Review: Coszcal de Allende Reopens in Bay Ridge | Eater NY
"For well over a decade this restaurant inspired by the food of San Miguel de Allende flourished in Bay Ridge; after closing its original location early in 2023 because of real estate problems, Luis and Veronica Felipe reopened it earlier this year a couple blocks south at 7506 Third Avenue near 75th Street, with their daughter Fabiola Juárez consulting on the menu. I drove to the new spot on a sweltering afternoon to see if it matched the old place: the dining room is more muted now—neutral brown with statuettes, cacti, framed pictures, and even a disco ball—and the menu is longer, with starters, antojitos, soups and salads, and mains. The hangover remedy sopa panza is gone, but the memelas ($11) remain—hand-patted rounds coated with crema, avocado, crumbly queso fresco, and some of the best black beans I’ve ever tried, tasting intensely of fresh masa—and the ceviche (shrimp, octopus, and fish) arrives cool with fried totopos whose crunch is welcome on a warm day. Enchiladas in the San Miguel de Allende style still come piled with grated cheese and crema, and a new pastel Azteca (layers of corn tortillas interleaved with chicken and chorizo, smothered in salsa and cheese) is one of the greatest things I’ve eaten lately, with unexpectedly flavorful bright orange rice alongside. The lamb shank ($30) is impressive—a cudgel-size bone clad in sapid meat plunged in a vast lake of borracha sauce that’s worth ordering extra tortillas for—and the molcajetazo ($32) is a spectacular, very shareable mortar piled with spice-rubbed chicken, steak, green onions and chiles, cactus paddles, spongy cheese, and a hidden reservoir of crumbled chorizo, with stuffed-tortilla enfrijoladas on the side; it’s great fun and easily feeds many. Fabiola’s cocktail list is amazing—seasonal drinks, clarified and eggy cocktails, spirit-forward and low-ABV options, plus a “FUCK ICE, I want it FROZEN” section in flavors like lime and strawberry, and canned cocktails to go—though that afternoon we opted for a refreshing hibiscus agua fresca ($7)." - Robert Sietsema
