Adventures in NYC: Calexico Carne Asada

I was traipsing around Soho today during meetings in a fit of nostalgia for my NYU days (i.e. snacking and shopping) when I stumbled upon Calexico Carne Asada on the corner of Wooster & Prince. While vendors selling candied nuts, hot dogs and/or pretzels are everywhere in NYC, a carne asada cart is quite rare. This may seem odd to us Los Angelenos, living as we do in the land of the taco truck and Kogi-mania, but tacos and Soho don't normally mix outside of Dos Caminos and La Esquina (which is arguably in Little Italy).

According to the website, Calexico "is owned and operated by three brothers from Southern California who are obsessed with bringing high quality Cal-Mex cuisine to the streets of New York." The cart has received a lot of press, and recently won "The Top Street Cart Award" at the 2008 Vendy Awards. How do you become a judge for an event like that?!? Yum!

The cart only serves lunch from 11 am to the earlier of 4 pm, or when it runs out of food. Luckily I happened by around 3:30 and was able to sample the wares.

There were a bunch of guys in line when I came, salivating as they waited for what looked like some seriously overstuffed burritos to come off the grill. However, I eat burritos at Poquito Mas, not taco trucks, and I couldn't bring myself to deviate from that habit for a Soho food cart.

I tried a carne asada taco ($4), served with pico de gallo and avacado crema (Calexico's purported specialty), and a chipoltle pork taco ($3) served with pickled onions and Mexican crema. Both were excellent, and in a rare victory for beef, I preferred the carne asada to the chipoltle pork. It was lean, sliced thin, and seasoned perfectly. The portion was just right too. With dinner only a few hours away, I didn't have enough room to try to the chipoltle "crack" sauce or a rolled quesadilla, but the week isn't over yet. And I wonder why I'm having a hard time buttoning my pants . . .