Festivus Gastronomicus
Review: Boca Grande
I spotted a taqueria I’d never seen before when I went to pick up Jen from work. I had to find out if it was up to snuff or if it was the same crappy tex-mex shit that normally passes for Mexican food here in Boston.
Boca Grande
1294 Beacon St.
Brookline, MA
(617) 793-3900
(map)
What we found was a very refreshing surprise. Not only were we amazed at the quality of the food, it was fairly cheap too.
The menu had all the regular fare, chili colorado, chili verde, carne asada, carnitas, and puerco al pastor. Now they didn’t have any of the more exciting stuff like lingua or cabesa, but they did have cochinita pibil.
Cochinita pibil will be foreign to those of you who grew up in California eating baja style (SoCal) or Oaxacha and Michoacan style (NorCal). Cochinita pibil is a pork dish spiced with Anatto seeds and cooked in banana leaves that comes from the Yucatan. It’s so rare that I see it on menus in the US, I had to go for it.
It was awesome. The moist pork fell apart and was authentically seasoned (though not as much as you might expect in Mexico). The whole burrito was fantastic from beans to rice to fresh tortilla.
Take note: You do have to bring your own Tapatio here, they don’t supply any.
I was in heaven with my burrito, but things didn’t get interesting until I tasted Jen’s chili verde. It was a complete surprise. It was extremely herby and tasted different from any other chili verde either of us had ever tasted. Don’t get me wrong here, it was not bad, it was good; but it had nothing to do with the idea of chili verde I have in my mind (marinating ever so slowly, mmm).
Once she got past the initial surprise of the herby taste, Jen was singing a new song of chili verde excitement and we were both thankfull that Boca Grande expanded our understanding of chili verde. I suggest y’all try it out- especially if you can tell me where in Mexico that preparation of chili verde comes from.
All in all, I was really excited to find Boca Grande because it had delicious authentically prepared food, is close to home and work, has more menu items I want to try, was dirt cheap, and is a whole helluva lot better than that lame-ass Anna’s Taqueria up the street from it.
Don’t go to Anna’s, ever. It’s horrible.
Instead, go to Boca Grande and expand your mind and palate with some cochinita pibil or a crazy herby chili verde. Add some Jarritos to that and you and your date can still walk out the door having spent less than $15. Damn.
July 26th, 2006 at 10:29 am
I am so glad someone else agrees with my general Anna’s opinion–sucks booty. I haven’t been to Boca Grande yet, but you’ve convinced me–I have to check it out. Another unexpected burrito wonder: Romano’s Pizzeria in Roslindale Village. Crazy sounding, I know, but the burrito was pure SoCal wonderfulness. Hmmm. Burritos….