Fabulous Taqueria in Flatiron

I was invited to try a new taqueria in Flatiron, so on Friday night, my roommate and I headed to Choza Taqueria on Madison between 27th and 28th.

Now, you may have heard of Choza before if you work downtown.  There is a Choza down by the Brooklyn Bridge as part of the open air cafe.  That location is now closed for the season, but if you are looking for some delicious tacos, you may want to head over to Flatiron.

When we walked in, I thought that the restaurant may still have been under construction, since the tile isn’t completely finished on the ground and the place looks a little rustic.  Instead, this is the look that the owner, Dominic, was going for.  As a child growing up in California, he traveled to Mexico a lot, and remembered eating delicious tacos at these no-frills establishments, and as a result decided to create that kind of atmosphere.  There is some counter seating at the restaurant, as well as three tables, which seat 2 people comfortable per table.

Dominic suggested we could either order off the menu, or he would create a tasting menu.  We went with the tasting menu and he grabbed a few Jarritos, or Mexican sodas for us to start.  He brought over his three favorite flavors – tamarind, mandarin, and grapefruit.  These sodas are made with natural cane sugar, so they are a bit sweeter.  My favorite was the grapefruit, which tasted like a light Sprite.  Mandarin was obviously like an orange soda, and I felt like the tamarind flavor was more like a peach ice tea.

We kicked off the meal with tacos – which were $6.89 for three tacos.  If you are wondering why the prices are a little weird, it’s so that the grand total with tax always ends in a multiple of 25 cents.  I thought that was pretty smart!  Al and I each tried carnitas, carne asada and pollo tacos.  One of the pollo tacos were a grilled chicken with a sofrito corn and cilantro puree – I thought this had a really nice spicy kick to it, and liked that it was pieces of chicken, rather than shredded chicken.  I also liked that there were two tortillas on every taco so your taco kept together nicely, and I also appreciated that these tortillas came in from Queens, where they were made from real corn shipped in from Mexico.

If you are going to go with the tacos, I felt that the carne asada was phenomenal, and it was my roommate’s favorite as well.  It was accompanied with a pico de gallo and a guajillo salsa.  I also enjoyed the flavors of the carnitas, and found it to be a pretty juicy taco since there were some pickled veggies on top.  I’d advise eating that taco in the comfort of your cube, unless your comfortable with the people you are eating with, because there definitely was some juice running down my chin.  When I spoke with the owner about it, he said when he’s tried to make this particular taco less juicy, some complained that it wasn’t authentic enough.  Despite me running through some extra napkins, I thought the flavors were much better than the shredded pollo taco.  If getting tacos from Choza, I’d definitely go with the carne asada, followed by the carnitas and then the pollo.  Check though to see what the special taco is as well.

We got some guac and salsa fresca on the side, and the guac was my favorite.  The guac had a good level of spice to it, and wasn’t overpowering with onion, like most guacamoles.  I also enjoyed that there was a really good lime flavor.

We also got to try the grilled corn, which was covered in a sauce like a spicy lime mayo, and queso fresco.  Oh my god this was heaven.  I’m not a corn on the cob person, but I would definitely order this again.  Part of the ear of corn was on a stick so it wasn’t messy.

A beef tamale came out as well – which was $3.  Now, I’m not a tamale person, so I’m really not sure how this compares to other tamales.  It’s a bit of a heavier dish – it’s dough with meat in the middle – so was perfect as a side dish or a snack to taste and share with a friend, but probably not the best dish to eat alone since I’m sure I would have felt extremely full afterwards.

As someone who used to work nearby, I think Choza is a great addition to the neighborhood and an affordable lunch spot, or a quick dinner.  The food was delicious, didn’t put me in a food coma, and felt much healthier and fresher than any Mexican chain restaurant.  If you like Mexican, swing by, get some guac or corn and three tacos, and you’ll have a wonderful meal (and sorry there are no pictures of the tacos – I ate them too fast).