Loading Dock - Brooklyn

Baja Mexican in Downtown BK
Things happen when you're away from home for long spells. Change, to be exact. It's weird to find so many new restaurants - have I been gone that long? Case in point: Loading Dock, which serves up the type of Mexican I used to enjoy in Southern California. Of course, this being Brooklyn, it's also about the space: a converted garment factory cum art gallery tucked in a forgotten corner by the BQE and the Ingersoll projects.

Both my carnitas taco, above, and Puffin's batter-fried fish taco, below, were good. Not Robertos in San Diego good, not Matamoros in Sunset Park good, but after unfairly comparing them to those paragons, I have no complaints.

For sure I've never eaten tacos in a room like this. It stole the show - a large open space with art for sale on the walls and a small faux wood stove on one end. We shared the long communal table with a couple who looked like they'd wandered in from Williamsburg. He was tall and impossible skinny and sported a tangled beard and thick, black-rimmed glasses. His better half was a mirror image, though she was clean shaven.

I cannot explain my attraction to the fur pelts on some of the chairs. It makes no sense, but I liked them.

I expect the summer business will be good. They'll set up a bunch of tables and chairs out front I imagine. That's the "kitchen" - the taco stand affixed to the side of the building. You order and pay just inside and then wait for the food to be delivered to your seat.

It's a nice addition to downtown, though not the easiest to reach. There are no subways close by and you have to navigate under the BQE or over Flatbush extension to get there. Regardless, we'll be back. After all, there are burritos to try.

170 Tillary St
Brooklyn

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