The situation here is kind of crazy.
Ever since Gabriel Ignacio moved from Puebla, Mexico, to the Bronx in 2004, he had a dream for himself and his family: To open his own restaurant by the time he turned 40.
So Ignacio worked his way through a diverse array of kitchens—Boucherie, Minetta Tavern, and Valerie in Midtown, where he served as chef de cuisine—until last spring, when he got an offer to operate a food stand tucked inside the busy Ogden Supermarket in Highbridge. A few months shy of his 40th birthday, Ignacio leapt at the chance, and Golden Taquitos was born.
A few months after that, though, the supermarket itself cleared out and decamped across the street, leaving Ignacio and his crew alone in the corner of a huge empty space. "It was only us in this big building," he told Hell Gate. "We felt lonely and sad."
At this point, Golden Taquitos was making a whole bunch of really good food, and the locals were starting to notice, so Ignacio stuck it out through the long winter. "I wanted to bring my food to the people," he said. "In this area it's hard to find fresh, homemade food, and we make everything from scratch. The nixtamal to make the tortillas. The salsas. All of it." A few more businesses have since joined Golden in the space, but honestly it still feels kind of barren.
None of that will matter, though, once you take your first bite of Ignacio's spectacular chilaquiles torta, a glorious beast stuffed with tortilla chips, salty queso fresco, loads of avocado, peppy red (or green) sauce, and sour cream for some tang. And the bread is lovely, a soft roll that somehow holds up nicely under the onslaught. I upgraded mine with some terrific funky chorizo and I suggest you do the same. But either way, this is truly a sandwich for the ages.