Leave Snack Dragon’s Tacos in their Cave

April 29, 2008

We’re all on the hunt for NYC’s best tacos so when we hear that Snack Dragon is serving cheap tacos in Alphabet City until 4AM on weekends, we have a reason to be excited right? Wrong. I hit Snack Dragon sober and had five tacos, only one of which was actually delicious. It’s unfortunate they were out of Carnitas pork, the self-proclaimed best and the only one I really wanted, because the chicken, steak, and fish were all lackluster.

The Nacharito above was the one standout. So how do you mess up tacos?

The Nacharito (Above $3, $5 for a double-decker “Johnny Boy”), a crispy tostada topped with melted cheese, salsa, black beans, sour cream and cilantro, was my favorite item because it was actually heated up and covered in melted cheese. Everything else suffered due to a lack of culinary cohesiveness. Each taco was sprinkled with cold cheddar and salsa, lukewarm undercooked beans, and dry fish and meat. Nothing blended together.

The Grilled Sole taco ($4) was slightly spicy due to an obtrusive red cabbage chipotle cole slaw, but other than that it was flavorless.

The Carne Asada taco ($5) featured dry, sinewy skirt steak with a similar lack of flavor despite a purported marinade.

The White Trash taco ($3), barely seasoned ground beef with peas and corn, black beans, cold cheddar, sour cream, and scallion, was the driest and most texturally disappointing of all. The beef was slightly warm, the beans were cold and hard, and the cheese and sour cream were refrigerator cold.

The Grilled Chicken Verde taco ($3) was the only one with a tiny bit of flavor. The slightly moist chicken tasted faintly of cilantro and jalapeno but the sliced scallion atop the taco had the biggest presence.

With all due respect to Snack Dragon, I realize they’re working out of a hole in the wall shop with nothing but tiny steam trays and a small portable flat grill, but they need to ratchet up the heat on the various meats if they want cohesive tacos. No taco will ever be good if every ingredient is a different temperature. If you’re stumbling by drunk, stop in and let me know if the Dragon acquired any bite. I won’t be going out of my way for it anytime soon.

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