It’s hard to live up to an overachieving older sibling, especially when that older sibling is as beloved as Taqueria Ramirez—a Greenpoint taqueria with some of the city’s best tacos. The CDMX-style shop’s blowtorched tripa, velvety suadero, and al pastor set a very high benchmark. Younger sibling Carnitas Ramirez has its work cut out for it.

Rather than simply replicating the original in the East Village, Carnitas succeeds by narrowing its focus, and doing its own thing. At this strictly-carnitas shop, they serve every part of the pig—from trompa to rabo—from behind a pea-green counter. Giant bubbling cauldrons of fat contain different cuts of pork, which are scooped out, chopped up, and handed over to your specifications. You then dress your tacos at the salsa bar, where a chunky salsa verde and fresh oregano-laced onions add a crucial acidic note to the carnitas.

photo credit: Alex Staniloff

photo credit: Alex Staniloff

photo credit: Alex Staniloff

photo credit: Alex Staniloff

photo credit: Alex Staniloff

Eating several of these for a weekend lunch—while perched on an overturned paint bucket at a counter overlooking 3rd Street—is a deliciously educational experience. From ears with just the right amount of cartilaginous crunch, to iron-y tasting lengua that melts at the mere suggestion of teeth, and snout that could pass as pork custard, it’s incredible how much variety there is within a single animal. Sure, the flavors can be a touch one-note, but it’s an excellent note. 

The only two mandatory items here are a Topo Chico (to fight a losing battle against all the pork fat), and at least one surtida taco—the best of the best, with a little bit of every kind of meat. Round out the rest of your order with a mix of lean and fatty meats for contrast. Regardless of what you get, by the time you leave, your mouth, esophagus, and generally your entire GI tract will be lined with a slick of pork lard. But cars need an oil change every 5,000 miles, and hey, maybe you do too.

Food Rundown

photo credit: Alex Staniloff

Surtida

How they manage to stuff all 10 or more available cuts into one taco is beyond us. But manage they do, and the perfect balance of lean and fatty meats feels like lard-based alchemy. Get at least one per person. Sure, you lose some of the specificity that makes their other tacos great. But this is a special bite in New York City, and it’s not to be skipped.

photo credit: Alex Staniloff

Sesa-dilla

The brain is served in a fried tortilla, pinned shut by toothpicks. It’s rich and tangy, and the only taco served in this type of shell.

photo credit: Alex Staniloff

Oreja

Tender but with just a tiny hint of crunch, we love the meatiness of these little slivers of ear.

Lengua

We wouldn’t be surprised if this was the tongue of a great pig orator, like Napoleon from Animal Farm. This tongue could sing Pagliacci. A visit to Carnitas Ramirez is incomplete without some lengua.

photo credit: Alex Staniloff

Trompa

Like a slightly chewy, pig-flavored jelly candy that gives way to a soft bite after just one chew.

photo credit: Alex Staniloff

Cuero

Chewy, fatty, salty and rich—this has the most unique texture of any of the carnitas at Ramirez—almost like udon noodles made exclusively of pork. Pair with salsa roja and some onions.

photo credit: Alex Staniloff

Maciza

It’s pork shoulder. You know it, you’ve had it. And yes, it’s delicious. But live a little—try something you’ve never tried before, or won’t find easily somewhere else.

Chamorro

Our favorite of the lean meats. Load the shank with salsa verde, and use it as a slight lard-reprieve before diving back into something super fatty.

photo credit: Alex Staniloff

Rabo

Meaty and full of fat, these eat like oxtail, but with more gelatinized cartilage and less muscle meat. For the full snout-to-tail experience, this should be in your order.

photo credit: Alex Staniloff

The Salsas

There are four options: a smoky, tomato-y salsa roja, a bright and acidic salsa verde with chunks of avocado in it, escabeche with pickled jalapeños and carrots, and pickled pink onions loaded with fresh oregano. The salsa roja and escabeche are excellent, but the bright salsa verde and onions ultimately belong on every single taco. They add some much needed acid and a herby quality that feels almost like a tonic for what is a very fat-forward meal.