrero ($12, above) is a rich, fatty pork wondersoup and cured all the ails of bad weather a few spoonfuls in. While green and red versions are everywhere, you do not often see this white version, made in the style of the chef's home back in Acapulco.

🇲🇽🇲🇽🇲🇽

CORONA Queens
42-11 102nd Street

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Iraqi House Restaurant

IRAQ 🇮🇶

Hints of a new Iraqi restaurant at this location started showing up way back in April as plans began to be posted. The main blue and yellow sign above was up by the end of May, but the gate remained stubbornly closed until just last week when all the paperwork was in order and the city finally came through with their visits. New York City now gets to enjoy the cuisine of Iraq, the latest nation to have its own exclusive restaurant.

The owner Mohammed is currently in charge of the entire operation, getting some help from family in the kitchen while he searches for a chef. He admits that the cuisine is very difficult to cook so finding the right fit will be hard, although he does not seem to mind doing the extra work himself for now.

Buraq ($4.99 for 3): an Iraqi-style spring roll.

The sign also makes the bold claim of "A Taste You Love," not speaking of the future when your mind will be changed but confident that the love already exists.

A trip to Paterson, NJ and the home of the area's only other Iraqi restaurant last year is plenty to convince you that love is imminent either way.

Kubba ($4.99 for 3): ground meat and onions within a fried rice crust.

Mohammed plans to expand the menu over time as the kitchen settles into a rhythm, but for now grab a group so that you can order a full complement of starters and appetizers. The two crispy nibbles above and two dips below were all great to start whetting the appetite and cure the hunger pangs.

For now the dips arrived with simple pitas, but the restaurant does plan on bringing in Iraqi bread as soon as possible.

Hummus ($5.99): spiked with a bit of paprika.

Jajick ($5.99): Yogurt dip with cucumber, garlic, and mint.

On weekends, Iraqi House Restaurant serves dolma ($13.99, below) which should not be skipped. Ground lamb, spiced rice, and garlic are halfway stuffed into large grape vine leaves.

Bamia ($13.99): Okra stew cooked with tomatoes and lamb.

Mohammed is obviously inspired by the fast food culture of the country he was born in as well, and has added a couple interesting items to the menu including an Iraqi burger, which was not yet sampled and the Iraqi wings ($9.50 for 5, below) which come served with a side of fries and soda.

The wings are described as being covered with their signature sauce, which is reminiscent of a spicy sweet and sour coating you might find on wok-fried chicken from a Chinese takeout. Now they just need a TV to show the big game.

As the main entrees start rolling out, the beautiful basmati rice used here becomes the focus. A touch of turmeric is used and creates the slight yellow color, while the rice is infused by bay leaves and cardamom. It made for a very nice base in each case.

Qoozi (more often Quzi) is a dish found in Iraq and its Arab neighbors around the Persian Gulf by different names, cooked in a few different styles that all require long preparation times and result in extremely tender meats. The qoozi lamb ($18.99, below) will probably be the focal point of many group meals here, and highest on the list of recommendations from the chef. In addition to lamb that practically melts away in your mouth, the fragrant rice is covered with small chopped noodles, yellow raisins, peas, and nuts, which all combine to create a slightly sweet blanket to wrap the savory dish.

The dishes are as if your grandmother made them, somehow the tastes feel like home.

For a little variety in an otherwise lamb-heavy meal, the qoozi chicken ($14.99, below) is presented in a similar manner. The leg and thigh have a delicious rub and the skin is slightly crispy by what appears to be a pan fry. Again the sweetness of the raisins and nuts creates wonderful warming tastes.

It would be a shame to have a meal without makhlama ($11.99, below), usually an Iraqi breakfast specialty, but opening hours here in Bay Ridge prohibit that. This does not necessarily need to be served with meat, but the version here cooks the requisite eggs together with lamb, the resulting concoction served over another bed of the basmati rice.

Versions of this can vary from extremely saucy pans that are drowned in tomato sauce or can be dry like this one, with the sauces and spices cooked down into the blend.

As with many Middle Eastern menus, there are also kababs available, but this group of six had reached its limit for one dinner. Follow up your meal with a cup of strong Iraqi tea ($2.50, not shown), meant for after the feast to help things settle.

If the menu does expand as promised, return visits to try the new items (and the burger) will be highly anticipated and of course updated here when they happen. Pay a visit to Chef Mohammed in the meantime and experience something very special.

🇮🇶🇮🇶🇮🇶

BAY RIDGE Brooklyn
7215 3rd Avenue

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