Despite living in the greatest city in the world, I often think how few really decent Mexican places there are in NYC. Sometimes I want Mexican food that isn't Dos Toros but not at the Cosme level either. Enter Casa Publica - it's the perfect balance of Mexican food that doesn't have burritos the size of my head or ants in my food. The best news is that's in my neighborhood too.
Paige and I met up right as they were ending happy hour and the waitress was nice enough to push in two drinks for us even though she had said technically we had to be finished with one before ordering another. Score 1 for our waitress. She said that pretty much everything on the menu was delicious and that we couldn't go wrong and she was right on point. It was really hard to narrow down our taco choices because they all sounded awesome so we did what any foodie does and over ordered. We netted out with the aguachile ($16) and queso fundido ($14) to start and split the flank steak taco ($12), octopus taco ($14) and squash blossom taco ($14).
The aguachile is a ceviche with shrimp, octopus, tomatillo, cucumber, chile, jicama, and lime. It was refreshing and tart - I still prefer a fish based ceviche but this one was just as tasty. Next came our tacos and while there were only 2 per order and they looked small at first glance, they all packed a punch and were piled high with really delicious ingredients. The steak taco came with flank steak, poblano peppers, melted cheese and a tomato and habanero salsa. The steak was cooked perfectly and the small tortillas tasted homemade and delicious. The octopus taco was equally fantastic and honestly it's not a typical taco you usually see on the menu. The octopus was tender and cooked a la plancha with red chile adobo, sprinkled with pumpkin seeds and pickled red onion. I was a huge fan of this and it made me wish more places at octopus tacos on the menu. Lastly, we got the squash blossom taco because who doesn't love squash blossoms? While they aren't the most exotic dishes, you still don't see them very often on menus, so when I do see it, I have to get it. This one was stuffed with cheese and herbs and topped with swiss chard. Yummy. In the midst of all this, we (and the waitress) realized they forgot our queso fundido. In all honesty, I was so full that I would have been ok if they skipped it but they were nice enough to bring it out anyways and I'm glad they did (although I'm sure my waist line was not happy). There's nothing more comforting than melted cheese with chorizo with fresh warm corn tortillas.
Despite all of this, we still ordered flan for dessert because that's what you do when you go to a Mexican restaurant. It was creamy and lovely and a great way to end the night. I left the night super full and really happy with everything about the meal. Our waitress was incredibly nice which also made the experience even more enjoyable. This is such a great addition to the neighborhood and while I wouldn't go as far as to say it's a destination restaurant, it is definitely one of the better authentic Mexican restaurants in all of NYC. Total bill: $52/pp with tax and tip
Photo Credit: Yelp
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