Loading Dock (Brooklyn, NY)

Oh sweet fire, keep me warm these winter days

Although I detest these New York winters, nuzzling up in a fur-lined chair (let’s not debate over that, ok) next to the wood burning hearth at the Loading Dock is one of my few snowbound pleasures. This food cart, parked in an actual loading dock of a downtown live-work industrial loft, is flush with all the pomp of the hipster allusion (complete with an art gallery), but none of the dickery.

My sensible friends let me select our downtown brunch location before embarking on the totally rad Atlantic Tunnel Tour. A perfect chance to show off my “what’s hot now” knowledge, I mean, what’s the point of obsessing over all those food blogs if I don’t get to dazzle people by dragging them to obscure industrial corners of our dismal downtown, secure in my promise of awesome Mexican breakfast!

Building manager Owen Wright and California chef Forrest Cole have come together to carve out this little niche of Baja style eating. Come summer, this urban ice shanty will bloom into an open-air sanctuary where wise Brooklynites will gather to stuff their faces with carne asada and fish tacos… or, in my case, beans and cheese and guacamole. Though the lunch/dinner menu has seemingly few vegetarian options (especially considering the “single ingredient” taco does not translate well into vegetarian – a scoop of carnitas is much more appetizing then a scoop of guacamole in a corn tortilla), they had more vegetarian options on the specials board… but back to the reason I came here in the first place – huevos rancheros!

As Tiffany said "it should've been me, there by your side"

but these were mine, second place isn't so bad

In had every intention of ordering the huevos rancheros – a reliable vegetarian classic – but Chris ordered them with the promise of sharing (a promise that was quickly negated after he let me have a few meager bites) so I procured the delectable huevos nopales for myself.

My friend’s omelette was meaty, so I took a few pictures and forgot about it. I was a bit put off by the zigging and zagging of the salsa and creama… the squeeze bottle application looks like a prepackaged Japanese omelette covered with ketchup and mayonnaise.

Ben and Tyler ordered the breakfast tacos, a scramble wrapped in fresh Corona’s Nixtamal tortilla, and the carne asada taco smothered in Cholula hot sauce because I have friends with great taste.