Yo, Alex Delany here in Tribeca,
standing on the corner
of Warren and Church
in front of Los Tacos Numero Uno.
We're here for another
episode of One of Everything
and I'm bringing a guest
along with me, Rick Martinez,
to eat tacos, quesadillas,
maybe some tostadas,
maybe some salsa, maybe some guac.
We've got a lot to do, let's get to it.
[upbeat music]
All right, we're at Los Tacos Numero Uno
and look who's with me,
that's Rick Martinez.
- Taco man.
- Taco man himself.
Rick, what do you know
about Los Tacos Numero Uno?
- This is the place where I
eat tacos in New York City.
- Yes, we're at the right spot.
- Yeah.
- And you just came back from Mexico,
literally you were in Pueblo yesterday.
- Yeah, yeah, yeah.
- You're traveling the world eating tacos.
- Yeah but I can only eat tacos.
Wherever I go, that's my new rule.
- So you like the tacos here?
- I do, especially the tortillas.
I love both flour and corn
and this is one of the
only places that make both,
which is kind of amazing to me.
- Okay, so you've seen the show before?
- I have.
- Okay cool and you
know there's some rules.
- Eeh, rules.
[laughing]
- We have to follow the rules.
- Tell me the rules.
- All right, we have to order
one of everything on the menu.
We have to take one
perfect bite of each thing.
We gotta decide how we order on the menu.
And then finally, after we've
tasted through everything,
we decide what the best
things on the menu are.
- All right.
- So it looks like we have
three basic sections to this menu.
So to start, chips and
guac, chips and salsa.
- Perfect, yeah, classic.
- Classic, par for the course.
And then also there's a
beverage situation as well.
There's a couple agua
frescas and horchata, too.
- I love horchata.
- Tacos, so tacos you can either choose
corn or flour tortilla.
- I think we do one of each.
- I think we do, we have to.
- Obviously.
- For science.
- Yeah exactly, it's our job.
- We would be terrible at our job
if we didn't order one of each.
- I know, God, can you imagine?
We're doing it for you.
- Tacos, tostadas,
tostadas corn only though.
And then, I think we
should move to quesadillas
and the mulas.
- Mm-hm.
- And then, we're gonna do the on a plate.
So it looks like they do a Nopales plate.
And then, I hear, I've been
tuned in and listening,
there are a couple of off-menu items
that we're gonna order, too.
- Oooh!
- And then we figure out what's the best.
- You know, and I've
been here so many times.
I normally come in and
like I get the adobada, so.
- Yeah, exactly.
- Yeah.
- It's like that's the all-star.
- Yeah.
- We're not gonna say
we're going in with
favorites but maybe we are.
- But it's kind of a favorite.
- It's kind of a favorite.
- Yeah.
- So, I say we start--
- I'm starving.
- Yeah, let's get eating.
- Go.
[upbeat music]
- Uh, look at that.
- Oh my God.
- Oh, where did those come from?
- Magic.
[laughing]
- Magic, it just hit 12 o'clock.
- The line is forming.
- It's already slamming.
- I know.
- It looks like we're in the right spot.
Should we start chips and guac first?
- Yeah, to it.
[bell dings]
- When people dip and
they do like a that--
- Oh [beep] that!
- It's like the saddest
thing in the world.
That's a dip.
- Right, exactly.
- Mm!
- What?
- Only one bite.
- Oh [beep]!
[laughing]
- So we have to judge just based on that.
What are your thoughts?
- I really like the texture.
I think a lot of times,
people make guac and they
cut up everything too fine.
This is really nice 'cause
you get the chunks of onion,
pieces of the cilantro, the tomato,
has really good flavor, good seasoning.
[bell dings]
- Move on to salsa?
[crunching]
- Mmm.
- That's got some heat.
- I like that heat a lot.
- Mm-hm, there's salsa
that leans like more fresh
meaning you're getting
like brighter flavor
and like maybe more acidity.
And there's salsa that
means more roasty, toasty,
deeper concentrated flavors.
And this looks like we're
leaning towards the fresher side.
- Fresh yeah, it's very balanced,
also very well seasoned.
[bell dings]
- Let's get into the beverage category.
Los Tacos as two agua frescas,
a tamarind and a hibiscus.
So hibiscus has that insane color,
tamarind a little visually
less exciting but for me,
I love tamarind flavor.
- Oh so good!
- And then we also have horchata
and I know you're an horchata guy.
- Totally.
- Okay cool, where should we start?
- Hibiscus?
- Yeah, let's do it.
[bell dings]
That's nice.
- It's really good.
Also, not super sweet.
I really don't like agua frescas
that are like really, really sweet.
It's got brightness,
acidity, color's great.
I really like it a lot.
- Moving down the line.
- All right.
[bell dings]
- It's so good.
- That, yeah.
- I love tamarind.
- Like to me, the tamarind agua fresca,
it's always my go-to.
- It's really good.
- Yeah.
Finish it off with the horchata?
[bell dings]
- Ahh.
- That's like there's no bullshit there.
They're just like straightforward.
- This is very much what
you would find in Mexico.
It's just like really clean.
It's like rice and canilla
and a little sugar.
Simple, it doesn't need anything else.
- Dude we already made it
through one section of the menu.
- Wow!
- We're churning and burning.
- That whole one bite thing,
God, it's gonna kill me.
- [laughs] I know dude,
well now that's all right.
So like there's a lot of food left here.
The crew though gets to eat all this.
- All right, it's not going to waste.
- So, it's not going to waste.
But we have more eating to do.
I think we are on to the taco course.
- Yes!
[bells trilling]
[upbeat music]
- Rick we got a bunch of tacos.
I'm not sure if you're aware or not,
there's a bunch of tacos in front of us.
- I'm like kind of in a dazed
and confused state right now.
[laughing]
I'm like I want to eat
everything right now.
- Me too, but before we do,
what's your beverage of choice with tacos?
- Fanta Orange.
- Oh, Fanta Orange, boom, bam!
- Yes, and what are you doing?
- I'm going with a
little grapefruit action.
[bottles clinking]
Cheers!
- Cheers!
- All right, let's get into the tacos.
- Okay, where do you want to start?
- Carne asada?
- Yep, let's do it.
[bell dings]
I think we should start with corn.
There's a little charring
on the side of the tortilla,
like toasted corn flavor, so good.
All right.
- First of all, super juicy.
- Mm-hm.
- And the [mumbles], too.
So we've got the avocado,
hooray, crema situation.
- Right, that's more classically
what you'd find in Mexico
instead of an American style guac.
Guacamole is thinner,
it's more like a salsa.
- That's a simple taco.
It's so good.
- It's so good.
- Should we move on to flour?
- Yeah, yeah, also super thin.
- Look at that, like you
can tell the lard content.
All right, let's do it.
The immediate observation for me,
it feels like do you like corn
or flour tortillas better.
The answer is usually flour
but it's kind of what do
you want from a tortilla.
If you go for corn,
you get that toasty corn flavor
and that becomes part of the taco.
If you go flour,
you're probably leaning a
little bit more on texture,
like the chewiness of
a good flour tortilla.
- And I think depending
on like the filling, too,
like that one, I actually
prefer the flour.
[bell dings]
- All right, next one up.
- Are you tilting your head?
- Am I not?
- Okay, so the rule of taco,
so taco's always straight
and you tilt your head.
Because if you do the
reverse, everything falls out.
And that's why I was
looking like an idiot.
- I'm here to help man.
- I appreciate that.
All right.
Really charred flavor on the chicken.
- Mm-hm, 'cause I didn't
get that char on the steak.
- Flour or corn?
- Corn.
- I agree, all right, next one.
[bell dings]
Nopal's usually like a prickly pear right,
like flat, paddle.
- Yeah it's a flat paddle.
- And then the needles are scraped off?
- Yeah.
- It is like a textural
singularity almost.
Like the biggest thing,
it's a veggy tortilla.
Definitely prefer that over flour.
- A little one note.
- But you know, for the
vegetarians out there,
get your cactus.
Okay, on to the next.
[bell dings]
Our last, final taco is adobada.
And this is what I get excited
about when I come here.
Like you walk in and you see
a giant spinning cone of meat,
how are you not gonna immediately be like
one of those?
- Well when we walked in,
I was mesmerized.
I was just like staring at it.
Exactly.
- Exactly.
I feel like when people see this
they'll be like oh, al pastor,
and that's not quite right.
- Adobada is basically a
marinade and it's an adobo.
The biggest difference
between this and the al pastor
is the inclusion of
achiote, the annatto seed,
which gives it like this really
intense bright orange color.
- Gotcha and so like that whole idea
if you're familiar with schwarma,
the cooking process is
exactly the same right?
Thin kind of sheets of
usually pounded meat,
stacked on top of each other,
on the trompo which is that kind of spit
that spins around slowly in a circle.
One of the sides is exposed to fire,
so it's constantly cooking the outside,
constantly being shaved,
sliced really thinly off.
- So like here, you got a
really hard char on one side
and it's just like nice
and tender on the inside.
- Yeah.
It's like kinda not
fair to the other tacos.
- And you can taste the clove.
- That heat but then also
having the deeper baking,
spicy type thing going on.
It just creates like a layer of flavor
that goes way deeper than anything else.
- And that pineapple, it
just kind of lifts it up.
You get a little bit of
acid, a little bit of sweet.
This is such a good taco.
- Let's try the flour.
How big can I make the bite?
- We're both doin'--
- We're doing like a half taco a bite.
- I, yeah, not bad.
The whole taco just changed
with the flour tortilla.
That's amazing.
- All right, off the top of the head,
what's your favorite of the tacos?
- I really want another bite of this one.
I mean I would definitely finish that one.
- Oh I would say yeah.
- But this, like the flour tortilla...
- I would say flour tortilla adobada.
I'm right there with you, okay?
Are we on to the next?
- Yeah.
- Move into the tostada?
- I might save this, put
this is in my backpack.
- Cool, team out.
[upbeat music]
Rick, what are we looking at?
- Tostadas.
- Tostada time.
- Yeah.
- But first,
another round of drinks as well.
Rick with the Fanta
Grapeleaf with the Jaritos.
Mineral agua.
- Mineral agua.
So I think a lot of people
think that tostadas are fried
and they're actually not.
These are toasted on the
plancha or the camel,
same preparation as a corn tortilla
and instead of flipping it
and taking it off after about two minutes,
you leave it in there for
like between five to 10.
It dries it out and then you
start to get this really nice,
toasty goodness on the outside.
And you get these like cool shapes, too.
- Okay, where should we
start with the tostadas?
- I mean chicken's in front of us.
[bell dings]
- Chicken's right there.
- Yeah.
- How do you properly attack a tostada?
- I think we're gonna have to just lean in
'cause I have this fear
[laughing]
it's just gonna crumble.
- It's just gonna crumble.
- Yeah so, get ready.
[crunching]
- That's fantastic.
- It actually, it tastes like corn nuts.
It's so good!
[bell dings]
- Carne asada?
- Yep.
[crunching]
- Having a mustache and eating
any of this is dangerous.
Whatever this marinade is, is awesome.
[bell dings]
- Nopale tostada.
- All right.
[crunching]
- I like this version better.
- Yeah I do, too.
- Toasty corn and the
texture of the tostada
works really well with this.
[bell dings]
- That's where love, our
soul mate of the taco world.
- I know.
- The adobada.
- I'm scared of how big a bite
I'm gonna attempt to take.
[laughing]
[crunching]
The tostada just like
changes the taco completely.
- Yeah, the sweetness, the
heat, the spice, the juiciness,
it's just like everything you want,
you could possibly want
from a tostada filling.
That is just,
it's beautiful.
- I'm really impressed that
we are taking as big a bites as we are.
- What was your favorite tostada?
[laughing]
[bell dings]
- I mean the chicken was
a close, well close-ish.
- As close as you can get.
- Right, right.
- Okay, quesadillas coming up.
Let's go.
[bell trills]
[upbeat music]
- Ahhh, Alex, what have you done to me?
- I don't know man.
- Holy [mumbles].
- I heard you were crazy
[laughs], okay what?
So we have our four fillings.
Let's also address the fact that
these quesadillas are not folded.
So it's still one tortilla,
it's not folded over.
- Right, right.
- Start with chicken again?
- It's right there.
[bell dings]
- Mm, damn!
- I really, really want to eat that.
- Well we have way more.
- All right, all right.
- Okay let's go corn.
- I have been ordering wrong
here for years.
- What do you mean?
We've been coming here and getting tacos.
- This is where it's at.
[bell dings]
I really like how these
tortillas are like fatter.
- This texture like, they are fat.
And then with that
extra layer of cheese...
- Cheese really does
make everything better.
- It does, it really does.
- I mean you know what I want?
- What?
- A tortilla and cheese.
- Can we do that?
Corn tortilla and cheese, just plain?
[Male] Yeah.
- We have the power Rick.
- Yes!
[bell dings]
- The nopales, they need fat.
And the cheese and the flour tortilla, mm!
Nopales corn.
The texture of the corn with
the cheese is so good, so good.
[bell dings]
- I love that we always
save this till the last.
Mm, I like the taco
version of this one better
because I feel like the cheese
kind of masks a little bit of the flavor.
- Yes.
- I mean I would still eat both of these.
- All right, last one.
I think I actually prefer the corn.
Overall, I honestly think the chicken
might have been my favorite.
- Dude, the chicken flour,
[beep] yeah!
- Chicken flour,
chicken flour yeah.
- Oh my God.
- I just think that
like fat on fat content
was just like maybe a little over the top
in the best possible way.
- I mean if we're gonna make
a sort of a magic quesadilla situation,
I think the cheese on a toasted
corn would be really nice.
- Yes and actually there is, I believe,
a fifth mythical quesadilla.
- What, oh Alex, God, tell me more!
[bell dings]
- Rick, this is the special quesadilla
of which the prophecy foretold.
- Dreams are made of fried--
- Look how crispy
and fried that looks.
- Oh my God, wow!
- How insane is that?
But before we get into this,
remember we were like oh,
we should get tortillas with just cheese?
Uh, corn tortilla with cheese, just plain?
- [Male] Yeah.
- Okay, we did that, too.
- This is amazing.
- Okay, so these guys, literally
just cheese and tortilla.
[bell dings]
That's magic.
That's like me getting
home on a Saturday night
and just being like, what do I wanna eat?
That is what I wanna eat.
- Cheers.
- I always come back to this with food,
it doesn't matter how simple it is,
you don't need to go over the top,
if it's done the right way.
If the tortilla is this crazy good--
- And the cheese is really good.
- And the cheese is very good as well,
it's like you only need the two things.
[bell dings]
- Just when you thought it
couldn't get any better.
- Just when you thought,
adobada shows up on a fried tortilla.
- These bubbles can only
exist when you have dough
that's that flaky and that fatty.
- Yep.
- Mm- mm.
Why have I never ordered that?
- Earlier we were saying like it's tough
not to take another bite,
now, I'm just like almost impossible.
Just the amount of adobada
they put on here, too,
and see how it melts into the cheese?
- Mm-hm, I want to eat that forever.
- Cut the camera, cut the camera.
[beeps]
We lost Rick.
- I mean he'd never know.
It's like you know I could just,
I'll just nibble off this or...
[clacks]
[upbeat music]
What have you done now?
- We have more tortillas to eat,
more cheese to eat, we got
more meat, more cactus.
- And these are double cheese.
- Basically, the
construction of the mulas:
tortilla, cheese filling,
protein, salsa, cilantro,
and then another tortilla
also with cheese.
- Where do we start?
- I mean might as well start here, right?
[cross-talking]
[bell dings]
- The flour tortilla, the
cheese and the chicken,
like that little bit of bitterness
you get from the char on the chicken,
it just plays so nicely with
the fat of the flour tortilla,
the fat of the cheese.
- So good!
- It has everything you want.
- Mm-hm.
- All right, chicken on corn.
Yeah, yes please, keep 'em moving.
[bell dings]
I just love Los Tacos Numero Uno.
[laughing]
- It's so good man!
- It's just so good!
The thing I think is interesting about
the cheese directly on the tortilla
is that it kinda makes the
tortilla less absorbent
'cause it gives a layer of fat
that's like letting any of the
juices kind of pool off of it
so you gotta be a little more careful
when you're eating them.
- 'Cause it's just gonna
flow out like a river.
- Yeah, exactly.
- Like that, like a waterfall.
- I'm still saying chicken though
over the steak.
- Oh 100%.
- Napoles?
- Yeah.
Those are really good actually.
- Of all the nopal kind of
variations that we've had,
that's the number one for me so far.
- Yeah, same.
- My theory still stands.
If you're going for nopales,
you need an added layer of fat.
- Maybe we should order that
with like a third tortilla and cheese.
- You're a visionary Rick.
[laughing]
[bell dings]
You guys already know what
we're saving for last,
in basically every category.
It's the spinning meat stick.
[laughing]
Adobada.
- My favorite words.
- I still can't get
over the texture you get
on the adobada like one side
of your mouth it's like bam,
oh, super, super tender.
The other side's like
[fingers snapping]
that nice little crispy bit
and then it just like, it's interesting.
It's an interesting filling.
- Mm-hm, and I still love that,
the warm spices at the end.
- You're left with that flavor
and it just kind of slowly,
slowly, slowly, slowly dissolves
because it's just so deep
and it hangs around for so long.
- Our bites are getting smaller.
[laughing]
Don't look at our bites.
And Rick, our numbers have doubled.
- Whoa, who do we have here?
- Friends, new friends.
- New friends.
- Yeah, we're with Christian and Tyler,
co-founders of Los Tacos Numero Uno.
These are the guys that are
responsible for all these tacos.
- Yeah, I love you guys.
- Yeah, how did you come
to open a taco shop?
- Tyler and I moved out here 10 years ago.
You know, since day one,
we were in this rude awakening that
we were missing that food from back home
and we took a leap of faith
and decided to put a little
business plan together
and bring the cuisine you know
from our home to New York.
And yeah, we started
about six years ago now.
- Probably the thing that I
love about you guys the most
are the tortillas, both
the corn and the flour,
because I think for so many Americans,
the tortilla is just the vehicle.
It's kind of flavorless.
People don't think about it.
It just holds the filling.
And you know in Mexico, as you know,
like the tortillas are an integral part
of the flavor of a taco,
whether it's the corn or the flour.
- It's the foundation you know.
- Don't even think
about it, corn or flour?
- Corn and flour.
- Wow, that's a tough one.
- You can't choose.
- And for the meat, depends for the meat.
- Depends on where I'm going.
- Okay, so we still got
to do the off-menu stuff.
- Yeah, yeah.
- I think we're gonna do a
queso taco and then a vampiro.
- Christian, Tyler, thanks so much.
- No thank you so much for swinging by.
We love to host you guys.
- My heroes.
- Anytime.
- Anytime, we're here.
[bell dings]
- Rick, we're eating food again.
- Oh God.
- We're consuming more.
We're not looking at a tortilla right now.
This is the nopal-blay,
charred nopales on the bottom,
a lot of cheese, lot of onions--
- Beans.
- Yeah, something we haven't seen before.
- Right, let's do it.
- Moment of truth.
- That's really good.
- Those beans are great.
- Also I wasn't expecting it to be warm
but it's really nice.
[upbeat music]
- All right so, off-menu, two items,
we're gonna order a queso taco,
meaning a taco and instead
of a corn or flour tortilla,
the entire tortilla is made out of queso,
crispy fried cheese.
- Yes, yes.
- I think we should start there
and then we'll get into the second.
- All right.
[bell dings]
- Uh, yeah.
- So this is all cheese?
- This is Monterey Jack.
It kind of cakes down
on top of the plancha
and that's what you get.
- Wow, this is gonna be so good.
- All right.
- [beep] that's amazing!
- Yeah, what's up with that?
Geez, that is almost like--
- Heaven?
- It's almost like heaven.
- Wow!
- You need to be 100% down for the cheese.
- It's a lot.
- And you have, it is a lot of cheese.
[bell dings]
So, vampiro is?
- It's basically a tostada.
The reason why it's called the vampiro
is because these little edges,
when they kind of curl up
and the taco kind of comes up like that,
it mimics the wings of a vampire bat.
- All right.
- You ready?
- Vampiro time.
[crunching]
- Just when I thought I
had everything figured out.
- Each time we're like
no, that's the best thing.
- Yeah exactly.
- And they're like shit!
That gets the check mark seal of approval.
- Oh 100%.
- Cosigned by Alex and Rick.
- Mm-hm.
[bell dings]
- It's not on menu but if
you ask at the counter,
they will add beans to any taco.
- Are we doing?
- This I think needs a little bit
of charred pepper and onion.
So I think the thing about
the beans on the taco
is that it just adds a lot more heft.
There's more to handle with the taco.
- Usually when I have beans
on a taco, they're refried.
- And I have had your
refried beans a million times
yeah and every single time,
it's been a positive experience.
[laughing]
Okay, here's the thing.
We've eaten every item on the menu.
The only thing we have left to do
is figure out which ones are the best.
[upbeat music]
Here's how we do it.
We have three different categories.
We're gonna give you
the three best things.
Each thing appropriate
for a certain situation.
The first is the grail.
This is the one shining star.
This is the MVP.
This is the thing that
Rick and I both were like
we need another one the next
time we walk in the store.
We're not thinking about anything else.
Rick, what is it?
- El especial.
- El especial, it's amazing!
It's so good, you have the adobada,
it's the fried quesadilla,
it's like wonton and brotha,
but deep fried and flaky.
And then you've got that marinated pork
and the pineapple, the
cheese, it's perfect.
- It's everything that you want in life.
- That's the grail.
- Yeah.
- That's it.
- That's it.
- El especial.
- Okay.
- Secondly, this is the second
time around, the next time.
I've already had the especial
but I'm back for more,
what am I ordering?
- I think you're gonna
go like more classic,
taco, adobada, flour tortilla.
- Yes, okay again, we're
back in the adobada.
That spit texture, juiciness--
- Spicy.
- Flavor, adobo, pineapple.
It's all there.
- You could just keep listing these words
and fall deeper and deeper in
love with this thing, okay.
Flour tortilla though?
We liked it a little bit
better than the corn.
The corn was still delicious.
- The corn was delicious.
I mean you're not gonna go,
I mean actually you really
should get one of each.
- You should really get one of each.
What are we saying, yeah.
Get one of each.
- Yeah, yeah.
- Adobada taco, one of each.
Okay and third, this is the last,
this is kind of the hidden gem,
the dark horse, the regular's move.
If you're here everyday,
you've probably explored this entire menu
and you'll know deep down
that you really want a
chicken mula, flour tortilla.
- Absolutely.
- That was kind of,
I was totally surprised
how much I liked that.
- Yeah, it's the one thing like that I,
both of us like would
never order a chicken taco.
- No, that would never be our first call.
- Yeah and I'm, you know,
like it's a quesadilla.
I don't want a quesadilla, I want a taco.
- But when you put a quesadilla
on top of a quesadilla
and you get twice the amount
of fatty floury tortilla
and twice the amount
of cheese, come on man.
- Yeah, no, it's amazing.
- You can't argue with that.
And then fourth, the thing
you need to get is just a nap.
'Cause I am toasted man.
- Completely.
- Completely toasted.
Rick, thanks for joining me today man.
- Dude, thanks for having me.
- Your expertise was crucial.
We know what to order at
Los Tacos Numero Uno now.
- Totally.
- So do you, bon appetit.
[upbeat music]
