Brooklyn's Best New Taco is stuffed with Yucatecan pork

Free newsletter this week! With great recommendations for NY, NJ, and Philly.

Hey, Rob Martinez here.

Each week, I’ve pulled together a group of writers to give recommendations around NYC, NJ, and Philly. These are all folks I trust, and I’ve given them only 2 directions:

1 - No PR Meals. I want places that have been sought out, scouted, and confirmed to be quality. Not places that everyone is getting invited to.

2 - Write about people, whenever possible.

I feel a fatigue with most food media. Their coverage feels repetitive and limited. And I have a deep disdain for venture-backed companies like the ghost-kitchen-celebrity-chef one, or the coffee-and-matcha-one buying up all the real estate.

Small businesses without those types of resources are at a severe disadvantage. So I want to see less of the PR spots, less about restaurant groups, less about the guy who founded Chipotle. I want to see more dignity, more community, and more compassion. I want deep cuts and heartfelt recommendations. I want to read about people, and food.

This is our north star. Thank you to those who have already bought into the mission. Please let me know what else I can do to make this the best food publication in New York City, and if you haven’t already, consider subscribing.

Also - this week’s newsletter is free!

• Rob

1. The New York Mexican food renaissance continues in Bed Stuy

Whenever I receive a text from Oscar Hernandez, the chef of Wayne and Sons, it’s always about a Mexican delicacy he’s discovered in New York City. This time, it’s a video of him slowly zooming in on the menu at Dolores, until he lands on the words Chicharrón Prensado. Translation: Pressed pork.

This is the 3rd instance of chicharrón prensado we’ve found in NYC, and it seems to be a new phenomenon. The process of making chicharrón prensado involves frying a variety of pig parts in lard, and then pressing them into a block of gelatinous porky goodness. Here’s what that process looks like, if you’re interested.

In Mexico City, I’d often seen this block processed as a red stew, stuffed into tacos de canasta or laid on top of a taco de guisado. But at Dolores, a new cantina-esque Mexican restaurant in Bed Stuy, they are stuffing those pig pieces into a griddled puck of masa from Sobre Masa, along with onion and salsa verde, and then topping it with salty cheese. The resulting gordita is a crispy and fatty bit of business, balanced by the savory corn flavor of the masa and the bright punch of the salsa.

One tip: Ask for the salsa borracha on the side, made with habanero and chiles de arbol that, according to the bartender, have been soaked with mezcal and charred. The salsa improves absolutely everything it touches, including the incredible cochinita pibil tacos, which are stuffed with Yucatecan-style stewed pork and pickled red onions. The stock from the stew penetrates the tortilla, making it taste like a homestyle dish that happens to be plated for a restaurant. It’s on par with the version I had at Coox Hanal, a legendary Yucatecan spot in Mexico City that I have been gatekeeping until right now.

The best cochinita pibil currently available in New York City.

On the way out, I caught up with co-owner Emir Dupeyron, who grew up in CDMX. I grilled him about the chicharrón, and he revealed its source. It’s a 66-year old Mexican woman in New Jersey who makes it out of her factory, and she refuses to deliver it to Brooklyn. For now, Emir’s team is picking it up themselves in person.

It’s worth it. - Rob Martinez

📍 Dolores
397 Tompkins Ave, Brooklyn, NY 11216

2. A Filipino-Jamaican BBQ Spot opens in New Jersey

The second I heard that Bonney’s BBQ—a Filipino-Jamaican pop-up from LA—was opening a brick-and-mortar in New Jersey, I knew I had to get there. So I shot down to Metuchen on a sunny afternoon to give it a shot.

Bonney’s is the brainchild of husband-and-wife duo Damion Chambers and Jeanne Jordan. Damion, who is from Jamaica, combines his knowledge of Jamaican cooking with Jeanne’s Filipino roots. The jerk chicken and pork combo serves as a perfect window into the concept: an authentic Jamaican-style jerk chicken, alongside a Filipino-inspired BBQ pork that still carries a distinctly Caribbean soul.

Let me be the first to tell you… it works, and it works well.

Bonney’s jerk chicken is mind-bendingly good. It sports plenty of charred and smoky skin encasing tender meat, which tears off the bone with ease. On the flip side is the jerk pork, grilled and chopped, offering more bite than its chicken counterpart and a distinctly porky flavor. Emphasizing both textural and flavorful differences, the combo helps to avoid palate fatigue (though, I’m not sure one could get tired of either option on their own). Bonney’s cooks their meat over a mix of hickory and maple wood, which imparts a key flavor for their take on jerk.

Underneath it all is a base of incredibly flavorful rice and beans and a scoop of chopped tomatoes on the side. The rice soaks up all of the chicken and pork juices, evolving as you make your way through the platter. And don’t forget to get a side of vinegar. Bonney’s homemade mixture includes loads of thyme and a touch of Scotch bonnet. It’s zingy, herbaceous and best enjoyed dumped all over the dish—then, grab another side of it for dipping. Now, you’ve entered peak flavor territory. - Peter Candia

📍 Bonney's BBQ
387 Main St, Metuchen, NJ 08840

Peter Candia is the Food & Drink Editor at New Jersey Digest.

3. Smoked Mussels offer a taste of home at this Puerto Rican rum bar

Growing up in Puerto Rico, Chef Yun Fuentes used to watch baseball games on the television with his grandfather whom he called ‘Bolo’. As they’d watch, Chef Fuentes’ grandfather would eat tinned mussels escabeche on saltine-esque crackers - a picture Chef Fuentes vividly remembers to this day.

At Bolo, Chef Fuentes’ Center City restaurant and rum bar, the ingredient quality and attention to detail is improved from the days of tinned mussels, but the idea is very much the same. A mussels escabeche designed as a nostalgic bite in memory of his grandfather.

They source Bang Island Mussels, cleaning and debearding them before smoking and pickling, and infusing in a garlic, coriander, and bayleaf oil with distilled vinegar. The dish is then built with peppers, onions, and more garlic, plus a lemon aioli and some finely chopped herbs. Trade in the soda crackers for tostones, and I can taste the story Chef Fuentes is telling.

Bolo has a large menu with recipes from across the Latin world: a delicious Cubano sandwich, chicharrones, suckling pig dinners, the works. But I go specifically for the ceviches and escabeches, each one telling a different story from Chef Fuentes’ life and culinary career.

The mussels are for his grandfather. The smoked salmon pineapple ceviche uses a technique he learned while doing a Puerto Rican food pop-up in Finland. The snapper Nikkei ceviche is influenced by his time working in sushi restaurants, as well as the influence Japanese immigrants had on Peruvian cuisine.

Bolo is a love letter to Latin food, and one Chef Fuentes writes incredibly well. - Jacob Does Philly

📍 Bolo
2025 Sansom St, Philadelphia, PA 19103

'Jacob Does Philly' is a Philadelphia transplant and food nerd who loves exploring his new community.

4. In Scarsdale, a classic tavern with perfect wings

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In the Northeast, we all love or have loved an old wood-paneled tavern where the beer’s served by the pitcher, the wings are good, and the politics, even when veiled, are probably bad.

Whether it’s sports, nostalgia, or rainy weather that makes you pine after a place like this, it’s helpful to know a few outside of your immediate environs. If you ever have reason to venture 20 minutes north of the Bronx to Scarsdale (there’s an H-Mart), you should stop by the Candlelight Inn to experience a perfect iteration of the form. The wood paneling is absolute, covering every surface; there’s a modest craft beer list, but bartenders mostly pull the handle on Yuengling or Coors Light; it’s old (circa 1955); every table hosts at least one Yankee fan or cop (they might be the same person), and, while I’ve never been to Buffalo, I’m not sure anyone anywhere could make more perfect wings.

The wings at Candlelight come whole—the drum and flat still connected—in orders of ten, twenty, or thirty. At other bars, I sometimes order wings extra crispy, overcooked even, so they don’t arrive soggy, but here that’s not necessary. They’re crunchy on the outside and moist on the inside every time. Mild is my order, but the most popular sauce among regulars is a mixture of hot buffalo sauce and teriyaki sauce. It is very good.

It’s not just wings we’re talking about here, though, of course. Places like these, vibes intact, are endangered. The schedule, like the menu and the decor, is a well-preserved relic. Candlelight has been open daily from 11 a.m. to 2 a.m. since Jack Tracy opened the place. Perhaps that’s the reason for their longevity. Well, that and the family’s continued involvement; three generations later, they still follow Jack’s credo: “There has to be a Tracy here at all times.” - Mike Diago

📍 The Candlelight Inn
519 Central Park Ave Scarsdale, NY 10583

Mike Diago is an award-winning food writer, home cook, and High School Social Worker living in the Hudson Valley.

The only thing I’ll put behind the paywall is the link to our Google Map with all of these places pinned. Thanks for reading! - Rob