El Toro Blanco

Let's start off with the good at El Toro Blanco.  Almost everything we ordered.  Now to the bad.  Surly/barely competent wait staff and sour margaritas.  You can tell from the Guacamole that this place serves legit Mexican food.  Which says a lot coming from Southern California girl.  El Toro's guaca reviles my guac and is probably the best in town.  It definitely had a kick to it so if you need something milder, speak up when you order (it is freshly prepared but not prepared table side).

Back to the service.  Margaritas that were supposed to have no salt arrived salted.  Traditional margaritas on the rocks, probably the least complicated thing we ordered, were awful and tasted like sour mix.  When I informed our waiter that the margaritas tasted like sour mix, he proceeded to lecture us that the restaurant puts 2 (whole) ounces of tequila in the margarita and then told us he was concerned that we would be too drunk (mind you this was our first drink of the night) if the restaurant fixed them as per our request (so they would essentially taste correct).  Apparently, he didn't want to stick to bad service and preferred to move on to down right insulting.

Luckily, the great company at the table and the impressive food helped us laugh about the horrendous wait staff and enjoy our night.  Sadly, I think bad service is endemic to the West Village.   

What to Eat:

Go with a small group and order family style.  With all of the impressive appetizers, I would recommend ordering more apps and less entrees at El Toro Blanco.  I wouldn't recommend going with a group larger than 4-6 because it's very loud so there's no chance you will hear the person sitting more than two seats away from you.  We started off with the Short Rib Empanadas, which consisted of three empanadas, stuffed with tender, braised pulled short ribs and a hint of oaxaca cheese.  The empanadas come with an ancho bbq sauce but you probably won't need it because the small empanadas are moist and packed with flavor.

Another big hit was the Octopus Tacos.  The two soft corn tortillas were filled with marinated octopus slices, avocado, and a citrus slaw.  I would recommend ordering enough for everyone to have their own taco because the octopus tacos are too good to have anything less than one taco to yourself.  Octopus appears on menus all over NYC now but I would have never thought to pair tacos and octopus.  The pairing totally worked and if I ever end up at El Toro again, this will be the first thing I order.

 I also enjoyed the Shrimp Tacos, although after devouring the octopus tacos, the shrimp tacos felt a little less exciting.  Every bit as tasty, just something you've seen before.  El Toro Blanco does a great job presenting the tray of tacos, putting lime slices on each side of the taco to help keep them propped up.  

Eventually we made it to the entrees.  The standout for the night was the Carne Tampiquena, a slow cooked, juicy skirt steak.  Ignore the lame cheese enchilada El Toro Blanco tosses on the plate, it's just as lackluster as Toloache's.  

The Elote de Calle was the best side of the night.  The corn, sliced off the cob, is seasoned with red chile powder and crumbled cheese.  Every time I pass a NYC street fair corn vendor, it will remind me of the infinitely better tasting (and easier to consume) version at El Toro.  Thankfully, El Toro serves a large bowl of the delectable corn.

For dessert, we opted for an order of Churros for the table.  While the churros were tasty, the ducle de leche dipping sauce stole the show.  If El Torro would bottle it up and sell it, I'd buy a case.

Looking for a hot spot to escape this never ending NYC winter? I know it's technically spring, it just doesn't feel like it,

Your foodie friend

Insider tip: Do not order the shrimp empanada.  It was fishy and in retrospect I should have sent it back.  It was the only bad dish we had all night.