Rinconcito Mexicano Review: Eating a torta sandwich
A side effect of looking for an apartment is that I realized I need more money (who doesn’t) and I can’t make decisions. It’s very un-Drapper to have those two qualities in New York City. Being indecisive actually led me to the topic of today’s post, which is a Mexican torta. I actually wanted to go to the library to borrow a book, but realized I didn’t have my library card… then I took the subway down to 34th st and then started to walk north looking for something… then I ended on 8th avenue almost at the New York Times building, and then I saw the store front for Rinconcito Mexicano.
What’s really concerning about this place is the upkeep of the joint. First it’s in Midtown and close to the bus station so you gotta keep your expectations low. It doesn’t look much like a restaurant and more like a dark room where strangers stumble in to find Mexican food. If you walk into this restaurant, you’ll know exactly what I mean. Real estate brokers in New York would call this ‘charming’ and ‘has character’. ‘Use your imagination,’ they would say. Good thing I deal in food not in land, but the DOH scores for Rinconcito Mexicano is also very eye-opening. By eye-opening I mean a failing score where one of the violations involve roaches. Eek! (the cat).
I didn’t know the score until after eating it though, which means I’m safe, right? For $8 dollars this torta, aka sandwich, is not exactly a steal when you compare the size to the price. However, since you’d pay about the same amount for a burrito at a chain restaurant, I think this is a fantabulous value proposition since I eat this with the possibility of engaging in a fun game called, “Try not to wake your wife in the middle of the night as I run to the toilet and name one ass cheek Ontario, and the other ass cheek Buffalo, NY.” It’s priceless because there’s just one competitor in that game, which means this torta could make me a winner as the best athlete in the defecation free-fall competition. Go for gold, bitches.
What I love about this torta is that it’s got it all. There’s some meat (carnitas in this instance), and a bit of everything else. There’s a thin layer of guac on top, some peppers, lettuce, tomatoes, beans(!!), and cheese. Being a meat head, I would have appreciated more meat but it was all in good balance. Between the cheese and the beans, there were bites in this torta that was almost creamy. Is that odd? Some bits of pork had crunch, and the toasty bread offered some textural contrast as well. All in all, a good deal for $8 since it’s filling enough for a dude.
Would I get this again? I can’t decide (what a surprise!) but I’ll tell you in eight hours. But right now, I can appreciate that you can get a filling torta/sandwich in Midtown for about the same prices as it would cost to go to a fast food Mexican place. You also get to feel really special because I think not a lot of people eat here, which means if you eat here, you can be one of a kind. Rinconcito Mexicano is not a destination restaurant but if you’re near by and want to switch it up with a hint of danger, I recommend it.
Rinconcito Mexicano307 W 39th St.New York, NY 10018212-268-1704
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