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Taqueria Jalisco in Boston
By Natalia Otero
There are plenty of places to eat tacos in Massachusetts, but customers looking for the best head to Taqueria Jalisco, a modest Boston storefront eatery. The restaurant was recently named "Best Mexican Restaurant in Massachusetts" by the publication 24/7, which based its decision on Yelp reviews.
Chef Ramiro Gonzalez, the restaurant's owner, says the secret to his success lies in his perseverance, discipline and constant presence. Every day he gets up early, buys fresh ingredients and goes to the restaurant, making sure everything works. He has a great team, as he describes it, dedicated to haute cuisine, which guarantees its quality.
"I am very proud of this recognition and I think people appreciate the effort of all of us who work here and put a lot of effort into it,” Gonzalez says. “We come early to do the preparation, every day taking care of everything and everything is fresh. We are a team that works from morning to night and we need eight hours a day to be able to do everything we want to do," he says.
Started With a Food Truck
González arrived in the United States when he was three years old. He grew up in California and, when he was in high school, his parents opened a food truck with Mexican food for people working in the fields.
There he learned about the business and how to make tamales and tacos. He learned many of the recipes from his mother, such as the carne asada taco and the taco de cabeza.
In 2000 he moved to Boston, where his sister owned a Mexican bakery. He intended to work in construction, but a year later he opened Taqueria Jalisco. He has been with it for more than 20 years and has been one of the pioneers in bringing authentic Mexican food to this area of the country.
"It was a very different world because there were very few Mexicans in Boston, there were no restaurants either,” he remembers. “With our years of work, we were introducing Central American food, and people have been getting to know it and liking it."
TIK-TOK and Birria Tacos
Birria Tacos at Taqueria Jalisco
At Taqueria Jalisco, of course, the main course is tacos. There's pozole and carne con chili, there are quesadillas and tamales, shrimp cocktail and fajitas, but the tacos steal the show. However, there is one taco that stands out among the rest: the birria taco.
When the pandemic hit, Taqueria Jalisco continued to sell by delivery and takeout. Since he had plenty of time, Gonzalez dedicated himself to perfecting the birria taco. He makes his birria from beef, and cooks it for eight hours over low heat. He put together a box of three golden tacos with birria, cheese and a consommé with onion and cilantro. It was an immediate hit.
"Some people from Tik-Tok came and the taco went viral. Then we had customers coming from all over, like Rhode Island. They simply came to ask for the $14 box with three birria tacos. Thank God we did well because we were able to continue with the whole team and we even hired more guys," he says, happy and still surprised by the reception that the birria taco had and continues to have.
Bigger Space, a Food Truck and Instant Churros
Gonzalez is in the process of building a new project: a restaurant with a larger seating capacity. Currently, he has 22 seats. The new one will go up to 100. He already has the location in East Boston and is in the process of designing the restaurant. He will bring the Al Pastor taco with the trompo, as well as handmade tortillas, and an instant churros station. In addition, he wants to return to the origins of his business, bringing back the food truck for private events.
"The blessings we have had are the result of being present, of working hand in hand, every day, testing things, getting the fresh ingredients, of a very good team, of being constant and confident that you can always, always, achieve everything," he says.
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