If you live in Manhattan, you won’t be surprise by what I am about to say. If you don’t, you’ll think I’m an idiot. People in Manhattan don’t leave the island. In fact, they don’t leave their little piece of the island. People living on the Upper East Side will talk about coming down to The Village. Which they might do once a year. For me, it would a trip up to The Village, and I get there a whole once a month. If my doctor wasn’t on the Upper East Side, I’d get to Philadelphia more often.
The other boroughs of New York? Never. Which is why I feel a bit stupid. A few years ago a Mexican restaurant opened up in Brooklyn, just across the bridge from me. It was literally two miles from me, and I could have walked over the bridge to it. I intended to, for the resatuarant earned spectaular reviews. My intentions met the usual Manhantanitte excuses: too cold, too warm, might rain, gotta do something else.
I kept making excuses. And the restuarant, Hecho en Dumbo, closed.
And then, I go a second chance. The restaurant reopned in Manhattan on The Bowery. Just 1.5 miles away. I was out of excuses, except for the fact that The Bowery used to be about the scuzziest place in New York City. Before there was Times Square, there was The Bowery. It was quite an excessive place, and then it lapsed into decay. And the only reason to go there was to visit stores selling restaurant equipment and lighting fixtures. That bleak period began to end a few years ago. Now the old buildings are coming down, new hotels and restuarants are sprouting up. And at night The Bowery has become a social hotspot, just the way it was over a century ago.
And there in the middle is the newly reincarnated Hecho en Dumbo. There were lines for it in Brooklyn. The lines at night will be longer now. But thankfully they serve brunch 7 days a week staring at 10:30. Just plan on going.
Why? Because this is great food. And different. What we eat in the United States is often Tex-Mex. Perfectly lovely, and characterized by waves of flavors that often assualt the tongue. In a perfectly acceptably way, but the peppers and spices and heat are just that: multiple assaults. There is nothing subtle about Tex-Mex.
At Hecho, your first reaction to the menu is likely to be: I want everything. Everything on the menu will seem new you and delightfully appetizing and it’s impossible to choose. When was the last time you were offere baked organic eggs in a light tomato sauce and topped with roasted chile porblanos and a pickled cactus salsa.
When your food arrives, you will have the second revelation. Often at a restaurant, there is a period of appraisal and judgment. It may take a few bites and swallows to make up your mind: is it good, great, or not too terrific. At Hecho, you won’t have to swallow, you won’t have to chew it all up. At the first bite you know: this is great food.
We ordered Tacos de Rajas Con Queso. These were roasted chile porblano peppers with sauteed oinon and melted queso Chihuahua. If this were Tex-Mex, you’d taste the peppers, then the onions, then the cheese. Here, there is simply one mellow flavor that only kitchen angels could have concocted. Our reaction was to order a second round. It was magnificent.
The tortas, or sandwiches, come on house-made bolillo bread featuring avoacao, onion, pickled jalapeno and the star ingredient. For our star, we went with pulled pork and could not have been more satisfied. The only sandwich place I know that can compare is a pannini palace near the university center in Milan. Greatness is rare.
The approach at Hecho is to serve Mexican City style antojitos: that’s tapas or appetizer. The dishes are small, the flavors sublime. It’s best with three or four people so you really can pick several items off the menu and share.
Dining at Hecho is an experience that you will find tastefully rewarding and certainly eye opening. This is simply the best Mexican food that Suzen and I ever ate.
When you are done eating, you can just walk a few blocks west and be in the Village. You can see all those Upper East Siders there for their annual tour of Lower Manhattan! Be sure to tell them about the super find you just relished over on The Bowery. We all need to expand our horizons.