Food in Mouth

El Rey del Sabor by Bryant Park

"A Coke is a Coke and no amount of money can get you a better Coke than the one the bum on the corner is drinking. All the Cokes are the same and all the Cokes are good. Liz Taylor knows it, the President knows it, the bum knows it, and you know it." The Internets tell me this quote is from Andy Warhol. Of course you can't get foodies to agree on that, because coke in Mexico is supposed to be vastly superior to coke in the U.S., and Obama could probably import some Mexican coke to the White House kitchen pretty easily. The beauty of something like Coke though, is not lost on me. It's not about the type of sweetner, its about the overall taste and experience of enjoying a tall glass of coke. Anyone has access to such a thing because it's so widespread and the mass manufacturing and distribution of this product has brought this drink to people all over the world. And for the most part, everyone is getting the same product. You think that's no big feat, until you want to carry such a characteristic to other foods that you enjoy. Even though I've enjoyed Taco Bell in the past and suffered through the consequences, I'm smart enough to realize that shit ain't the best tacos. There's no one chain to turn to in order to get good tacos, and even if some people fans of places like Baja Fresh or Chipotle, those two chains haven't penetrated nearly as many hoods as the house that spawned the chihuahua that could speak Spanish. Where does that leave me when I want tacos?

This post actually occured a few weeks ago, and it was right after a bunch of scuffles occured between Midtown carts. Midtown Lunch talked about how the El Rey del Sabor had a new cart by 43rd and shit was going down with the police and other carts. I had to go check it out and see if there was any drama.

Of course the day I went, there was zero drama, just carts getting along peacefully, and people lining up peacefully. I got three spicy pork tacos from El Rey del Sabor, hoping for some porky goodness. I've really only tasted tacos of the Taco Bell variety, and some tacos al pastor from Tacos Nuevos Mexico. I ordered the spicy pork figuring that pork is the type of filling that I'm familiar with the most.

The pork filling from El Rey del Sabor aren't like fillings inside an al pastor taco from Tacos Nuevos Mexico. The filling just wasn't as porktastic and maybe a tad dry. It maybe needed some fatty pork bits, seeing as most of the chunks of meat were quite lean. Perhaps lean pork is a sign of expensive pork, however the taste is in the fat. What the meat lacked it fat, it partially made up for with hotness. You can cure just about anything with hot sauce, at least that's my theory on life. Got a cold? Pour some hot sauce on it? It itches somewhere the light don't shine? Hot sauce will kill it. Dry pork tacos? Incinerating your tongue will make you forget about everything else and just be entranced by the French music and the carousel. Ok, maybe that last part only works if you're eating your tacos in Bryant Park.

El Rey del Sabor 2 (location may change)
43rd st and 6th Ave.
New York, NY 10036
Map

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Posted by Danny on October 15 2009 at 11:55 am