The Mexican food scene in New York City can accommodate all budgets. You can get a plate of 3 duck carnitas tacos with grilled pineapple-jicama salsa for $19 from Rosa’s Mexicana. You can also score bare bone tacos served out of a food truck for $3 on some random street corner at 2am.
Fellow frugal foodies will likely opt for the latter.
There’s one particular spot in East Harlem (or Upper East Side depending on who you’re talking too) where you can get top quality tacos for dirt cheap prices: El Aguila.
(They didn’t have a website at the time of writing this. But you can order online or via pick up HERE.)
Jeremy and I have been going to El Aguila for years, and thought it’d be the perfect spot for our “NYC Eats for 2 for Under $20.”*
*$20 pre tax and tip.
Let’s Dive In!
The Experience at El Aguila
El Aguila serves up it’s food in a hot-line, Chipotle-esq manner. You choose the type of food (torta, taco, burrito, or quessadilla). The type of meat. Then customize it will all the toppings to your hearts desire. Corn, beans, cilantro, lime, etc are all free. Avocado is extra… as per usual. The service is fast and friendly. Bonus points if you can throw in some Spanish here and there.
The restaurant itself is designed for take out. But there are 3 or so tables inside where a few souls lucky enough to grab one can dine-in.
The Carnitas Burrito, $8.75
You’re hard pressed to find a better burrito for under $9 in NYC. It’s huge, fresh, and totally customizable. We went for rice, black beans, tomatoes, and cilantro. The star of the show is the ample serving of carnitas. It’s juicy and tender with a perfect char that gives it a little crunch and subtle smokey flavor.
Two people can share a burrito and feel full. However, you’d be remiss to not snag a couple tacos too.
The Tacos, $3.95-$4.75 each.
There are 9 types of tacos to choose from, all ranging from $3.95 to $4.75. We went with the al pastor ($3.95), pollo ($3.95), and asada (menu said $4.25, but we were charged $4.75). Note that this did which did take us $1.40 over the $20 budget– but we would have been totally content with just two.
The star was the al pastor. The pork had a nice umani with pops of acid and sweet from the pineapple, and it paired sinfully well with the mega-spicy house made salsa roja. (If you aren’t a spice-fan, try out the jalapeño with avocado instead.) The chicken and asada tacos were perfectly fine and we tried them for variety. But I hold a firm stance that the best meat all El Aguila is the carnitas.
But did we really feel full for $20?
A resounding yes!
The value for money at El Aguila is stellar, making it the perfect place to be a cheap day.
(Check out part 1 of the series HERE!)
