Tables for One: Tres Pasos, in West Harlem
(The scaffolding is because our landlord is replacing the windows in our building, just above and ‘round the corner.)
Tres Pasos appeared one day just downstairs, right across the sidewalk from the subway station. It’s my daily pit stop on my way to a job or the park, and often gives me a reprieve from my kitchen when I can’t stand the heat in there. I can design my own taco for $2.50, with crisp, colorful pico de gallo, the greenest, freshest guacamole, cilantro, and a good dose of jalopeño. They know my habits by heart, and smile as they fill my taco before I bother to speak. The choice of meat is either pork, chicken, or beef. I’ve only tried the pork, which is alternately tender and chunky, or a little more like shredded cochinita. Either way, warm spices like cumin, oregano and cinnamon (and the rest of what goes into achiote) call forth gustatory memories of my Aunt Carmen’s Christmas pork roast, and the portions are as generous as those memories. ¡Me gusta!
I went downstairs just now to buy a couple, intending to photograph them, but I completely forgot, and ate them.
So, to continue with the $6 burritos, which are humungous: I have been unable to bring myself to order one, but I’ve watched the City College kids Hoover them down quite appreciatively. If you sit outside on the bench next door at Vinegar Hill Bakery (review TK), you’ll be sitting next to their like, or maybe just a tired old-timer taking a load off on his way to another bench further down Broadway. I told one such neighbor that I believed the heat of the jalopeños took the edge off the summer sun, and she let out a surprised cry of “Oy!” as if I’d set myself on fire right in front of her. Which was the first and only time I’ve ever impressed anyone in this neighborhood.
Don’t be surprised if they call you “mami.” That means you’re nice.
Here’s their menu.
Tres Pasos
3385 Broadway (at 137th St.)
New York, NY
10031
212-281-2814