No offense to Sarah because I know you have to cover a range of eateries both in kind and place but, come on: Calexico? "Pretty great"? Tofu barbacoa is fab!

On the other hand, if banal confections like Calexico keeps the Zagat's-clutching white people away from the rest of New York City's real Mexican joints, then yes, that is great. Otherwise I'm sorry, it's hard to compliment what must be, oh... the 150th best Mexican place in Brooklyn?

Granted, that would make Calexico about 300 places higher than a trash like the nearby Alma (fake Mexican food for people who don't like Mexicans, duh) but still. Still.

As someone who has lived and been eating in Red Hook for 23 years (and Williamsburg for 20 years before that) I right to be hostile.

See the Fork in Sunset Park, Mott Haven and Corona!

Sarah DiGregorio

Hey Sam,

I hear you, but like I said, it's good California Mexican, not real, serious Mexican. There's really no comparing the two, as they're totally different animals. A Cal-Mex place can be tasty, as I think Calexico's food is. But no, it's never going to rival the best places in Sunset Park or Corona--then again, I don't think that's what they're going for.

And yes, like I said, it's full of hipsters and the tofu is bland. But let's not compare apples and oranges.

Hey Sam,

All we ever set out to do was to make fresh, tasty food the way we make it at home, in Calexico California. If you prefer traditional Mexican, that's cool - I happen to like it myself. Love it, actually. But that's not what we do. It would be obnoxious if we tried. Instead, we brought our local cuisine to NYC just like a lot of Mexican people bring theirs. There's room for more than one take on the form, right? Otherwise we'd just be eating super-traditional versions of all ethnic cuisine all the time.

Do you have a right to be hostile? Sure, I guess. But if you find yourself in the mood for a tasty taco and you don't feel like trekking to another neighborhood for it, we'd be happy to try to change your mind about us.

Jesse Vendley
Calexico

PS - Sarah, thanks for the feedback. The tofu is something that vegetarians have been asking about for a long time, but sounds like we still need to work on it...

As someone who has been eating in Red Hook and Sunset Park for longer than I can remember, do I have the right to point out that Sam is a huge douche? The food at Alma may be crap, but is it really a restaurant for people who don't like Mexicans? Do you maybe want to rethink that one?

Sarah, you do yourself a disservice by giving credence to this guy's rant. Jesse, you're clearly a class act.

A class act who is lying.
The people who run the place are really from NY & Connecticut.
Hope all you hipsters enjoy that mexicut cuisine.
Its so easy for you all to have the wool pulled over your eyes while you lose yourselves in your boujie ipods and skinny jeans. Another reason brooklyns gone down the tubes. Sam i hear ya. These kids are too cool to bother walking or taking a subway ride like 3 stops to get some authentic mexican that doesn't claim to be what its not.

I find this whole thread utterly ridiculous. What does it matter how long anybody has been eating in any neighborhood for? And, besides, 43 years ago there were virtually no Mexican immigrants in New York City to speak of. So I'm not sure what that has to do with the quality of the burritos and tacos at Calexico, or, for that matter, any other place. Nor does it matter if hipsters like or dislike a place. I am far too old to be a hipster, and wasn't one 20 years ago when I was young enough, but I have never in my life (since I was, maybe, 12) decided what food I like based on the people who liked or disliked the food. Disliking a place because hipsters like it is as absurd as liking it because hipsters like it.

So please, let's talk about the burritos and tacos and leave the crap pop sociology out of it. By the way, I liked the carne asada burrito the one time I had it, but not the pulled pork...

Robert Sietsema

Thanks for your comments, James, but you are so totally a hipster!