Marty Medina had zero plans for opening another restaurant, whether in Park Slope or anywhere else. The guy had spent more than 25 years running, first, a burrito pushcart near the courthouse in Downtown Brooklyn and then the much loved La Taqueria near the north end of Seventh Avenue. He was done.
“The ’90s in Brooklyn were the best years of my life,” he tells Brooklyn Magazine. “It was like a little Bohemian village here in this part of Park Slope. We used to all drink at Santa Fe on the corner. It was a lot of fun, this area! I got to see the last, greatest part of New York at its worst. The best of the worst. When it was still raw but also gentrifying at the same time.”
Goin’ back to Cali? I don’t think so (Photo by Scott Lynch)
So even though Medina got out of the restaurant game in 2018 — he ran Rachel’s on Fifth Avenue for a while after closing La Taqueria — and was trying to adopt a more bicoastal lifestyle, he still lived in Park Slope. One day he was walking by his former La Taqueria spot and, as he recalls, “I saw Louis [Barricelli], from Cousin John’s, and he said he’s taking over the Santa Fe space. I was in shock that he was moving, but I asked what he was going to do with his original space [which was next door to the old La Taqueria] and he said he didn’t know and we looked at each other and just started laughing. Several months later we cut the deal.”
It took about a year after that for Medina to transform the old Cousin John’s into a new taqueria. Finally, a couple of weeks ago, La Taq finally opened its doors to a grateful neighborhood.
“You won’t believe the amount of people that remember us from all those years ago,” says Medina. “It’s overwhelming. I get it every day, all day long.”
Like its predecessor, La Taq is all about tacos on house made corn tortillas, and monster-sized burritos, and everything is filled to bursting with your choice from among the likes of carnitas, carne asada, camarones, al pastor or nopales.
Medina is especially proud of his carnitas michoacan — it’s a recipe his dad taught him in East L.A., and he’s been using the same massive copper kettle to cook the pig since the early La Taqueria days. But his carne asada may be even better, especially when you get it “King Taco ” style, with beans, avocado and long slices of pickled jalapeño.
Carnitas michoacan taco, $5.50; the “King Taco” with carne asada, $7 (Photo by Scott Lynch)
The burritos are total beasts, each a full meal (and then some!) rolled up inside a soft flour tortilla. There’s your basic “East L.A.,” with your choice of meat plus rice and beans. There’s the deep fried chimichanga smothered in red chile sauce. There’s the “Berkley Vegetarian,” a holdover from the early LaTaqueria days starring nopales, calabacitas (Mexican-style zucchini) or corn. And there’s the “San Diego,” stuffed with carne asada, French fries and enough sauce and sour cream to recall the late-night gloppy glories of my youth, wolfing Roberta’s on Mission Beach with my brother.
The San Diego burrito with carne asada and fries, $17 (Photo by Scott Lynch)
Make sure you take a look around while you’re here. Medina not only brings an old school vibe to the new place — dig all those vintage signs — he also has an actual piece of the old La Taqueria hanging at La Taq, a huge piece of wallboard covered in photos and stickers. Bonus: all the vintage Deadhead ephemera, including dozens of ticket stubs from the band’s earliest shows. You can grab a beer for $6, or a frozen margarita for $12, served in one of those plastic pouches with a straw for on-the-go boozing.
“This all happened organically,” Medina says. “This was not planned out at all. Things just happened. Even my old kitchen crew found me and are back working here. It must have been for a reason, so I’m just embracing the moment. It’s way beyond me that’s for sure.”
La Taq is located at 70 Seventh Avenue, between Lincoln and Berkley Places, and is currently open from 11 a.m. to 11 p.m. daily.
The post A beloved neighborhood taqueria makes its return to Park Slope appeared first on Brooklyn Magazine.
