Cholula on Wyckoff and Menahan. — Photos by Scarlett Lindeman

The bright white Spanish church that is the emblem of Bushwick’s three Cholula Delis is fitting — in Cholula, Mexico, the colonial edifice sits on top of a massive hill that covers the world’s largest pre-Colombian pyramid. To the uninformed visitor, the eye is drawn upwards over the sandy geometrically-shaped hill to the chapel, which punctuates the beauty of city and the grand secret underneath.

Judging from the packed seats at the Wyckoff Avenue Cholula Deli on a Saturday afternoon, the culinary prowess of the ladies in the kitchen is no secret. Jaunty tunes loop on the stereo while extended families tuck into platters of grilled steak and and nopales (cactus), chilaquiles, and expansive avocado salads.

	A bit of home. Click for more.

Owner Angelo Tapia opened the first Cholula Deli — unequal parts bodega, juice counter, grocery, and restaurant — six years ago on Myrtle Avenue. Starting with a small grocery store, Tapia sold Mexican products which were then rarities in Bushwick. When waves of immigrants flocking to the neighborhood started asking for tacos and tortas, he installed a two-foot electric grill in back to dish them out.

“It was my dream to have 3 or 4 stores” said Tapia, “but I still have that little grill.”

Two years ago he opened a second location on Wyckoff, and a third on Broadway. Today, the three stores each have restaurants, which lie just past the rows of Mexican bulk candies, bottles of Tapatío hot sauce, and bags of the dried hibiscus flower used to make the tart scarlet drink jamaica.

You can pick up a bag of Takis chips in tomato or chipotle lime flavors, grab a papaya juice to go, or sit and dine, surrounded by stone mortars and a line of decorative oxen. The restaurant does wonders with pork. All selections are stained a deep chile orange but smack with different layers of flavor — the al pastor is dotted with pineapple; the chorizo, perfumed with cinnamon; the carnitas have a pure porky essence; and the carne enchilada, with plancha-crisped edges, contends with Tortillería Mexicana Los Hermanos for the best in the neighborhood.

You can get any porcine variety, in addition to chicken or beef, in tacos, tostadas, huaraches (sandal-sized toasted corn patties), or enchiladas, under mounds of shredded lettuce, crema, and green sauce. Or get your pig on a cemita, the prized sandwich of Southern Mexico, layered with enough cheese, beans, and jalapeños to make Big Macs looks like sliders.

Cholula Delis
1481 Myrtle Ave. | 718-497-4982
222 Wyckoff Ave. | 718-417-0941
888 Broadway | 347-435-0813
Menu Options: $2-8
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