One of LA's Best Taquerias Makes Its New York Debut

Eater

2 days ago

is a born-and-raised New Yorker who is an editor for Eater's Northeast region and Eater New York, was the former Eater Austin editor for 10 years, and often writes about food and pop culture.
It used to be said that tacos in New York weren't as good as in other regions of America, say, Texas or California. But NYC's taco scene has certainly improved in recent years. And now, a famed Los Angeles taqueria is making its East Coast debut in New York City this month.
Tacos 1986 will open in the West Village at 1 Cornelia Street, at West Fourth Street, on Thursday, July 24. The taqueria's first location outside of the Los Angeles area is going to be part of a three-part complex — One Cornelia — run by the owner of East Village speakeasy Please Don't Tell, Jeff Bell.
Tacos 1986's focus is Tijuana-style tacos, per co-owners Victor Delgado and Jorge 'Joy' Alvarez-Tostada, who grew up in the Mexican border city. The menu includes grilled meats layered onto house-made corn and flour tortillas. There's the popular carne asada (steak) and the adobada (adobo-marinated thin pork cut from a trompo), along with chicken and mushroom varieties. Then there are also taco iterations with varying degrees of grilled cheese, from the mulitas to the vampiros to the quesadillas, as well as the recommended perrones (flour tortillas with grilled cheese and layered with beans and meats). The team will also offer their breakfast tacos and burritos during the daytime, with scrambled eggs, meats, mushrooms, salsas, bacon, beans, and much more.
Delgado and Alvarez-Tostada previously worked together with Bell, serving food at Coachella in 2023. And Bell was determined to work with the duo at some point, leading to One Cornelia. The rest of the building includes two cocktail bars. There's the agave bar Mixteca, led by longtime Please Don't Tell staffer Victor Lopez, which is set to open in August. In addition, luxe basement bar Kees will open in the fall.
Bell talks about how the significance of the address — the three-part complex sits at the confluence of West Fourth Street, Sixth Avenue, and Cornelia Street — along with the addition of Tacos 1986, makes the project that much more special. He recounts how passersby will point to the restaurant signage, exclaiming, ''Oh my god, I went to UCLA and I had this every day.'' The video interview kept getting interrupted by people recognizing and talking to Delgado and Alvarez-Tostada.
And then, a certain pop star used to be a nearby resident. Taylor Swift had lived on the West Village block and has a popular song named after the street. Bell notes, 'If you stand out for an hour, you're probably going to get a dozen Swifties taking photos with the Cornelia Street sign.'
The adobada perron from Tafcos 1986.
The New York Tacos 1986 will be a slim, standing-room counter-service space at 250 square feet. When the rest of One Cornelia opens, customers at the cocktail bars will be able to order the food. The restaurant will serve its own aguas frescas, too.
Initially, Tacos 1986 will operate with evening hours, but it'll expand to include morning and afternoon hours later on. That's when breakfast will be served.
'It was a mission, a vision,' Alvarez-Tostada says about expanding into Manhattan. Delgago positions it as: 'How do you say no to New York City?' The two are focusing on this restaurant for now, but they're not totally ruling out a future expansion in the region.
Ultimately, Tacos 1986 NYC is about showcasing the team's West Coast taco sensibilities to the East Coast. 'That's really the goal in this small corner of New York: to represent Tijuana and Los Angeles,' says Alvarez-Tostada. 'I would love to create a nostalgic vibe for people who know it and have been to Tijuana.'
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