By Cindi Avila
Special to DNAinfo
MANHATTAN — As oddsmakers gear up to predict which football teams will score big on the field this upcoming season, local restaurants are getting their teams ready to prepare the city's best guacamole.
The scrumptious green dip is a staple of the football-watching set, and the borough offers plenty of places to load up on guac for the game.
Arguably the most famous guacamole in Manhattan is mixed up daily at popular Mexican restaurant chain Rosa Mexicano, which has three locations — Lincoln Center, Union Square, and Midtown east.
"It's very tasty and fresh and they chop it nicely,” said auditor Patrice Cherry, 24, from Harlem, who prefers the Rosa Mexicano guacamole because it's chopped, not pureed, so it stays chunky.
Rosa Mexicano's culinary director David Suarez says the restaurant goes through 400 avocados during a typical weekend.
Their Guac to Go is especially popular on Sundays in the fall, when football enthusiasts pick up an order to serve at their own pigskin parties. The restaurant even offers a class called "Real Men Cook" where football fans can learn how to make the guacamole themselves (along with other cool game-day grub).
If a fantasy football league existed that gave points for serving guacamole, Dos Caminos would be the number one draft pick.
With four locations in Manhattan, Dos Caminos has Rosa Mexicano beat when it comes to the number of avocado orders filled. Add up all their locations and corporate chef Scott Linquist says they go through about 1,500 avocados a weekend, and that number goes up during football season.
Midtown's hidden guacamole gem is Toloache, located next to the Gershwin theatre on 50th Street.
General manager Victor Medina said 95 percent of restaurant guests order Toloache's guacamole, the signature dish on the menu. Toloache serves three varieties, traditional (mild), rojos (spicy) and frutas (mixed with fruit). Normally they only deliver within a 10-block radius, but they said they make an exception if the order is over $100.
Last football season, Toloache's staff whipped up guacamole for orders as large as a party of 40, an order that took 25 avocados to fill.
In Hell’s Kitchen, Burrito Box general manager Alvaro Cruz said their guacamole is popular every day of the year, but even more so on any given Sunday in the fall. Cruz says guacamole is the perfect gridiron treat because “people like spicy food and a dip and it goes with beer.”
