Cruz del Sur

"What It Is: A Mexican restaurant in Prospect Heights with homemade tortillas and a lot of mezcal Perfect For: Casual Weeknight Dinner There used to be a Mexican restaurant called El Atoradero Brooklyn in Prospect Heights, but it recently got a new chef and changed its name to Madre Mezcaleria. This seemed like a good enough reason to go back and check it out - despite the fact that we weren’t huge fans of El Atoradero - so we stopped for some dinner on the little back patio. And it was fine. Basically, the only thing that’s changed about this place is a new emphasis on mezcal. Other than that, the food is still pretty unremarkable. The tacos were decent, we somehow didn’t want to finish our guacamole, and, while the flautas weren’t bad, they also just seemed like something you’d make in a toaster oven after a long day of middle school. Although we did like our mole. The Verdict: Don’t plan a full dinner here, but if you live in the area and like mezcal, come sit at the bar." - hannah albertine, bryan kim, katherine lewin, hillary reinsberg, chris stang, matt tervooren

"“It was a little bit cryptic,” says Oscar González, an owner of newly opened Mexican restaurant Cruz del Sur." - Luke Fortney

"I don’t think of Mexican sandwiches as lacking in representation in NYC, maybe because the city is already home to excellent versions of the pambazo, guajolota, mollete, and cemita. But what about the torta ahogada? This salsa-soaked sandwich is ubiquitous in its hometown of Guadalajara, where I first tasted it as a hungover college student, but it’s considerably harder to find here. (Calaca, in Bed-Stuy, offered one before closing last year, and there’s a $14 version on the menu at La Superior in Williamsburg.) Cruz del Sur, a restaurant that opened in Prospect Heights this month, is this torta’s latest home, where it’s served with tongue and stomach meat on a roll perfect for sponging up the salsa it’s served in ($15). Wash it down with a strawberry horchata, a specialty of Guadalajara, for a regional meal with few homes in the five boroughs." - Eater Staff