Vera Cruz con Erin

The day after the Pacifico burrito, my bro and I lunched at . . . Lederhosen. Sorry, I'm not a machine. It's pretty good for non-burrito cuisine.

That night, we got our asses back into gear and met up with his friend Erin,






at (her suggestion)

,




195 Bedford Ave, NYC.

This is a pretty popular destination in one of the hippest neighborhoods in the city, so it was still crowded when we got there late Tuesday night. Chips and salsa were free. Erin thought the salsa was too thin, but I don't think it was thinner than most west coast salsas.

I'd have balked at the prices if I were actually paying. The cost of a burrito shouldn't break double-digits. The internets seem to indicate that there are $7 burritos from 3 to 7 on weekdays, so if you're poor and not too proud to take advantage of the geezer special, you might want to try that. This is what you'll get:






I don't know what the sauce is. I recall the waiter saying there were 7 types of peppers in the mole sauce and I didn't taste any in this stuff, so let's just call it mexican gravy. It's delicious but not spicy. My brother said that the non-spiciness of his burrito was a drawback. To my desensitized palatte (his friend Summer calls this an "asbestos mouth,") two thirds of the burritos I eat aren't very spicy, and I'm OK with that. The mexican gravy serves to reconcile the boldness of the black beans with the mildness of the carnitas. The Vera Cruz burrito is a big delicious tube of redemption for New York's oft-derided burrito scene, edging out the Potle to win the title of the city's best.

Casa Latina still holds #1 overall.