When I visit an ice cream shop, I want to try all the flavors. I expect that. But when I stop at a taco joint, I don’t expect to want to try all the cuts of pork.
But Carnitas Ramirez is not your typical taco joint. The owners of Taqueria Ramirez opened this small house of pork in the East Village earlier this year. The menu consists of almost every single part of the swine from the ribs to the belly, the cheeks, the snout, tongue, and skin.
If you always wanted to try pork brain, this is your spot (although that is only available as a fried and stuffed tortilla).
But getting back to the ice cream comparison, there is a way here to try a little bit of everything without ordering twelve different tacos.
Meet the Surtida taco, which translates to “mixed”. As you can guess, this is one taco that has a little bit of everything.
With one of their housemade salsas and a very important squeeze of lime (to break up the grease), this was one of the more heart-stopping tacos I’ve ever tried.
I can’t say I was able to discern the chewy ear from the fatty jowl or the lean shank from the meaty butt, however there was a lot of different textures and a huge amount of porcine flavor. The excellent corn tortilla sopped up the grease and in all truthfulness, I could not eat more than one of these. One was great, but certainly enough.
This is true snout to tail dining – all from a little haunt in Alphabet City that is worth coming to try whichever bit of pork you choose. Kosher and vegetarian diners need not stop by. Price: $5
| CARNITAS RAMIREZ |
| 210 East 3rd Street (between Avenue A and Avenue B), Alphabet City |
| carnitasramirez.com |
