GREENWICH VILLAGE, NY — A Greenwich Village restaurant was just named among the best Mexican eateries in New York City.
It is a significant accomplishment given the range of Mexican food options among the five boroughs and the love so many people have for the cuisine in the city.
Eater NY recently published its list of “NYC’s 28 Essential Mexican Restaurants” – “Where to find the city’s best mariscos, mole, birria, and barbacoa.”
Earning a spot on the list was El Cantinero, which serves up Tex-Mex dishes at 86 University Pl.
Its menu includes nachos, quesadillas, shrimp cocktail, mussels, ceviche, soups, salads, burritos, tostadas, tacos, eachiladas, enchiladas, flautas, chimichangas, fajitas, surf and turf, and more.
Here’s what the editors from Eater NY had to say about the eatery:
“Before the city had food from Puebla, it had Tex-Mex, and one of our oldest local purveyors is El Cantinero. This dark, bi-level den just south of Union Square excels at sizzling fajitas, cheese enchiladas, and hard shell tacos, three staples of Tex-Mex cuisine. Nachos are carefully laid out the old-fashioned way with beans and melted cheese, and there are frozen margaritas by the bucketful.”
The restaurant is particularly popular with the nearby NYU student population and first opened in 1990.
El Cantinero does not have much of an online presence, but its Twitter account, which was last updated in 2016, says it has the “best sizzling fajitas in town.”