The 116th St. Mexican Independence Day Festival can be thumpingly loud at both ends, but you can get your hands on some fine food in the middle.
Once you clear the masses near the Lexington Ave. stage, you'll have a better view of the vendors, like the team that served up tacos (beef, for me), each adorned on request with a spring onion of its own ($3). (These fellows, like almost all the food vendors at the festival, weren't identified with any of the Mexican restaurants on this two-block stretch, and I don't know where else you'll find them.) Numerous other stalls were slicing pork (and a little pineapple) from large, upright skewers into tacos al pastor.
Many vendors sell elotes — corn on the cob, slathered in butter (or, more often, some similar product), then covered in grated white cheese and spiced with chile powder. My large elote con queso y chile ($2) dripped less than you'd think, but the kernels squirted every which way. Though I seemed to get the same chile powder as everyone else, this elote tasted more sweet than hot.
For something weightier, there's always a torta ($6), a sandwich served on a traditionally thin, crusty roll called a bolillo. For my milanesa, the bolillo was wiped with mayonnaise and (I believe) black bean spread, then quickly warmed on the griddle before it received its cargo of breaded chicken and shredded white cheese. The pápalo leaves that garnished it were similar to cilantro, but more "forthcoming." Maybe, "insistent." (OK: I belched pápalo for the next half-hour; the feeling was more curious than unpleasant.)
My previous encounters with huaraches ($3) had always puzzled me — why did dinner-plate-sized ovals take the Spanish word for "sandals"? These Pueblan huaraches were fashioned to more-appropriate dimensions; topped with lettuce, onion, grated cheese, and sour cream, the chewy, slightly oily "soles" were very tasty, too.
Mexican Independence Day Festival
116th St. between Second and Lexington Aves.
Mid-September
