This is the latest in Alex Stupak’s New York Mexican restaurant mini-empire. Now a note about Alex Stupak upfront. I am a huge fan of his book Taco. Who would have thought that what I think can easily be described as the Bible of tortillas and tacos was written by a white guy from Boston. But the book is that good. Over the last year I have frequently used it to make tacos and salsas and not only do the recipes end up amazing, but the book provides background to every dish that explains the history, the essence of the dish which is really important when cooking I think — nowhere is it more important when you start making tortillas. So Tacos is my go to cookbook, but I had actually not gone to one of the initial Mexican restaurants in New York by Stupak. But finding myself looking for dinner in the city and having recently read a glowing review of the new Midtown location in the New York Times I found myself sitting in the dining room.
For dinner we started out with the guacamole and salsas. Then as the starter we had Yellow Beets with Coconut Crema and Green Chile Ice, for the main course we hard three tacos — Octopus with Celery and Savory Peanut Butter, Lamb Sweetbreads with Lamb Barbacoa, and Thick-Cut Bacon with Pickled Green Tomato — and for desert the Avocado with Lime, Olive Oil and Eucalyptus Yogurt. Of these three I would say the salsas, the sweet bread tacos, and the avocado dessert are must order items. The sweetbreads with lamb barbacoa tacos are probably the most street food like tacos on the menu. They adobo paste leaves a deep earthy taste in the lamb which is balanced by the sweetbreads. the bacon tacos are also divine. You will likely not find this dish on the streets in Mexico but you could definitely imagine it. Now the one dish that blew me away was the desert. Just read the description — avocado, lime, olive oil, eucalyptus. Who would make a dessert out of this? You can the dish and you think its half an avocado on shaved ice. And oh you are so wrong. As you take a spoon of the avocado you realize this is either the most perfect avocado, or more likely it is not an avocado at all (which is what it is). And all the flavors work. There is no overly avocado taste. It all just works well.
Now if I would have one complaint it would be the noise level. And on a slightly secondary note, while Stupak via his book taught me how to make tortillas at home, I would say the tortillas at Empellon could be a tad bit more flavorful — think Pujol — but this does not take away from my experience here at all. I can only highly recommend the restaurant. Most certainly the best Mexican food you can have in NY, or maybe one should say Mexican inspired.
