Students Munch Mexican

With free nachos, salsa and a mariachi band, Real Taco—the Square’s new fast-food Mexican restaurant—celebrated its grand opening Saturday afternoon.

Students packed the brightly-colored restaurant, ordering up burritos, tacos and fajitas.

“I sent out an e-mail to all our blockmates, and everyone came,” said Grayson L. Sugarman ’04, munching on the free chips that appeased the hungry crowds pouring out of the Mt. Auburn St. shop.

“I just feel like it’s time for Harvard Square to have a place that’s student friendly, because when I eat pizza, I kinda put on weight,” Sugarman said.

Many students who attended the Real Taco opening this weekend said they see the restaurant—which stays open until 2 a.m. Thursday through Saturday and where the most expensive item is $6.25—as a much-needed addition to the Square.

The day before Real Taco’s opening, Thomas J. Clarke ’04 sent out an e-mail to Throptalk, the Winthrop House e-mail list, asking students to support the restaurant.

“It seems to be the kind of student-oriented business that developers and the city of Cambridge have done their best to drive out of town over the past 5-10 years,” wrote Clarke, who is also a Crimson editor.

Clarke’s campaign seemed to have worked.

“I had good, good, good, good sales,” said Real Taco owner Joel “Joe” Espinoza, who said he made nearly $5,000 in the first night—$1,000 more than he was expecting.

Saturday, after a meal of steak tacos with friends at the opening, Clarke said he was not disappointed.

“I think the owners and the employees know exactly what it takes to succeed in a college town,” he said.

But Clarke’s excitement didn’t compare to Espinoza’s elation.

After receiving the final okay from inspectors a few hours before the restaurant was scheduled to open, Espinoza said the event would fulfill a long-time dream.

“It’s always been my first intention to open in Harvard Square,” he said, “but before I could not afford it.”

Espinoza opened the first Real Taco in 1999 at Downtown Crossing and has since developed a catering business.

He said he wants to open a restaurant on Newbury Street. But in the meantime, he said, there are enough projects to keep him busy at the Square location, which used to house Bruegger’s Bagels.

In six months, he said, he expects the City of Cambridge to extend his closing time to 3 a.m. Thursday to Friday.

“Almost a hundred people came by after 2 a.m.” on Saturday, said Espinoza, who stayed at the shop until 4 a.m. celebrating with his wife, two-year-old daughter and his brother and father, who came up from Mexico to attend the opening.

Espinoza said he hopes to obtain a liquor license from the city in six months so that he can serve wine and beer.

He said he plans to have a system where customers who buy four small bottles of beer called “Coronitas” get free nachos. A second round of beer would bring with it an order of free quesadillas, he said.

According to Espinoza, this system is a Mexican tradition.

“In Mexico, you don’t pay for the food, you pay for the drinks,” said Espinoza, who is originally from the Mexican state of Sinaloa.

Students said they are excited about delivery to dormitories, which should start early this week, and cost $15.

To further the Mexican atmosphere, Espinoza said he plans to hire a mariachi band to play live from 7 to 10 p.m. Friday through Saturday.

—Staff writer Eugenia B. Schraa can be reached at schraa@fas.harvard.edu.