Rockaway Taco/DiCosmos Italian Ices

Cuisine: Mexican/Ice Cream
Location: 95-19 Rockaway Beach Blvd, Queens
Phone #: (347) 213 7466
Method(s): Eat In & Pick-Up
Price Range: $
Food: A-
Value: B+
Service/Atmosphere: B
Overall Rating: B+

When some people think of Memorial Day weekend, they instantly look forward to the famous Rockaway Taco opening for the summer. It has only been open since 2008, but in those 2 short summers Chef Andrew Field has built up an extremely loyal following amongst the local surfers who frequent Rockaway Beach. Lines on weekends during the day are typically at least 45 minutes long (upwards of 25 people waiting in line). These people waiting are not crazy....the tacos are fantastic and absolutely worth the wait. Although the Chef feels that his tacos should be eaten within 4 minutes of being made, he offers pick-up service nonetheless, so if you want to avoid the line just call the number above and pick up your order in an hour. Props to Garv for the pic!

What I Liked
Needless to say, the tacos are what you want to get at Rockaway Taco. At $3 a pop (or $4 with guacamole) they are relatively affordable, and for your money you get a pretty hefty amount of food. Most worth noting are the fish tacos, which contain delicious, well-seasoned, crunchy batter coated fish on their incredibly crispy-chewy tortillas. Their only pork offering is the chorizo tacos, which are also worth ordering 1 or 2 of in addition to the fish. If you're in the mood for something a bit more plain, then the chicken tacos were also very nice.

What Could Use Work
Perhaps they should add more staff to try to accommodate their seemingly endlessly growing popularity (although I imagine their capacity is limited due to its small size). Other than that I have no gripes about this spot.

Killed It!
Believe it or not I am devoting this section to one of Rockaway Taco's vegetarian options. The Cucumbers tossed with Chili & Lime ($2) is not only super cheap, but also incredibly crunchy, spicy, light goodness. Definitely get an order of these on the side with your tacos!

For the first time this summer, Rockaway Taco will have a neighbor in the form of DiCosmos Italian Ices. They've been open in Elizabeth, NJ since 1915 so it must be some damn good product. I tried the Pink Grapefruit ($1/small, $2/large) and it is one of the best italian ices I've ever tried. It just tastes extremely fresh and flavorful; of course always worth getting one of these for dessert after your tacos.
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S'MAC

Cuisine: Mac & Cheese
Location: 345 E 12th St b/w 1st & 2nd Ave
Phone #: (212) 358 7912
Method(s): Eat in & Delivery
Price Range: $
Food: B+
Value: A
Service/Atmosphere: A
Overall Rating: B+

From the mind of Sarita Ekya, S'MAC (short for Sarita's Mac & Cheese) is an homage to a food that all of us loved as children. She is not afraid to tweak the recipe and add in some truly imaginative and thoughtful ingredients. They have gluten-free options, which is rare in the pasta world, and you can even get the Mac & Cheese "take and bake" style, which means they serve it frozen in bulk and you can store it and heat it up at a later date. Nice pun!

What I Liked
Let me start by saying how massive the portions are at S'MAC. If you're short on cash and want to have a huge portion for your money, come to S'MAC. Even the smallest size (called a "Nosh"), which range in price from $4.75-$7.25, are very filling and enough for a meal for most people. When you step it up to Major Munch ($7.75-$10.75), you are truly an eating champion if you can take down that whole portion. Then there's even Mongo ($13.50-$19) and Partay ($33-$47) sizes which are clearly for splitting with many people. Cool names of the sizes too.

The Cajun ($7.25/nosh, $10.75/major munch) packs a pretty seriously spicy punch. This version of Mac & Cheese contains cheddar & pepper jack cheeses, andouille sausage, green pepper, onions, celery, garlic and, Cajun seasoning. As you can see, Sarita put some serious thought into these ingredients. The Alpine ($7.25/nosh, $10.75/major munch) is a bit plainer but also extremely unique due to the saltiness of the bacon mixed with the gruyere cheesiness. Super tasty. Also worth trying at least once is the All-American ($4.75/nosh, $7.75/major munch) and 4 Cheese ($6.25/nosh, $9.75/major munch), which are both a bit plainer since they lack the exotic ingredients, but much like trying a plain slice at a pizza place to judge the general quality of the establishment, once you taste the "plain" Mac & Cheeses at S'MAC you will be convinced that Sarita knows what's up.

What Could Use Work
As excited as I was to try the Buffalo Chicken ($7.25/nosh, $10.75/major munch), I was disappointed with it. Perhaps Mac & Cheese simply doesn't taste good with buffalo sauce in general, but I just wasn't impressed with this Mac. It didn't taste like traditional buffalo sauce like you would taste on wings, and it wasn't very spicy either.

Killed It!
The reason I haven't tried more different types of Mac at S'MAC is because the Cheeseburger Mac ($6.25/nosh, $9.75/major munch) is so damn good. It keeps it simple with cheddar/american cheese and seasoned ground beef, but simplicity sometimes can rule. The heartiness of the ground beef is just fantastic with the mixture of the cheddar and american cheeses. I'd recommended taking and baking a bunch of this stuff back home next chance you get!
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