Jaunted

Street Food

Peerless Mexican Street Food in Williamsburg

August 10, 2008 at 3:40 PM | 0 Comments

We remember what it was like to backpack across Europe on a shoestring budget. A couple hundred bucks had to last through multiple countries, which meant that eating in restaurants was out of the question. Hence, the old backpacker cliché of bread and cheese on a park bench was elevated to a mantra, and delicious street food was a rare indulgence.

Penny-pinching visitors to New York who are "tuned in" enough to spend some time in Williamsburg, Brooklyn should make a beeline to the corner of Bedford Avenue and North 12th Street (across from the Turkey's Nest) for some of the finest - and cheapest - Mexican street food in the city. From Thursday through Sunday, a nameless food cart (we asked) turns out fantastic chicken, steak, and chorizo tacos for $2.50 a pop, along with $4 quesadillas and decadent elote (Mexican corn on the cob on a stick) with mayo, lime juice, parmesan cheese, salt, and red pepper. The food is straight-up yummers.

Take your Mexican feast across the street to McCarren Park, find a bench or a patch of grass, and chow down while assorted softball games are played on the diamonds. Plenty of people accompany their meals with draft beers poured into Styrofoam cups from the aforementioned Turkey's Nest, but drinking in public remains illegal in New York, and just because your beverage is in a unmarked container, don't think you can't get busted. I've seen it happen. Better to scrape together your remaining money and belly up to the bar for a digestif.

Related Stories:
· Turkey's Nest Tavern [New York Magazine]
· Street Food Coverage [Jaunted]

[Photo: Victor Ozols]