Plaza Ortega

"Plaza Ortega is the kind of place where you can bring all your friends and eat great food while you hang out for a couple of hours. This is a Mexican restaurant, bodega, and ice cream shop rolled into one, with a long bar and a few tables in the back. The menu is filled with highlights. Try a few tacos, a substantial torta, or some exceptional birria ramen that uses Nissin Cup Noodles as its base." - neha talreja, hannah albertine, bryan kim, sonal shah, willa moore

"Plaza Ortega might be our favorite place in Bushwick to get Mexican food in general, and they have three types of burritos: Sonora, California, and birria. We get the Sonora when we want something that reminds us of an LA taco truck. Just meat, beans, rice, and pico—heavy on the meat, and easy on the rice. The California burrito is also pretty good, but the fries don’t stay as crispy as the ones at Electric Burrito (keep scrolling)." - neha talreja, willa moore

"Plaza Ortega in Bushwick is a vibrant, colorful explosion of a restaurant, which also has a bodega section in the front where you can buy basic groceries, as well as a separate area for paletas and ice cream. There are a lot of birria tacos in NYC, and many of them are enormous. At Plaza Ortega, though, you can easily down a trio of two-bite birria tacos and a cup of consomme while leaving plenty of room to sample the rest of the menu. We also love their gringas al pastor, amped up with the addition of griddled cheese. Everything has a nice buzzy heat that pairs well with Plaza Ortega’s excellent mangonadas." - neha talreja, kenny yang, carina finn koeppicus, willa moore, will hartman

"We initially found Plaza Ortega on a Bushwick taco crawl (something we highly recommend) and fell in love with their birria. There are a few tables outside and a few in the back of this place, along with stools at a long bar that faces a wall-sized mirror offering a glimpse into the kitchen. Everything you get here is going to be excellent, whether it’s birria ramen made with Cup Noodles, fish tacos, or a mangonada. The ready availability of Modelo tallboys, the cozy, homelike atmosphere, the TV playing Banda music videos on loop, and the endless supply of good food make this an ideal spot for a long catch-up with people you really love." - Bryan Kim, Neha Talreja, Hannah Albertine, Kenny Yang, Carina Finn Koeppicus

"After eating some of the best tacos in Brooklyn at Plaza Ortega, we always pick up a paleta from the ice cream section near the door. Of the 20-plus rotating flavors, we’re usually hoping for creamy, nutty pistachio, seeded guayaba, or tart strawberry kiwi to make an appearance. But those are just our favorites—and, not to be dramatic, but if you can’t find a flavor you enjoy, well, we might call that a red flag. With colorful banners and banda music on a loop, Plaza Ortega is optimized for maximum ice cream enjoyment, but sometimes we like to go full summer mode and grab a paleta for the walk to Maria Hernandez Park." - Neha Talreja