Cuisine

Neighborhood

CUISINE: Mexican
NEIGHBORHOOD: Nolita, Soho

114 Kenmare St. at Lafayette St.

(p) 646-613-7100

I don't like to eat at restaurants where people are jerks.  La Esquina is my exception.  The famously hipper-than-thou staff once told a friend of mine, "I'm sorry, we don't have you in our system, so there is nothing I can do for you."  But the food's good, y'all, and you can eat it easily if you avoid the crowd downstairs. CONT'D

The upstairs café serves out of the same kitchen, and boy is it delicious.  As a Southern California export, I miss the light and delicious Mexican food that you can find out west.  La Esquina's fish tacos are the closest I've come to food actually eaten in Mexico: flaky grilled fish, pickled onions, and delightful secret sauce.  I just can't get enough.  The tortilla soup is hearty, served with enough vegetables and avocado and chicken to fill you up if you order a side.  And as far as the sides go, the grilled green beans are the best green beans I've ever had, and are served in a plentiful heap, big enough to share.  The wait for a table on a weekend night is testament to the over-all enjoyability of just about everything on the menu.  During the summer, tables are set up on the sidewalk in front of the taco stand, which has nearly all of the café's menu available to-go.

Eating downstairs is fun though, as long as you make a reservation in advance.  It's a great place to take a friend visiting from out of town, as you have to descend past a bouncer and through the kitchen in order to enter the "secret" underground lair of fine Mexican food and pomegranate margaritas.  This is how New Yorkers do it, you can tell them, and shrug casually.  It is certainly an entertaining atmosphere: dripping candles and dark wood, pretty mosaics that, under closer inspection, feature bawdy women with cantaloupe-like boobs.  The food is more upscale, and served on enormous platter-sized plates.  As the night goes on, the scene becomes less restaurant, more nightclub — you might not be able to hear your dinner partner over the music and girls that have gathered en masse at the bar.  That's okay though, because another delicious trademark cocktail will make all right, and you can always grab another taco upstairs on your way out.

Photo: Williamb2007's Flickr

Posted in FOOD on February 3, 2010 11:06am by Rachel Hochhauser | 17 comments

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We are young (early 20's) and hungry (for knowledge! music! art! food!) friends living on (or in areas which border) Manhattan. We moved to the city seeking higher education, and an alternative to frat parties and gin buckets. We prefer a bottle of Chianti to a keg, lunches at City Bakery to a dining hall, Joe's to Starbucks, Frankie's Amatriciana to Batali's. Our uniting factor is our love for food. For detailed, personal information, keep reading.
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