Carnitas Ramirez

The younger sibling of Greenpoint's Taqueria Ramirez does one thing: carnitas, Mexico City style. Pork cuts are scooped from cauldrons of fat, chopped to order and handed across the counter, and you dress your own tacos at the salsa bar. Seats are overturned paint buckets at a counter looking out on 3rd Street.

Get at least one surtida per person, a mix of around ten cuts in a single taco. Then go cut by cut: lengua, which is essential; trompa, the snout; chamorro, the shank; rabo, which eats like oxtail; and cuero with salsa roja and onions. Add salsa verde and pickled onions to everything, and drink a Topo Chico.