Pambazo (Photo: La Loncheria)
Danny Mena, chef-owner of Bowery restaurant Hecho en Dumbo, will open a new Mexican spot in Bushwick today. True to its name, La Loncheria claims to be “New York’s first and premier Mexican luncheonette,” serving “the best rustic Mexican food outside of Mexico.”
To back up that bold claim, the La Loncheria’s website notes that it makes its bread and other basic ingredients in-house. That bread will be used for sandwiches such as the lamb-belly barbacoa torta, which features black bean hummus and can be dunked, French Dip style, in an au-jus broth. There are also tacos such as the pastor-rubbed tuna, and a few charcoal-grilled dishes like adobo-rubbed brisket and cactus. There will also be seasonal specials and some vegan offerings like tacos stuffed with faux chorizo and roasted purple yam.
Mena, an alum of fine-dining kitchens like Blue Hill and The Modern, is also the proprietor of Mezcales de Leyenda, so it’s not that surprising the narrow, twelve-table space (formerly home to Sincerely Burger) is executing an outsized beverage program from its modest, eight-seat bar. Check out the food and drink menus here.
After launching Hecho en Dumbo as a pop-up in its eponymous neighborhood and then opening a permanent location on the Bowery, Mena is teaming up with fellow Mexico City native Oscar León Bernal for this one. “I want to bridge the sense of nostalgia I experience and the desire for authenticity New York consumers seek out, to create a true contemporary Mexican atmosphere,” Bernal is quoted as saying, in a press release. “I think it is the perfect time to do so back in Brooklyn.”
La Loncheria (41 Wilson Ave.) opens for dinner tonight; starting Jan. 1, it will be open Monday–Wednesday from 11am-1am (kitchen closes at midnight), Thursday–Saturday until 2am (kitchen will close at 1am) and Sunday until midnight (kitchen closes at 10pm).
Correction: An earlier version of this post misattributed the statement about bridging a sense of nostalgia. Bernal said it, not Mena.