Caption:Mitch Lanyi and Chris Reginella are bringing a unique culinary experience to the community.
Credits:Carol Reif
SOMERS, N.Y. - Is a taco a sandwich, wrap, or something else altogether?
Most foodies think of the staple of Mexican street food and cuisine as being in a category all its own.
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Made with soft, thin cornmeal or wheat pancakes known as tortillas, tacos are usually eaten hot with savory fillings such as beef, pork, fish, or veggies and zhuzhed up with onion, cilantro, and lime juice.
Tacos are trending in the U.S., partly because of younger consumers’ demand for sustainable, environmentally friendly food choices.
So it’s not terribly surprising that one promising entrepreneur is intent on taking the traditional treat in a whole new direction.
As far as the culinary team behind The Tortilla Project, one of Somers’ newest go-to food spots, is concerned, there literally are “no rules.”
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“If I put it on a tortilla, it’s a taco,” says North Salem native and resident Mitch Lanyi, who at 27 is likely the youngest restauranteur in town.
The eatery was opened in late January at Somers Commons in a space previously occupied by Unwined, a wine bar and kitchen.
Open six days a week for lunch and dinner, it offers a compact yet diverse menu of small plates, tacos, sides, and desserts.
While Lanyi and chefs plan to change it up each season, customer favs that can be counted on all year round include arepas, deliciously crispy white cornmeal cakes popular in Columbia and Venezuela, which they serve “open faced” and loaded with chorizo, shrimp, corn, and tomatoes.
While the recipes might not be “authentic,” the ingredients are, he says.
One of the eatery’s most popular tacos is its own version of the American steak sandwich.
It comes with arugula, aioli, pickled Fresno chilis, and crispy onions.
“No where in any authentic tacorea/taqueria in Mexico will you see this steak taco,” Lanyi promised.
The house-made chips and guac are to die for too.
“We sell a crazy amount of guacamole every day,” he said, noting that while other places might plunk in hot sauce, tomatoes, garlic, and “this and that” in their guac, The Tortilla Project’s version is “super basic.”
Besides mashed avocadoes, the only things that go in it are onion, jalapeño peppers, cilantro, lime juice, and salt.
“I don’t want to have to get crazy with ingredients and recipes in order to impress people. I’d rather just put out a simple, quality, and consistent product,” Lanyi said.
Keeping things less complicated gives the cooks the chance to get more creative.
Sides include street corn salad, yucca fries, and plantains with green sauce.
If you still have room for dessert, there’s a coconut mango truffle, a plantain empanada with vanilla gelato, churros, and tres leches cake. A delicious rumor has it that a chocolate taco may be in the works, too.
The team experimented with 50 or 60 dishes before landing on the current 24-item menu.
“We either scrapped an idea right away or we tweaked it until we found what we liked,” he said.
As someone who’s been happily cooking for family and friends all his life, Lanyi asked himself when figuring out the restaurant’s focus, “What do I like to eat that nobody else has? What would I cook for myself at home because I can’t go somewhere and buy it?”
The location they chose is ideal because it sits at the confluence of Yorktown, Somers, and Mahopac.
“If we were in any of those specific towns, we might not necessarily reach the same amount of people that we would here, being right in the middle,” Lanyi said.
He and his business partners did the majority of the renovation work themselves, from painting the walls and building padded banquettes to hanging pretty (faux) plants lit by industrial-chic bulbs and installing new tiling. The only original things that remain from Unwined are the bar top and kitchen equipment.
When the weather is consistently warmer, they plan to have a few tables outside for al fresco dining.
Then there’s the bountiful booze.
What’s a taco without a good margarita to chase it with?
Manager Chris Reginella, 25, a Somers High School grad, presides over the refurbished bar. Mitch met his right-hand man while working at Burger Barn.
Reginella came up with a “Key Lime Pie” version that uses blanco – the purest form of tequila and loved because it showcases the essence of its source, the blue Weber agave plant that’s only found in five Mexican states. The glass is rimmed with cinnamon.
The rest of the ingredients are – shhhhh – a secret.
Reginella’s personal favorite concoction is the coconut margarita, although the spiced pear is a close second. The latter’s more of a cold weather drink so in the summer it could be bumped by a watermelon version.
Other interesting-sounding cocktails, aka “Not Margaritas,” include the “Morning Dove” (reposado tequila, aromatic bitters, citrus, and maple), the “Grown-up Lemonade” (vodka, huckleberry liqueur, lemon); and “The One With Pineapple” (Mezcal, pineapple, jalapeño, cilantro, and lime).
Beer is also an essential.
Mexican versions on offer are Tecate, Corona, and Modelo. There are also craft beers, alcohol ciders, hard seltzers, and wines.
Guests can also enjoy live music. At center stage right now is Somers guitarist/singer Dan Zlotnick. Once a professional baseball player, he now performs at venues all over the Hudson Valley.
Up Next?
Next on the agenda is a “Blacked Out Boozy Brunch,” starting on Sunday, April 21.
Unlike other places that might offer just a small menu with few brunch options on it, they’re putting their own twist on it.
There will be a completely separate menu, all new cocktails, different music, and different decorations.
“We want to make it a regular thing,” asking for patience. “You know what? That’s why we didn’t rush opening this place. We wanted to do it right, and it turned out exactly how we wanted.”
The Vibe
As the restaurant’s website proclaims, it’s “all about the vibe.”
Lanyi and crew view their fledgling venture as a place for family and friends to gather, put their phones down, and enjoy good grub, drinks, and conversation. In other words, “old-school socializing.”
They are closed on Mondays and open from 12 noon to 9 p.m. Tuesdays, Wednesdays, Thursdays, and Sundays and from 12 noon to 10 p.m. on Fridays and Saturdays. They’ll stay open a little bit later on the weekends if people are hanging out at the bar, having a good time.
Up until five o’clock the clientele seems to be mostly families and individuals. Then, like clockwork, it gets busy at six with couples, “like a date night spot.”
They’ve only been open for two months, but they already are seeing a fan base building through word of mouth.
The restaurant biz is notoriously stressful. (Lanyi worried off 30 pounds during the run-up but good-naturedly jokes that he plans to get his “belly” back eventually because “it’s good for business.” No one trusts a skinny cook.)
His favorite part of cooking isn’t necessarily eating, it’s feeding other people.
That’s why he never seems to get to eat Thanksgiving dinner.
“I cook and then watch everybody enjoy the food. Honestly, that’s my favorite thing in the whole world,” Lanyi said.
But don’t worry, he’s not starving; he nibbles in the kitchen all day long and is as stuffed the turkey by the time everybody hits the table.
Lanyi’s parents are good cooks and the talent filtered down to him and his younger sister and brother. The sibs didn’t go into the restaurant biz, but they still frequently participate in the making of family feasts.
Since they all really know their way around the kitchen, squabbles over food prep are nearly nonexistent. Well, maybe a little over the amount of salt a recipe needs, but it’s all in good fun, he said.
Both of his parents have been supportive of his new journey.
It was his dad who first urged him to tend bar, because he said that no matter what other job he landed in, if cash is tight he could always pick up a weekend shift here and there.
He wanted his son to get restaurants just to have the experience.
“Then, not long ago, he was like ‘Dude, I’m sorry; that went WAY too far’,” Lanyi said, laughingly adding: “Yup, I made the mistake of falling in love with it. No. It’s not a mistake; I’m kidding.”
Up Through the Ranks
Although he’s still young, Lanyi didn’t just spring from nowhere.
A 2014 graduate of North Salem High School, he first worked as a busboy at Farmer & the Fish. The Purdys restaurant is still one of his favorite places to chow down.
Lanyi studied engineering in college, but after deciding he was heading down the wrong career path, returned to his first love, the hospitality industry.
He worked as a manager at Burger Barn in Somers for about six years before taking a job with Fortina Pizza as a general manager at its Stamford and Rye Brook locations.
Then he got a fateful phone call last spring from one of his ex-bosses who wanted to run something by him.
That something turned out to be a partnership in a new restaurant.
“It was a hard decision to leave, but it was an opportunity that I could not turn down,” Lanyi said, admitting that at the time going into business for himself wasn’t part of his “five-year plan.”
However, because it was the “Number One thing” on his 10-year timeline, he took the chance.
Looking around the place recently, a visitor remarked that the turnaround seemed pretty darn fast.
“Yeah, but it felt like forever,” Lanyi agreed.
Simply the Blest
Lanyi is thrilled whenever a new customer tells him that they had initially come because of a friend’s recommendation, but planned to come back with more pals after finding that the “food’s even better than what they said.”
“This is the first job that I’ve ever been so excited about. In the morning, it’s like, ‘Oh, yeah, I get to go to work today!’,” he said.
Lanyi and team’s recipe for success?
A good product, a casual and convivial atmosphere, flexibility, and a willingness to accept feedback, even the negative kind.
If something isn’t right, they’ll fix it. That’s what hospitality is all about.
For right now, The Tortilla Project’s future looks as rosy as a tequila sunrise.
As its motto goes, “Blessed and Taco Obsessed.”
Good to Know
For more information, visit www.thetortillaproject.com . To make reservations, go on the website or call (914) 205-3152. The shopping center’s address is 80 Route 6, Baldwin Place, N.Y.
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