Tacos y Mas II opens in Lynbrook
Breakfast tacos at Tacos y Mas in Lynbrook combine eggs with sausage, bacon or chorizo, plus refried beans and pico de gallo. Credit: Corin Hirsch
Some quests are lonelier than others. The one for breakfast tacos may be the loneliest of all, at least outside of Texas.
“Will you make a taco with eggs, cheese and sausage?” has elicited many a blank stare from a deli or taqueria owner on Long Island, with the exception of a few places. (And 7-Eleven's breakfast taquitos don't count).
That is a mystery, as scrambled eggs on a warm corn tortilla with cheese, bacon and avocado (if you’re lucky), then finished with pico de gallo and maybe cilantro ….it’s a quick, tangy, fatty, ambrosial snack, fuels you hours and is gluten-free to boot.
Victor Rodriguez understands this. Breakfast tacos, a Tex-Mex staple, were on the menu this spring when he opened his new deli-taqueria in Lynbrook.
True to its name, Tacos y Mas II covers a lot of culinary ground, from tostadas to baleadas, sopes to chalupas to huaraches, roasted chicken and pork shoulder (from a hot bar) and desserts such as flan. Among the fillings for tacos and tortas is carne molida, a Puerto Rican spin on spiced ground beef, as well as the usual suspects — lengua, al pastor, carnitas, carne asada, cesina (salted beef), shrimp, chorizo and chicken tinga.
It’s the all-day breakfast menu, peopled by chilaquiles and multiple egg-and meat platters, that hosts the object of desire: Breakfast tacos that meld scrambled eggs with bacon, chorizo, sausage, beef or ham on griddled tortillas with a smear of pureed pinto beans, pico de gallo and herbs, plus slivered radishes and wedges of lime. They are workaday, to the point, and filling, and cost $3.99. (Most everything else on the menu falls between $3.50 — for regular tacos — and $12, with platters of carne asada or parrillada Mexicana in the $20-$25 range).
“It took me nine years to get here,” said Rodriguez, standing in his new place, which is basically a deli with an eat-in counter along Broadway. Rodriguez began cooking years ago at the original Tacos y Mas in Far Rockaway, and on Broadway he warmly greets most everyone who walks in, living up to the motto here, “Mexican and central American cuisine in a kind environment.”
The kindness of strangers can be in short supply these days. As scarce as breakfast tacos? Maybe. Both await on Broadway in Lynbrook.
Tacos y Mas II, 342 Broadway, Lynbrook, 516-599-5252. tacosnmas.com
