This cuerno ("horn," 75 cents) is just one pastry from an unusually abundant and well-kept display of panes dulces. At many Mexican bakeries, these "sweet breads" sometimes wear festive colors (pink, especially) that belie their flavors. Despite the two-tone appearance, this horseshoe pastry was essentially a cinnamon cake-style doughnut, albeit a good one.
In common with many Mexican food shops, Tulcingo offers barbacoa on weekends; shown is a sample of this salty, fatty, long-cooked goat procured by a dining buddy (who kindly also procured extra forks).
The counterman that day was sipping his soda from a plastic bag, with a straw, a fashion he'd acquired on a visit to Mexico, where "they don't want to give you the bottle." Another time, he also suggested, he'd set me up, too — no deposit, no return.
Tulcingo Bakery
103-02 Roosevelt Ave. (at National St., beside Corona Plaza), Corona, Queens
718-457-9262