CORAZON DE MEXICO IN HUNTERS POINT TO OPEN BY END OF MONTH

DO you remember the fajita?  It was an exotic do-it-yourself concoction served at Mexicanish restaurants in the 1990’s.  Back then it was all the rage and when accompanied by a pre-meal margarita or three, its sizzling arrival at the table had the effect of transporting the diner back to Spring Break in Cancun for a night …and the subsequent morning.

Then at the turn of the century, after a decades-long incubation in the Southwestern U.S., the burrito invaded the rest of the lower 48 and nearly wiped the fajita out, vanquishing it to the menus of American fast casual chains.  Finally in the last few years the lowly taco has emerged to take the culinary spotlight in this country, and not just in the Mexican food category.  I’m not talking about the old-fashioned hard-shell Ortega taco, but the soft nixtamalized tortilla’s offered at dining spots and food trucks throughout the five boroughs today.  Coming full circle The New York Times declared Mexico City it’s #1 place to go in 2016 stating “Certainly, there is no more exciting place to eat.”

So it should be no surprise that Hunters Point will add its fifth Mexican establishment when Corazon de Mexico opens at the end of May according to its owners.  Located at 10-09 50th Avenue near Vernon Boulevard, it will specialize in traditional Mexican cuisine from the Puebla region, which is located just south of Mexico City.  It will be helmed by Maria Inglesias and her daughter Cynthia.  Maria runs La Adelita bakery in Woodside and the recipes have been handed down from her mother and incorporate many of the dry spices used in Mexico, mole being the most well known here in the States.  They will be used in dishes such as enchiladas and camarones a la diabla.  There will also be home-made ceviche, and guacamole prepared tableside.

Cynthia and Maria hope to create an atmosphere that will make you feel like you’re in Mexico, and everyone from the hostess to the waiters will project the local culture.  To help with the transition, they’ve already secured a visa for a full bar and will serve all the familiar Mexican cocktails, as well as some we’ve yet to encounter in this country such as a pina colada inside the pineapple itself, and a coronarita: a pair of Corona beers in a margarita (don’t ask, just drink).  On the weekends there will be mariachi bands and they look forward to hosting futbol fans watching the World Cup when it begins in mid-June.  Or you can hold the fiesta at home, as they eventually plan to offer takeout/delivery and catering.

In 2018 in America (and LIC) there’s Mehhxican food and there’s the ¡Real Deal!  Even with the necessity of probably of having the concessionary burritos and fajitas on the menu, I get the sense Corazon de Mexico will be in the latter category!

//GREEN Street has re-opened after a brief closure. An anxious reader and fan of the restaurant let us know “They were closed for half a day, but the owner, Catherine, got the tax issue sorted out that same day.”

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