Taqueria Jalisco is a culturally rich spot filled with both nostalgia and great food for the community.
Originally started as a food truck, the Gonzalez family founded Taqueria Jalisco over 25 years ago. Located on 291 Bennington St. in East Boston, Guillermo Gonzalez is now the face of this restaurant. The name of the restaurant came from Jalisco, a state in Mexico.
The Gonzalez family throws in their culture, nationality and brings a little piece of home into a new spot nobody knew about.
“Everybody knows me for the restaurant now, so if anything goes wrong with the restaurant, they call me, they let me know, or they want to place an order. They called me instead of the restaurant,” said Gonzalez. “My image is right next to the restaurant, so now I can’t walk anywhere without people recognizing me at the restaurant.”
Gonzalez “started working [here] when I was younger,” because it was accessible for him.
Saying that “it was an easy job. Easy to get into, right, ‘cause your family owns it. Other than that, I’ve always liked food, I’ve always liked working with people and interacting with people.”
The items on the restaurant’s menu are all from his grandmother’s recipes. They were all made by her, and with this restaurant, Gonzalez is hoping to expand her legacy and keep it living through Taqueria Jalisco.
On the topic of their menu, the birria tacos and burritos have an amazing, rich taste that complements the salsas that they make fresh.
“I know birria has started to become popular. So all our food is really good. We’ve been making birria ever since we opened. The thing that made it famous was TikTok trends, people wanted to take videos and pictures of things,” said Gonzalez.
Although the menu is passed down from his grandmother, they have added more variety to it for more people to enjoy. The restaurant serves tacos, burritos, soups, salads, tortas and much more that intrigues the customers who come in, according to Gonzalez.
Taqueria Jalisco’s burritos and tacos are also very intricate in taste. The meat is marinated and grilled in the kitchen. Visitors and customers smell the meat from outside, and when people step into the restaurant, they are greeted by smiling faces and a warm feel in the space.
“Overall, our food has always been very popular because all the food has an authentic, homemade taste. Most of the recipes are all my grandma’s. So every time you eat here, you feel like you’re at somebody’s house. It feels welcoming.” Gonzalez states.
You get that same feel at the restaurant’s new location in Orient Heights. Gonzalez infers it hasn’t affected the popularity of the original restaurant because “regardless, not everybody wants to go dine in over there. So, sometimes people think that the original spot is always going to be better. But that doesn’t stop people from coming over here and there.” Taqueria Jalisco’s original location still has traffic, and people still come into the restaurant because people know the original spot more than the one in Orient Heights.
With the new opening, there have been changes in the menu, which include more lunch items to be more inclusive for people with allergies or certain dietary restrictions, and some newer items, such as breakfast items. The focus of Gonzalez and his uncle is to train the waitresses overnight so you have the same welcoming feeling as you do at the original restaurant.
Over the years, Taqueria Jalisco has been recognized with multiple awards.
“One of the biggest awards that we got was the Legacy Business Award. The mayor gave us that because we’ve been here for so long and we’ve been part of this community,” said Gonzalez. “I think out of all of them [rewards], that might be the best.”
During his work at Taqueria Jalisco, Gonzalez has seen many generations of couples, students, and families come to the restaurant.
“25 years in this community, you get to meet different types of people, so for example, anything from the kids at Excel. I’ve seen a couple of generations of kids coming from middle school all the way to high school. Seeing couples grow up, get married, have kids, being a part of the community, is seeing everything, it taking part in the community. It’s really nice over the years seeing customers that have been here ever since day one, progress with their minds. We’re part of that.”
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