Why Come Here? incredible homemade salsas, delicious blue corn tacos
Denisse Chavez has been running two popular taco counters in the Bronx (also sporting the El Atoradero name), but this marks her first foray into the sit down Mexican game. For taco fans unwilling to travel North of the Wall River for her acclaimed fare (myself included), this is exciting news (although you will still need to travel to Crown Heights). I recently made the trip with a friend who lives in the area.
When you enter El Atoradero you’ll notice it might be the narrowest restaurant in New York. It seems like the space was a sliver to begin with, then they had cram the bar and kitchen onto one side of it creating a something I certainly couldn’t lay across. But Mexican food isn’t meant to be eaten in fancy digs so I’m not complaining. And there’s a pretty inviting looking back yard I look forward to hitting up in the Spring.
On the service side there may be a few kinks to work out (our server was unclear on the ingredients of many of the dishes). But it is Chavez’s first full service spot so I’m confident these will be resolved. And what’s coming out of the kitchen is already flawless. You can tell Chavez doesn’t take any shortcuts and everything is made traditionally from scratch. The flavors are incredibly intricate. Here’s what we tried.
Salsas 
This might be the first time I left a Mexican restaurant raving about the salsa. Chavez is known for doing things the traditional way and this is as fresh and complex tasting as any salsa I’ve eaten. They’re great on the chips but you’ll end up adding them to everything you order. The brown one is particularly spicy, so much so that it ended up blurring the image.
Guacamole 
It’s hard to find a guac for under $10 in the city these days. Granted it’s not the biggest, but it’s a good start for 2 people without filling you up. It’s chunky and you’ll get a surprise kick of jalapenos in every third bite.
Al Pastor Taco Sweet, spicy and tender – the al pastor is everything you want it to be. I love the simple preparation with onion and cilantro as well as the fresh blue corn tortilla.
Carnitas Taco This bears absolutely no resemblance to the carnitas you get at Chipotle. The fried hunks of pork were quite tasty, but lose a point for being a little fattier than I would have liked.
Pollo Tinga Torta 
Chicken is normally the last thing I’ll order at a Mexican restaurant, but El Atoradero kills it. The meat is braised with chipotles and tomatoes adding a lot of both tenderness and flavor. My one complaint is the shredded iceburg lettuce which feels more like something you should on a a $6 storefront torta than a $12 restaurant one.
El Atoradero
708 Washington Street
Brooklyn, NY
