Call it the Mmmm-TA!
Two Brooklyn Heights cousins opened a breakfast-taco stand inside Clark Street station on Tuesday, where they hope to tap into its steady stream of 2 and 3 train straphangers by stopping them dead in their tracks with delicious smells each morning.
“You have a lot of foot traffic from people going to work, there’s the college kids who live upstairs, and a lot of tourists use this stop to get to the Brooklyn Bridge,” said Tom Byrnes, a Heights resident who co-owns the Jalapa Jar stand with his cousin Steve Smith. “If we can get people to smell the bacon, then they’ll make their way down here.”
The pair first started hawking their Austin-style delicacies under the Jalapa Jar name at foodie flea market Smorgasburg a year ago, and the dish proved so popular they decided to take things full-time with a window at the subway stop, Byrnes said.
The tacos — usually filled with egg, cheese, and an array of meat and veggie offerings such as chorizo, mushrooms, avocado, and black beans — cost $4 for one or $7 for two, and offer a fresh but filling alternative to the staid morning staples of bagels and parfaits, he said.
“A bagel can be heavy, and a big breakfast sandwich can be heavy,” said Byrnes. “You can come by and get an avocado and bean taco and it’s more filling than yogurt or cereal, and it’s light at the same time.”
Early eaters cheered the arrival as both a new breakfast option, and the only taco joint in the neighborhood.
“There aren’t any tacos in the area so I’ll be back,” said Brooklyn Heights man Devon Costello. “It’s nice to have an easy, local place.”
Jalapa Jar is inside Clark Street station [Clark and Henry streets in Brooklyn Heights, www.jalap
