Tiny but amiable Columbia student favorite for belly-filling meals from Southwest Mexico, such as chicken pipian ($9.95), in a cilantro-green pumpkinseed sauce. Their housemade version of the sweet rice drink called horchata ($2.25) is very cinnamony.
Watching the grillmen up front is sure to get your appetite going (especially if you're temporarily consigned to the sidewalk). On previous occasions: A taco filled with carne asada (beef steak; $2.75) was a little dry; a taco al pastor (pork strips with pineapple; $3) was moist and tangy; my "stretch" order, an oreja (pork ear; $3), was just too chewy.
Fish tacos ($3.50) also turned out a little dry, without much flavor. The owner mentioned that they were using jackfish, a common name that seems to refer to any number of species, only because bluefish, which "makes the best fish tacos," was unavailable that day.
Taqueria y Fonda la Mexicana
968 Amsterdam Ave. (107th-108th Sts.)
212-531-0383
