gastropoda/trails

The pretty good: El Museo del Barrio’s cafe, where we fueled up before the shows there and next door at the Museum of the City of New York. I was looking forward to the great tamales I remembered from the press party, but they had only chicken and shrimp, neither of which I’ll eat, so I settled for what I knew would be a leaden empanada (chorizo) but scored with a beef taco, one so good it almost didn’t need the meat for all the guacamole, pico de gallo, shredded lettuce and cheese heaped on top (for $3). My chickpea-hating consort got one look at the garbanzo and chorizo soup and had to have that, along with a pork taco, and both were outstanding. The high-fructose corn syrup ginger beer we shared was a heartburn-inducing mistake, though. The setting is a bit cafeteria-esque, but it was bright on a gray and pissing-rainy day. Points off for the cook who took a mislabeled burrito another patron had opened and stuck it back in the warmer for resale. And wore her latex gloves to help bus tables. Still, WIGB? Absolutely. And the gift shop carries some enticing cookbooks, in both English and Spanish. 104th Street and Fifth Avenue.