Your Guide to Eating Mexican on The UES

Live in the Upper East Side? Like Mexican food? Hands down my favorite tacos that I’ve found in the city remain the tacos at Cascabel Taqueria. They changed me forever from a flour tortilla girl to a corn tortilla girl.

Usher ate there once.

They offer 10 different tacos, and while I haven’t tried them all, I can give recommendations on my favorite 3:
#1 Vegetal:  oyster mushroom / fingerling potato / poblano / tomato / spring onion house made creme / bibb lettuce / rabano / queso fresco / cilantro. Please, please order this. No matter how much you love meat. Order Cascabel’s veggie taco. I am generally against the word moist, but THEY’RE SO MOIST and flavorful! The queso fresco is killer.
#2 Al Pastor: chipotle achiote marinated pork butt / grilled pineapple / avocado / sauteed onions / paprika / epazote. Mainly, because pineapple and avocado are my favorites.
#3 Pollo Chipotle: shredded amish chipotle chicken / spring onion / avocado chicken chicharrón. Usually chicken isn’t my go to choice in terms of meat, but this is delicious!

There’s also a yellowfin tuna taco, shrimp taco, veal tongue, battered tilapia (a little too dry for my liking), chipotle pork, hanger steak, chorizo (also delicious), and another pork option!

So let’s talk prices.

Cascabel has an incredible all you can eat taco and all you can drink sangria/beer option on Monday nights. For $25 you can get unlimited Dos Equis or Sangria along with unlimited tacos (you have to order 3 of each kind at a time) and Mexi BBQ wings which were pretty good too.

The first time we went, the waiter was amazing- he gave us pitchers, he kept the tacos coming, he gave us orders of wings with our tacos. Second time, the waitress said she wasn’t allowed to give us pitchers, she couldn’t keep up with orders, and we couldn’t order wings and tacos at the same time (granted it was a much bigger group the second time around). Either way – we definitely had our fair share of tacos and sangria both times!

Another great deal that Cascabel has is taco flight Tuesdays – if you’re not looking to get sloshed on sangria or eat your body weight in tacos, this might be the option for you! $16 for 4 different tacos! Do it up, people.

Some other things to note about Cascabel:
*They have a brunch that sounds pretty delicious, though not one of the cheaper ones you can find
*Their margaritas aren’t anything special. The flavors sound special, but trust me, you’re going to pay way too much for way too little tequila.
*You MUST order their yucca fries! Their chipotle aioli is just the extra bit of fat and calories that you need with fried yucca. Order them, pretty please.
*Two locations - one on 2nd Avenue between 80th & 81st and one on Broadway at 108th St. 

I recently took a trip to another Mexican joint on the UES called Cantina 1436 and while I didn’t love them as much as I love Cascabel, I did appreciate their bowl options- quinoa, tofu, mushrooms, spinach, beans and onions was delicious, cheap, and made me feel like I wasn’t gaining 23489 pounds. Again, not worth the margarita price. BUT they have really great happy hour specials that I’ll have to check out. $5 margaritas and $2.50 tacos.

If you’re looking for a place with a strong margarita, check out Selena Rosa. 

Read more about my favorite margaritas HERE.