El Toro Blanco Visited 1/13/2013 4 Forks

El Toro Blanco 257 Sixth Ave, New York, NY 10014

You would never think that there would be a good Mexican place on this random stretch of 6th Ave.  It's kind of this no man's land of 6th Ave that not quite the West Village and not quite Soho.  But El Toro Blanco has gotten some good buzz lately and it's from the same people as Lure, so I figured it can't be all that bad.  Plus Anuja and I were headed to a matinee showing of a play on Broadway in Times Square (and there was no f'ing way that I would ever eat brunch in Time Square), so being near the A, C, E line was a must. 

The inside of El Toro Blanco is nice and bright and airy.  They seated me right away even though our entire party wasn't there yet, which I appreciated.  The menu here is high-end, fancy Mexican food.  You are not going to find a large burrito or quesadillas here.  They do have tacos but they are made with shrimp or cod fish here and smaller and more delicate than what you would get at a mom and pop place.  We started off the meal with the green chilli queso fundido ($12) and I had the chilaquilas con huevos ($14) and Anuja got the cripsy cod fish tacos (2 for $10).  As you can see from the prices, they are a bit overpriced by $3-4 given what they are serving.  At first glance, I kind of thought the green chili queso fundido looked a bit oily and was expecting it to taste overdone and coagulated, but once I put it on my mouth, I stood corrected.  It was nice and gooey and the hint of green chili was perfect.  The small warm flour tortillas that came with it were perfectly soft and the right delivery vehicle for the delicious cheese.  Anuja and I both said that we could have just had entire meal of melted cheese and been happy.  But that would just be awful for our body.   Luckily, I also really liked my main dish.  The dish was made with baked saucy nacho chips, 2 fried eggs, melted mexican cheese, crema, avocado and pico de gallo.  The eggs were fried just so with a nice runny yolk on the inside and crispy fried whites.  Despite having lots of ingredients in the dish that had potential to make the dish soggy or overpowering, the chips stayed crispy the whole time and never got soggy.  There could have actually been less chips in the whole dish and it would have been fine.

If I was still giving out 1/4 stars, this place would be the perfect candidate for a 3.75 fork rating.  I did really enjoy the food, but it was definitely priced a bit high for what it is.  But I'm willing to round up here given that it there were more ups than downs.  I did read a few reviews on yelp complaining of the service, but I actually didn't have any issues with it and our waiter was lovely and kind.  I guess it all really is a crapshoot on who you get.  Total bill: $23/pp with tax and tip

Photo Credit: Yelp