New York Has Great Mexican Food. Psych!
There is, however, one thing you're going to have a hard time finding in Manhattan, or most of the tri-state area, in fact. Something we take for granted, and consume on a basis so regular it's beginning to scare us: the Mission Burrito. It can be found nowhere else besides the San Francisco Bay Area. This SFist has argued before that the Bay Area is simply another region in the Mexican culinary pantheon - try ordering a burrito six hours to the south in Los Angeles and you'll see what we're talking about. Even Calvin Trillin agrees we have the best, and we hear he writes for some famous magazine based out there.
The dearth of good burritos in New York has even opened the door for McDonald's, whose Chipotle chain has opened stores there -- they would have absolutely no profit potential in a market saturated by tastier options run by local entrepeneurs using fresh ingredients when all they have to offer is cookie-cutter franchises and frozen, pre-portioned food from a central distributor. That and they would probably get ripped a new one by our ferocious neighborhood activists. Don't be fooled, Gothamist!
Nobody's figured out how to ship a super carne asada burrito across the country yet, so y'all should get a ticket on Jet Blue and come out here to visit. We'll get you drunk at Doc's Clock and drag your ass to El Farolito at two thirty in order to shut you up about how early the bars close around here.