A Spot That Should Be Hotter

Frijoleros has a world-class mole and a chef who knows how to have fun.

- MATTHEW SCHNEIER

YOU HAVE TO help me understand," a friend emailed recently. We'd run into each other at Dolores, the Bed-Stuy taqueria that routinely quotes two-to-four-hour waits. On weekends, it's hard to secure even the rickety garden chairs on the sidewalk for drinks, and it took me over an hour to find a spot at the bar wide enough to set a napkin. "Is this normal now? Is it a TikTok thing?" my friend wrote. "HELP!!!!"

Why is Dolores the spot of the moment? It has a modish, kitschy-cute look and comes from the team behind Winona's, a wine bar-small platery with a durable following. It might be these bona fides, or it might be something else: Right now, the town's gone taco.

A number of new Mexican places have opened their doors over the past few months: Comal on the Lower East Side, Olmo in Bed-Stuy from Cosme and Pujol alums. Pujol itself, the grande dame of CDMX destinations, is coming to the city for the first time for a popup in November. You could add to this list Vato, the soon-opening tortilleria and coffee shop from the Corima team, and Santo Taco, serving better tacos, I'm sorry to say, than La Esquina, its host space, ever did.