ReALTO Tortilla Mexicana Los Hermanos
ReALTO Tortilla Mexicana Los Hermanos
ReALTO Tortilla Mexicana Los Hermanos
Bushwick Tortilla Factory
(Tortilla Mexicana Los Hermanos)
A few weeks ago, despite rain, my friends and I braved the elements and went the whole two blocks away from my house that marked the starting point of the Total Bushwick Immersion. There was drinking and merriment, and after the merriment and the drinking and the more drinking, it was time for the greatest of all festival foods: tacos.
Before I get ahead of myself (and for those of you that do not venture past the Grand stop on the L), let’s discuss Bushwick. Bushwick is that area of Brooklyn that realtors take you to when showing you an apartment in “East Williamsburg.” To the naked eye, it’s a hipster playland. It seems like there is no one above the age of 25 in the factory spaces that are around any L stop past Montrose. And I’m not going to sit here and defend that aspect of Bushwick. It is, after all, pretty hipstered out. But the thing is that there’s more to Bushwick than meets the eye. It’s a working class Puerto Rican (and now quickly becoming Mexican) neighborhood that has now drawn the attention of Manhattanites because of Roberta’s Pizza and the delicious (and I mean, whoa, delicious) Momo Sushi Shack. I will spare you the rant about that and instead focus on the food. There are many other edible gems that Jay Z has yet to make famous amongst the old factory buildings crawling with half shaved scenester heads. And one of them is the Bushwick Tortilla Factory.
http://www.mightysweet.com/mesohungry
OK, so first, let me set the scene: this ain’t fancy. And I mean, this AIN’T fancy. When you walk into the Bushwick Tortilla Factory you’ll see a counter. The counter is the length of the whole restaurant (if you can call it a restaurant and not a fonda) and behind it is a whole family cooking you some delicious tacos. Right next to them is the factory where the tortillas are being made, and in that space there are a few plastic tables with chairs, total jail cafeteria style. Except for one key element. The tortillas are made there. I repeat: THE TORTILLAS ARE MADE THERE. That pretty much takes care of my biggest Mexican joint pet peeve ever. There is also Juan Gabriel blaring on the stereo and the ladies that are smoothing over the tortillas, sticking them on the comal and then stuffing them full of whatever you want are singing along. This place totally had me at “Querida.”
http://www.yelp.com/
Then the tacos came. And they were a good size—not as small as street tacos should be, but not that huge Cal-Mex bullshit. The beans were like God intended: creamy, tasty, and the perfect taco glue. Two tortillas, and we’re off. Delicious. The Tortilla Factory’s use of cotija is perfect too—not too much but just enough to give the tacos a kick.
Then the quesadillas. Holy guac, the quesadillas. They were made with real Oaxaca cheese, which if you haven’t tried, you need to stop reading this and get your bad self to a Mexican bodega and buy a ball. I say a ball because that’s what Oaxaca cheese is: it’s sort of a ball of Mexican mozzarella, but better. It’s a little saltier, and it melts like a combo of havarti and moz. In other words, subtle in taste but melty and gooey in texture. When I lived in middle-of-nowhere Ohio with no access to such heavenly pleasures as Oaxaca cheese, I used to make my bastardized version using havarti, fresh moz and a little white cheddar. And yes, I love cheese and cheese times three sounds three times as awesome, but this concoction, my friends, was never ever ever in the slightest bit even close to Oaxaca. You want it now?
http://www.yelp.com
My hungry hungry friends and I lucked out big time too—in addition to the carnitas tacos (I’ll get to those in a minute, never you worry), quesadillas, and the veggie tacos that we got, someone forgot to pick up their order. So the factory ladies gave us two other free tacos and a torta.
Now, let’s analyze this. Was I gonna eat every last thing on that tray? Um, yes. But see, here is where we reached an impasse: despite Bushwick Tortilla Factory’s SUPERB quesadillas and great taco elements, the carnitas themselves were…ok. They are like taco truck at Bedford Ave ok. Like, I can eat them. I didn’t want to spit them out Vamos Al Tequila style. But were they as good as everything else? Not really. So I didn’t eat two carnitas tacos. Instead, I dug into the free chorizo one, which was also good, but here’s where I encountered mistake #2.
I know I’m being picky about this—but when you have everything so right, how can you get one thing so wrong? And that thing was, you ask? Lettuce. Lettuce on tacos! No self-respecting Mexican would do that. Ok, maybe Californios. But I’m just saying. A good fonda taco needs no lettuce atop its glowing meats. Bad move, Bushwick. Overall, though, don’t be discouraged. The Tortilla Factory is totally all that is hyped up to be. It’s laid back; it’s well made. It’s friendly as hell. It’s a Bushwick gem for sure. And you can eat there guilt-free because they’re not the ones that had labor violations that caused a worker his life (Chinantla, I’m looking at you). So go to it! Get to it before it’s mega discovered (more than it already has—we had to wait quite a bit to get our tacos) and embrace a real family taquería, as it should be.
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