El Sabroso

Amid the over-stuffed wholesale shops and hole-in-the-wall newsstands of Manhattan’s Garment District, it’s easy to miss El Sabroso Restaurant on the first pass since it looks pretty much like every other freight entrance in the city.

Located behind steel grey industrial doors in the drab loading entrance of a nondescript skyscraper, it’s overshadowed by the neon bolts of spandex and bejeweled evening dresses for sale at the wholesalers nearby. But the lines that form outside this hidden lunch counter are threatening to give away one of the neighborhood’s best kept secrets. El Sabroso is known for cheap and tasty Latin-American food, and most dishes, like pernil and pollo guisado, cost just $6 a plate.

Tony Molina, the owner and operator of the tiny little luncheonette, purchased it from its previous owner who had run the counter for an unknown period prior to his reign. Since seating is limited, most customers take their meals to go.