Carnitas Ramirez

Carnitas Ramirez Opens in the East Village | Eater NY

"Located at 210 E. Third Street, near Avenue B, Carnitas Ramirez — the owners' second restaurant opened with partners Yvon de Tassigny and Kari Boden — is described as another language lesson, with names of pork cuts listed above the register and a diagram on the wall translating oreja (ear), buche (stomach), and matriz (uterus). On opening weekend there were close to a dozen types of carnitas ($5 each), and tasting several on one plate highlights their differences: cabeza is rich with collagen, chamorro has crunchy, fried skin, seso is ground into a ricotta-like paste, and the surtida combines cartilage, fat, and skin. Cervantes, who traveled to Michoacán to learn the craft, developed a simple recipe of salt, garlic, and lard and oversees a morning process that starts around 7 a.m., frying ears and ribs in a stainless-steel cazo before moving them to a second pot to simmer for hours — a method that, he says, “relies on mastery” and yields what he calls “perfectionist carnitas.” Carnitas Ramirez is open Friday and Saturday from noon to 10 p.m., and Sunday from 11 a.m. to 9 p.m." - Luke Fortney