Burritophile.com

Score: 5 / 10    Reviewed by: jimothy3000

El Maguey y La Tuna is a rare find: a non-gimmicky lower east side/east village establishment. Shoot-- maybe that is their gimmick. This is even more impressive considering that it lies just beyond Clinton Street-- perhaps the trendiest and hippest row of restaurants in the entire city. Anyhoo-- El Maguey is a small little box of a Mexican restaurant on the east side of Houston St. Unassuming though it may be, El Maguey enjoys the fifth highest rating on citysearch.com for Mexican food out of hundreds in New York City and finished number one on the readers' poll. (Of note, Chipotle, the fast food chain, is rated the highest on citysearch AND won Best Burrito for 2004. Yes, I spent a lot of time researching for this.)
Given the hype, imagine how my heart ached with disappointment when I ordered their premier burrito, the eponymous El Maguey Y Tuna with steak and found it utterly boring. I can't complain too much, because it wasn't like I was spitting it out into a napkin or anything-- but for a place that is one of THE best in New York, they got a lot of things wrong. First, the pico de gallo is the worst I've ever had. We're talking salty chopped tomatoes with a little cilantro and not even a hint of chile. Secondly, the burrito, which was pretty small for $12, came out looking flat, unfilled and covered in mole pablano sauce. So it's not wrapped in foil and I don't get to eat it with my hands as God intended-- no big deal, right? The big deal is that if you're going to drown an expensive burrito in mole sauce, the mole sauce better not be a bland, reconstituted store-bought paste with no kick whatsoever. The sauce had a slight flavor of bitter chocolate, which was an interesting touch, but I've had toothpastes that were spicier than this. Believe me, I looked up mole poblano sauce in wikipedia and hot chiles should be at the TOP of the goshdamned list of ingredients. The rice and pinto beans worked okay as filler but nothing to write home about. And as a final kick in the pants, they gave me either an imperceptible amount of cheese or none at all. And I'm still hungry.
On the plus side however, the tortilla and guacamole were freshly made and really, really delicious, and the steak would have been superb if it were complemented with a better mole sauce. I hate to sound this negative-- this is still a great place to go in the lower east side and a big step up food-wise from San Loco and El Sombrero et al. a few blocks away-- but I had much higher hopes for this burrito.

Jim Fleming

posted by jimothy3000 on 1/5/2006 7:10 AM #