Empellon al Pastor

Verdict: The Casual Empellon Is the One Worth Your Time

The most common mistake visitors make is treating Empellon al Pastor as a step-down from Alex Stupak's more formal Empellon projects. It isn't. This East Village spot on St. Marks Place is where the cooking is most focused and the value proposition is clearest. Opinionated About Dining has ranked it among the leading cheap eats in North America three consecutive years — #505 in 2024, #541 in 2025, Recommended in 2023. That consistency signals a kitchen that knows exactly what it's doing and doesn't drift. If you're building a Mexican food itinerary in New York City, this is where you start.

What You're Actually Booking

St. Marks Place has cycled through countless identities over the decades, but the visual language here is deliberate: a compact, lived-in room that reads as a neighborhood spot rather than a destination dining room. That's the point. The format is built around accessibility and repetition — the kind of place you return to rather than Instagram once and forget. Stupak made his name at wd~50 doing technically precise modernist cooking, while al Pastor operates in a completely different register, that precision doesn't disappear. It shows up in the consistency of execution, which is exactly what you want from a place ranked this reliably on a serious list.

The cuisine is Mexican, with the name signaling the al pastor tradition, spit-roasted pork marinated with dried chiles and pineapple, as a conceptual anchor. Beyond that, the database doesn't carry specific dish or menu details, so don't book expecting a pre-researched list of signatures. Book because the track record suggests the kitchen earns its place in the category.

Lunch vs. Dinner: The Case for Coming Early

This is where the decision gets interesting. Empellon al Pastor opens at 1 pm on Fridays, Saturdays, Sundays, staying open until 2 am (Friday, Saturday) or 11 pm (Sunday). Monday through Thursday, doors open at 4 pm. The weekday evening-only format makes sense for a neighborhood spot, but the weekend lunch window is where the real opportunity sits.

Arriving at 1 pm on a Saturday gets you the full kitchen output before the St. Marks foot traffic peaks. The room will be quieter, the energy more relaxed,, if you're price-conscious, it's the same menu at the same price point without the late-night crowd dynamics. Friday and Saturday nights stretch to 2 am, which makes this a viable late-night option, but if your goal is the food rather than the scene, the early weekend slot is the better call. For comparison, Oxomoco in Greenpoint leans harder into the dinner-as-event format; al Pastor is more flexible and less precious about when you show up.

How It Fits the New York Mexican Scene

New York's Mexican food range is wider than it's often given credit for. At the accessible end, Birria Landia owns the street-level birria category outright. In the mid-range, Alta Calidad and Atla offer polished sit-down experiences with stronger cocktail programs. ABC Cocina serves a different crowd entirely, built for the Union Square design-hotel orbit. Empellon al Pastor sits in a distinct position: it has a serious chef's pedigree behind it and a legitimate critical track record, but the price point and format keep it in the accessible tier. That combination is rare. For global context on what serious Mexican cooking looks like at the top of the category, Pujol in Mexico City and Animalón in Valle de Guadalupe are the reference points, al Pastor operates at a completely different scale, but the critical seriousness is comparable within its tier.

It's not the inflated 4.7 of a recently opened spot trading on hype, it's not the result of a venue gaming its own reviews. A consistent 4.1 across 600+ reviews on a casual East Village spot that's been on OAD's cheap eats list for three years reads as honest signal: reliable, not revelatory, but worth the trip on its own terms.

Explore More in New York City

For a broader view of where to eat, stay, drink, explore, see our full New York City restaurants guide, our full New York City hotels guide, our full New York City bars guide, our full New York City wineries guide, and our full New York City experiences guide. If you're planning a broader trip around serious chef-driven restaurants in the US, Lazy Bear in San Francisco, Smyth in Chicago, and Providence in Los Angeles are worth cross-referencing against your itinerary. For the fine dining tier, The French Laundry in Napa and Single Thread Farm in Healdsburg set the West Coast benchmark. On the Gulf South end, Emeril's in New Orleans remains a reference point for chef-driven American dining.