So, after five days back home in L.A., I am beyond stoked to be back at Tufts. However, not even the colossal number of burritos, quesadillas and fajitas that I consumed in my time at home will be able to prepare me adequately for the complete and utter lack of good Mexican food in the Boston area.
There is no such thing as real Mexican food at and around Tufts. Do not argue with me because, quite frankly, you can't.
The quesadillas they serve at the Mayer Campus Center? They're great if you're starving in Tisch Library and it's 2 a.m. — even greater if you're drunk on a Thursday and it's 2 a.m. — but they're not real Mexican food! They're served on whole-wheat tortillas, the chicken was very recently frozen and the cheese is most definitely cheese and most definitely not queso.
Hodgdon's "fajitaritos," while humongous, also do not qualify as Mexican food. The guacamole is squirted out of a tube. Need I say more?
Other varieties of Mexican-ish food are available in Davis Square. Anna's Taqueria is by far the closest to the real deal.
It has all the ingredients of a good divey place, minus the fact that the salsa isn't actually spicy, the guacamole isn't chunky and the tortillas just aren't the real thing.
In Harvard, you have Border Cafe, which is a really fun place with massive margaritas. But massive margaritas do not a Mexican restaurant make.
Border Cafe admits to serving "fusion" cuisine, which in this case means a hybrid of Mexican, Cajun and Creole. Cue Cajun shrimp quesadillas, which are actually really good, as long as you forgo the idea that the food you are eating is truly "Mexican." Its chips are pretty good, though, and its guac is decent. And, as I've said, for most people the margaritas and the atmosphere more than make up for the lack of authentic Mexican cuisine.
As someone is bound to point out, we also have Chipotle in close vicinity to campus. Chipotle, while delicious, is not real Mexican food. It is generic and spiceless.
Boloco — while its Nutella milkshake is the drink of the gods — is even further from the real thing. Its menu options say it all: Buffalo, Memphis BBQ, Bangkok Thai, Teriyaki and Cajun? Really? Points for creativity, but a Bangkok Thai burrito is no burrito at all. It's a wrap — let's be honest.
Why, you ask, does the lack of Mexican food at Tufts concern me? Because Mexican cuisine is what I grew up eating.
Burritos are my personal comfort food. My dad prides himself on his guacamole. My friends and I spent all of middle and high school devouring breakfast burritos from the taco trucks on Venice Boulevard or Temescal Canyon, anything from Tito's Tacos, fish tacos from Wahoo's or Kay 'n Dave's, tamales from Gallegos for every holiday and fajitas from the Tex-Mex place in Malibu Canyon. And those are just the places on the Westside.
Mexican food was a huge part of my adolescence. It's also just plain delicious, and the lack of quality Mexican food in this part of the country is nothing short of a travesty.
Sorry, Massachusetts, but California definitely wins this round.
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Samantha Jaffe is a sophomore who has not yet declared a major. She can be reached at Samantha.Jaffe@tufts.edu.
