April 16, 2014
Cafe El Presidente Opening Soon in NoMad
Last month, we reported that the team at Nolita-based Tacombi announced plans to open a taqueria and restaurant, Cafe El Presidente in NoMad. At the time, details were scarce, but the restaurant is now nearing completion and Eater NY got the inside scoop.
Upon entering Cafe El Presidente, you are greeted by a coffee bar serving coffee and Mexican pastries in the morning. The cafe will also serve beer, wine and cocktails later in the day. The cafe’s menu is chef Jason DeBriere’s take on Mexican-American cuisine and will offer small dishes like the poblano and cheese cornbread, green chile biscuits and gravy as well as cuernitos (Mexican croissants).
In the rear of the space, sits a tortilla press and Tacos Madison. This taqueria will serve a range of classic fish, al pastor, and chicken tacos complimented by chef Luis Aguilar Puente’s flavored tortillas. The tortillas, also to be sold separately, come in a range of flavors: beet, nopal, yuca and sweet potato, in addition to traditional blue-and-yellow-colored flour and lard tortillas.
Cafe El Presidente will also have a fresh juice bar and a small market stocked with traditional ingredients and products sourced from the restaurant’s Mexican purveyors.
Owner Dario Wolos reports that the massive basement below Cafe El Presidente will become Mariscos Madison, a seafood restaurant opening sometime before June. Wolos hopes to expand the Cafe El Presidente model into more neighborhoods. He is currently building out a warehouse space in Bushwick and searching for additional locations in Chelsea and on the Upper East and West Sides.
Cafe El President opens April 24th. Stop by the NoMad District and check it out!