I'm sitting at Tacos El Bronquito, the hermano pequeno restaurant across the street from the Sunset Park staple, Tacos el... read moreI'm sitting at Tacos El Bronquito, the hermano pequeno restaurant across the street from the Sunset Park staple, Tacos el Bronco. I just stopped chomping on my chips and guacamole long enough to put two bucks into a sweaty hat and thank the mariachi player for absolutely shredding it on his acoustic guitar. The old man thanks me in English and walks back out into the stifling July day, a day so hot, the MTA put up a swamp ass advisory on the NYC subway system.
Now that I've conjured the sense memory or swamp ass, let's talk about how great the food is at this place. Tacos el Bronco/Bronquito may not be the best taco in the country, (that, I assume lives in New Mexico) but it handily wins for best taco in Brooklyn. My Mexican neighbors seem to agree. This place is constantly crowded with Latinos and gringos alike, and any establishment that can get so popular it opens a mirror restaurant across the street from itself must be doing something right.
Unless you're feeling fancy, like I am tonight, your first instinct would be to just get a couple of tacos, chips and salsa, and let your food cravings die happily. That, by the way, is not a bad choice at all. The standard tacos are on fresh flour tortillas and loaded up with radishes, lime, guacamole, and caramelized onions. You could also get a whopping burrito and crack half a dozen poop jokes with your friends as you crack your jaws trying to dig into that football sized tortilla.
But if you live a block away from this place (like I do) you start to order a bit more like the locals. Try the brilliant bistec a la Mexicana, steak in a red wine tomato sauce with jalapeño, onions, rice and refried beans.
Or you can just pimp your taco ride and get one of the tacos placeros (translated to delightful taco) a house specialty made with chiles rellenos, breaded steak, or breaded chicken on a hand made soft corn tortilla with deep fried cactus, seeded jalapeños, salty onions, lime and rice. This spicy mega taco is just about the best thing on the menu and maybe the best thing happening in my sleepy neighborhood. That is, until I find something better to try on the menu next week.
Though a wildly successful business, Tacos el Bronco is a simple pleasure and without any airs or unsightly up-charges. Like the friendly Mexican immigrant population who live and raise their families in this neighborhood, the restaurant maintains its cultural authenticity while continuing to accommodate and even welcome the white gentrifying crowd who've now invaded their longstanding Latino neighborhood. Burgers and French fries are on this menu, for chrissake. I mean, who does that if they don't have to? El Bronco, of course.
The only "expensive" item here is its guacamole. My waiter politely warns me that a small side of guac will run me a full six dollars. Take my money, caballero. The guac is very good and I'm glad its back on the menu. Last year, the restaurant stopped serving guacamole sides due to an oppressive California drought and Trump's recent tariffs on Mexican avocados.
"It just became unsustainable," one of the managers explained to us. "We need the guac to put on our tacos, and we just can't afford to give full side orders away without spending too much money." It says a lot about what kind of place this restaurant is that rather than charge seemingly too much for a menu item, they'd rather not serve it at all.
This is what it is to live in south Sunset Park. Forgive my reductionist outlook on an entire culture, but my Mexican brethren here will sacrifice everything to make sure their families have affordable options and lead a happy way of life. Fifth Avenue in Sunset Park is therefore lined with bustling 99 cent stores, laundromats, fruit stands, barber shops, knock-off clothing stores, and second-hand cell phone distributors. To the wealthy and white, this may seem tacky, but to me it's a culture trying to raise its families just like everyone else in America, albeit a little less expensively. Walk these streets, and the LED Christmas lights sparkle brighter; the workers work harder; the borrachos are drunker; the religious pray louder; the families are closer; the singers are purer; the sex is sexier; and the food at Tacos el Bronco is truly placero.
As I sip my water and loiter here to soak up the free air conditioning, I can't help but regret only giving that mariachi player two bucks before he left the building. He knew I could have spared him a few more.
He thanked me anyway. read less
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