Originally, I was planning on reviewing Blue Agave in Bay Ridge, Brooklyn for this assignment. I ended up, however, going to Ho’Brah, also located in Bay Ridge, out of the recommendation of the friends I went with. I do plan on visiting Blue Agave at some point this semester, but I want to analyze the etymology of the term ‘agave’ in this piece if I forget to write about it later in the term. Agave is a plant that is grown primarily in the southwestern region of the United States and it’s used to make tequila as well as sweeteners for breakfast items, like pancakes or waffles. It stems from the Ancient Greek word, ‘agauós’ which translates to ‘noble’ and ‘illustrious’ in English.
Anyway, let’s get back to Ho’Brah. It’s found on 86th and 3rd avenue adjacent to Tuscany Grill and The Kettle Black (more on this later). There’s another location in Staten Island as well. Part of their message states their intention was to create something ‘bright, fresh, and fun’. Their hashtag encourages us to #GetDemTacos. The places that helped produce their formula of Mexican food were Tijuana, San Diego, Florida, Hawaii, and the Gulf Coast. Considering some of those places, I wasn’t expecting the most authentic Mexican experience, but that’s just the way it is for most of my local Mexican eateries. If you didn’t know beforehand that it was a ‘taco joint’, you might overlook it when searching to satisfy your Mexican food cravings. I say this mainly because the first thing you may notice smack in the front of the place is a decorative surfboard and you’ll also see a palm tree engraved on the wall inside. In addition, the name itself, ‘Ho’Brah’, might not exactly shout “we have Mexican food”! On top of this, there’s a Taco Bell just one block away on 86th street and 4th avenue, so a lot of folks may just turn to that to get the job done. Everything about it screamed to me that they would sell seafood until I saw the menu. Ho’Brah has managed to apply a sort of Hawaiian twist on the names of their tacos and burritos while still serving them with all the ingredients you’d come to expect from the other Americanized Mexican eateries.
It was a Saturday afternoon endeavor, so my friends and I agreed we had room to indulge and have a little booze. I just had to get the fabled Mexican bulldog drink, also known as the Coronarita; I couldn’t resist ordering such a cool-looking margherita. It’s a blend of tequila, lime juice, and a (you guessed it!) Corona beer. Corona is Latin word literally meaning ‘garland’ or ‘crown’ in English. Some other recipes call for some soda such as Coca-Cola to be added, but I didn’t taste any in this one particularly. It was chilled to perfection; the slush of the margherita was gushing over the mason jar like a volcano. There was a sweetness to it that alleviated the heavy taste of alcohol from tequila and the bitterness of the Corona. The coolness of the bulldog was also much needed as a refreshment to mitigate and wash down the saltiness and spiciness of my nachos and burrito!
We began with one of their small plates in the form of the nachos as an appetizer. They are served on a skillet with guacamole, black beans, cheese, pico, and pickled jalapeno. Pico stems from the Mexican salsa known as, ‘pico de gallo’, which translates to the ‘rooster’s beak’ in English. I found myself scraping off the jalapeno because those peppers are just a little to spicy for my palate! Its overpowering aroma is the first thing you’ll smell when you come to contact with the nacho if you leave it on. The main details I recall from the scent that stuck out were the cheese and guac. The texture of the tortilla chips transitioned from hard at first to soft and somewhat mushy the longer we let the condiments settle on top. The cool, creamy guac paired with the crunchiness of the salty tortilla chip nicely while the mild black beans and melted cheese gave it some added flavor. It all complimented the robustness of the ground beef well to create quite a delicious concoction.
Next, it was time for the main course, and I was excited to sink my teeth into Ho’Brah’s enormous ‘mission bay’ burrito. The etymology of the term, burrito, tells us that it translates to ‘little donkey’ in English. This behemoth was certainly no little donkey! ‘Mission bay’ is about the size of a professional American football (maybe a moderate exaggeration) and it comes with jasmine rice, black beans, jack and cheddar cheese, pico, guac, and avocado or chipotle crema. I opted for the latter and coupled it with some chipotle chicken to boot. It’s hard to describe in words the sensations I experienced when I first chomped into this bad boy. The burrito’s soft texture was the first aspect I noticed. This was accompanied with the firmness of the pico and black beans as the thing I tasted first. Then, I noticed the buttery rice and the slightly sharp cheddar cheese. My favorite part was the combination of the zesty chipotle crema and the shredded chipotle chicken that was so tender, it essentially melted in my mouth. Chipotle, everyone’s favorite Mexican fast food chain, translates in English to ‘smoked pepper’. That pretty much sums up the description of the chipotle pepper! The smell of this chipotle is the most pungent you’ll realize once you dig into it a bit and will pretty much overwhelm most other scents of the burrito. It was certainly a roller coaster ride for my taste buds and the cherry on top was the bulldog to help wash it all down. This helped ‘cleanse my palate’, so to speak, of the spicy sensation and saltiness.
I mentioned early on that there would be more on Tuscany Grill and the Kettle Black. Now, I’m not setting the stage here to review them like I’ve done for Ho’Brah. What I learned from the message on the menu and even my friend is that the American family who own Ho’Brah also owns these storefronts, all being neighbors to one another. Kettle Black was the family’s first business, opening in 2004, with Tuscany Grill and Ho’Brah coming some years thereafter. With all the discussion time in class we’ve spent on cultural appropriation, this waved some proverbial red flags in my face. Kettle Black is an American sports bar that specializes in chicken wings while Tuscany Grill serves Italian food. I interpret the opening of Ho’Brah to be the owners’ efforts to get their piece of the action in each facet of food. In other words, traditional American, Italian, and Mexican cuisines are three of the most popular types of food in New York. The owners capitalized on this opportunity and took advantage of profiting off well-liked foods.
I can’t speak for the Italian place having not tried it, but it’s fair to doubt the authenticity of the Mexican meals in Ho’Brah. It’s just hard to judge just how many of their recipes were taken from Mexico because they also cite locations like Florida and San Diego that inspired their techniques. I certainly enjoyed the food at Ho’Brah, but I obviously didn’t feel emotion connected to my food that I would have otherwise experienced at a more authentic Mexican restaurant. It’s hard to appreciate in a way since you know it’s not Mexicans who are cooking up the food. Similarly, I almost even feel wrong to patronize a place like this in the first place. I now realize and grasp the perspective that it can be offensive to see how a place like this has adapted, or perhaps manipulated, the original stuff that Mexicans worked so hard to create for themselves and their culture. It’s altered merely to accommodate the liking of an American palate, such as myself admittedly, for the sake of business and making a profit without understanding the meaning and significance behind it.
Works Cited
“Agave.” Wiktionary, en.wiktionary.org/wiki/agave#Etymology.
“Burrito.” Wikipedia, Wikimedia Foundation, 11 Feb. 2020, en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Burrito.
“Chipotle.” HowDoYouSayThatWord, howdoyousaythatword.com/word/chipotle/.
“Corona.” Wiktionary, en.wiktionary.org/wiki/corona#Etymology.
“Pico De Gallo.” Wikipedia, Wikimedia Foundation, 4 Feb. 2020, en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pico_de_gallo.
Supercall. “Mexican Bulldog.” Supercall, 7 Dec. 2016, http://www.supercall.com/recipe/mexican-bulldog-recipe.
Taco Literacy 