Santo Taco, one of many latest of the newcomers, opened this spring, in a sliver-slim SoHo area that beforehand housed La Esquina’s taqueria, whose main perform was as a street-facing decoy for the glamorous restaurant hidden downstairs. La Esquina abajo stays open, however Santo Taco, in contrast to its predecessor, may be very a lot its personal raison d’être. A renovation has sleeked up the inside, however it’s primarily an outside restaurant. Ordering occurs at a walk-up window, and the perfect place to sit down is on the sidewalk tables, maybe whereas sipping goldfinch-yellow agua fresca, a not-too-sweet mix of pineapple and cucumber. Even the road feels partaking—the queue strikes rapidly, permitting you to look at taco development in motion by the home windows. The star of the kitchen is the steak trompo, an enormous beehive of strip and sirloin steaks skewered on a vertical spit, shiny with fats. When a trompo taco is ordered, a prepare dinner brandishes a knife of ferocious sharpness, shaving a skinny, broad piece giant sufficient to overhang the corn tortilla it’s laid upon.
