There are three things you should know about Astoria's new El Lado Taco, a friendly, stylish, casual spot that opened about a month ago from restaurateur Ram Reddy.
First: Reddy, who was born and raised in India (he runs the Indian place Seva across the street) and currently resides on Manhattan's Upper East Side, is a huge fan of Mexico City, where he goes about once a month to look after a business he has involving Volkswagen buses. "I love the food there," he told Hell Gate. "And I love the simple CDMX-style tacos. So, at El Lado, we try to do as little as possible to the meat. We're not overly seasoning it or trying to disguise what it should taste like. We let the salsas do a lot of the work."