Hecho en Dumbo

A while back, our favorite deal site, Blackboard Eats, came out with a deal for 30% off Hecho en Dumbo. Unfortunately, it was limited to brunch, lunch or the weekend late night menu. With its location on the Bowery and my late night habits of SLEEPING, brunch was our only option. The restaurant is pretty unique in that it actually moved from Brooklyn to Manhattan last year. CT and I both love Mexican food so we made an extra effort to plan ahead for brunch.

We arrived a little early and had to wait outside with a few other people. It was wrong of me to assume brunch started before 11:30. Luckily the sun was shining, so not a big deal.

CT & I weren’t in a drinking mood, so we passed over some tasty looking cocktails for something a little more tame. She chose the Agua de Jamaica ($2.95). For those whose Spanish is a little rusty, jamaica is hibiscus. I had a nice refreshing sip with just a hint of sweetness.

CT says: Not in a drinking mood? Unusual, I know. However, the agua fresca was really light and refreshing and a nice way to start a Sunday. I imagine it would mix well with vodka too (you know, if case you are in a drinking mood).

I got a glass of fresh squeezed grapefruit juice($3.95). Grapefruit is one of my favorite citrus fruits, so I enjoyed this small and pricey glass.

We were given an amuse of cookies with little cups of jam and butter. One of the cookies was the kind with rainbow sprinkles they usually have at diners. Quite a strange way to start the meal.

CT says: I don’t think TT actually ate any of the cookies. I, on the other hand, had no problem starting my meal with dessert. In fact, this made me extremely happy, though wishing I’d ordered a coffee to pair with them. Except for the sprinkles (love!), the cookies were not very sweet, but rather very buttery. I felt funny, and gluttonous, putting more butter on my butter cookies, but I tried a bit anyway. It was definitely not necessary. The jam was good on the non-sprinkled cookie. It was somewhere between a cookie and a biscuit (and I mean a Pillsbury-type flaky biscuit, not an English biscuit). The sprinkle cookie was perfect all on its own. I ate half pre-brunch and half for dessert.

We were both pretty hungry and after reading the menu we got even hungrier. We decided to start with two appetizers.

First up, house-made tortilla chips and guacamole($7). I am pretty sure you are required to order guacamole whenever going out for Mexican. Would there be a reason not to have some creamy goodness? Avocados have the “good” fat afterall. This guacamole was pretty good although it was pretty plain. The chef just let the avocado do all of the work, unlike at the Guac-Off that we recently went to. The chips were pretty mediocre. They cracked very easily while trying to scoop up the thick guacamole. They served it with some salsa verde and rojo with pico de gallo on the side. The red salsa had quite the punch compared to the mild green.

CT says: I thought it was a solid, standard guacamole. Definitely made better with a little pico de gallo and fiery hot sauce on top (or the milder salsa verde for the spice-averse). Nothing breath-taking, but a good and necessary starter to a Mexican brunch.

CT put some guac on a chip with the pico de gallo and red salsa.

Our other appetizer was the molletes($7)- house made Bolillo Bread topped with black bean pureé, melted queso chihuahua and fresh pico de gallo. We held back and did not add on pork belly chorizo for $3. Yes, I was plenty disappointed in myself. I never heard of molletes before so it was a nice to try something new. Basically it was an amazing Mexican-style French bread pizza. The bread was super crunchy and filled with tasty black bean pureé, topped with cheese and salsa. The black beans were so much more flavorful without being the salt bomb we had at Back Forty. I added some of the salsa rojo we had on the side for a little more kick. In the end, it didn’t even need the additional chorizo, especially for what was coming next.

CT says: This was really well balanced and quite delicious; incomparable to Back Forty in my opinion. The black beans had a nice spiced flavor, though not spicy in itself. And the cheese was neither overwhelming nor hiding among the other ingredients. Of course, I added some more of that hot sauce on top, but only because I’m an addict.

In order to maximize our experience, we shared two entrees.

Torta de Cochinita Pibil($9)- Berkshire pork with Yucatan spices steamed in banana leaf over freshly squeezed Sour Orange juice with avocado, mayo, black bean pureé and red onion. As you can see, it was served on the same delicious bread as the molletes. Although it was a small sandwich, I was quite satisfied with it especially with all of the other food we ordered. The pork was quite tasty and elevated with the other components. It was served with a side of duros, which were fried puffed wheat. They were super greasy though and I started to get full so I only had one or two.

CT says: I will definitely be going back for this sandwich. The pork was so soft and tender and the flavors all mixed together were literally finger licking fantastic! The sweet sauteed onions mixed with the creamy black bean and avocado all accompanied the pork beautifully – no hot sauce needed. Plus the bread held everything together until the last bite. It was just barely crusty on the outside, while the soft inside soaked up all the pork juices without disintegrating into nothingness. The only complain I could have was the pork grease that started dripping off my hands… but how do you get such robust flavors with a little fat? The duros, on the other hand, were just greasy without any flavor. The crunchy texture would have been a nice contrast to the sandwich, but they were just too oily to eat.

We also got some tacos, how could we not?

Tacos Campechanos($10)- finely chopped cecina(salt cured steak), chorizo, house made chicharrón, served with warm chile de arbol and chicharrón salsa. The first thing I noticed was that these taco were quite small(fist sized) and only had one layer of corn tortilla. Fortunately, there was plenty of steak and chicharrón packed on top. I am glad the chef didn’t bother with putting anything else beside beef, sausage and fried pork skin in the taco. Vegetables just get in the way. Am I right or am I right? The tacos were pretty amazing. Chewy salty meat and crunchy pork was a great consistency combination. The accompanying salsa was packed full of chiles and was much hotter than the salsa rojo. The tacos were so flavorful that I barely used the salsa.

mmm, fried pork skin!

CT says: Steak, chorizo and chicarron? Sign me up! The chewiness of the steak and crunchiness of the chicharon were a perfect complement. Unlike TT, I added a couple spoons of salsa to mine to enhance the flavor a bit. If I ordered this lunch again, I would definitely eat the tacos before the sandwich – I think the strong flavors of the sandwich slightly overpowered the tacos. My fault.

All in all, Hecho en Dumbo was a great choice for brunch. Prices were reasonable for brunch and made even better with the BBE discount. I was glad our first experience there was at the start of brunch service so there was more room to relax; as the tables were pretty close together it could get uncomfortable when the place gets full. I wonder if any other Brooklyn gems will make the trek across the river to the wilds of Manhattan?