Hecho En Dumbo

Wow, it has been a while since I last wrote! Time to remedy that...

Last night, before a show at the Mercury Lounge, a friend and I went to Hecho en Dumbo, on the Bowery between 4th and Great Jones. The name, if you haven't heard of the place before, is a reference to the fact that the restaurant was originally located in DUMBO, but relocated across the river about a year ago.

As far as the atmosphere goes, the noise level was buzzy (it was pretty crowded the whole time we were there, on a Thursday evening) but not really what I'd call loud. It was very warm inside, even on a cold winter night, so you might want to be prepared for that; also, there's only one bathroom (which is huge, and I don't know why they don't subdivide it). We waited a little while for our table, as you might expect at a crowded restaurant, but once we were seated everything came out fairly quickly. Service was friendly, although perhaps not the most attentive.

Everything we ate was very tasty. The portions weren't huge, though also not as small as some of the Yelp reviews would lead you to believe. I guess the thing is, if you go into your meal expecting it to be like Chipotle, where you get a huge burrito for $8 and that's your meal, or like a traditional taqueria where you get a couple of $2 tacos and you're done, you're not going to be happy with your price/volume-of-food ratio. If you think of it as going to a Manhattan restaurant that happens to be serving Mexican food rather than Italian or Japanese or whatever else, you'll be fine with it. My friend and I were stuffed for $48 each (including tax, tip, and one drink each), and we're both hearty eaters.

We started with an order of guacamole, prepared fresh and a bit creamier in texture than I generally expect. Queso Fundido Huitlacoche (with mushrooms) was delicious, though I'm not sure how much credit I can give since melted cheese is, by rule, always awesome. Next we had an order of mixed seafood tacos (called "tacos el alcalde", though I'm not sure what the mayor has to do with them), which were an interesting blend of smoked sable, shrimp and braised octopus. If I were I more pretentious writer, I'd say that the smoked fish pays tribute to the Lower East Side's Jewish heritage, but I'm not. At about the same time we also received our burritas (basically just a burrito cut into three pieces), with wine-braised steak, black beans and caramelized onions. The meat was very tender and I would definitely order these again. (Actually, everything I've mentioned I would order again.) Last, we had Carnitas Campechanas, a variety of cuts of pork (shoulder, belly, cheek, ear), served with small tortillas and a spicy green (tomatillo and avocado, according to the website) sauce. One of the more expensive things on the menu, but also a nicely sized pile of delicious pork. (I'm not a good Jew.) It was reminiscent of Cuban roast pork I sometimes get for lunch at Sophie's, except way better.

As a final note on price, the tacos were $11 for three fairly small tacos, which seems a bit steep, even for seafood. On the other hand, the burritas, for $9, could probably be a meal on their own for daintier eaters, since if you put the three pieces together you'd basically have a medium-sized (not Chipotle-sized, but reasonable) burrito. The guacamole ($7) and queso fundido ($9) were right in line with what you'd expect to pay for a sharing-oriented appetizer anywhere else in Manhattan. The carnitas, as I mentioned, were one of the most expensive things on the menu ($21), but they were also a big pile of pork that defeated me and my friend.

One last thing: I'm coming to the conclusion that I just don't like micheladas, so I don't think the fact that I didn't like theirs is significant. Should've had a regular beer or a drink with tequila instead.