La Loncheria Is The New Mexican Spot In Brooklyn

This cute hole in the wall is where you need to go on your next Mexican food excursion. Loncheria is one of the newest Mexican restaurants to hit Brooklyn.  Located in what would only be considered a small hole in the wall in Bushwick, this restaurant features a contemporary take on classical Mexican dishes and we got to try out some of the food and drinks.  Just as a spoiler alert, the drinks we tried were so good.  The first drink that we tried was the Mojito de Matatlan which was made with Agave de Cortes mescal, verbabuena, and mint liqueur.  This drink isn’t your traditional mojito in that along with having the refreshing feel of a classic mojito, this drink was a little spicy which was interesting with how the heat balanced with the coolness of the mint liqueur.  Another drink that we tried was El Jaibo which is made with Overholt Rye, egg whites, and sweet vermouth.  I will be honest, seeing egg whites made in a drink threw me off a little bit but once I tried it I knew I made the right choice.  The drink is sweet, but not too sweet, and the egg whites made the drink frothy and creamy which is something I never knew I wanted in a drink.  For the food, we got to sample items such as the Ensalada de jicama which is made with jicama, butter sauce, avocado, and pumpkin seed.  This dish was tasty, and I love anything made with jicama in it.  The fattiness of the avocado married well with the starchiness and subtle sweetness of the jicama and the butter sauce helped break down the flavor too.  And another highlight of the night was La Costra which is a flour tortilla with crispy cheese topped with either pastor and Cecina, or mushrooms.  We had the one with mushrooms and the umami flavor from the mushrooms was front and center in the dish.  I love anything with cheese so the fact that this dish had crispy cheese on the top was essentially icing on the cake.

In addition to a series of rotating seasonal daily specials, under chef Mena’s lead, executive chef Luis Jimenez (formerly of Michelin-starred Parachute) will execute menu items including:

Los Tacos

• Pues Si Pues with grilled ribeye, spring onions, and salt rubbed cactus
• Camote with oven-roasted purple yam and vegan chorizo

Las Tortas

• La Nueva Yorkina with pibil flavor roasted porchetta, habanero onions, and avocado beans
• Pambazo-azo with burrata-stuffed huauzontle and cascabel salsa

Al Carbón

• La Burger Hawaiiana with a classic thin double beef patty, pineapple, and jamón serrano
• Cuantos Gallegos grilled octopus with tomatillo marmalade and peanut salsa macha

The beverage program, spearheaded by Bernal, will focus on craft Mexican spirits such as mezcal, sotol, tequila, and rum. The cocktail menu will include such offerings as:

• Margarita de Mezcal with Pelotón de la Muerte Mezcal and fresh lime
• Caifán with Ilegal Reposado, Zirbenz, and Sweet Vermouth
• Ay Cañita with Paranubes Oaxacan Rum, Mezcal, and fernet