Launched in 2007, this homey restaurant with branches in Eagle Hill and Orient Heights is an East Boston institution. Founder Angela Atenco Lopez, a Puebla native, introduced many a local diner to traditional dishes like mole poblano and pipian verde. Since her death five years ago, her family continues the tradition. The tacos are always good: soft and fragrant corn tortillas filled with pork, steak, shrimp, and more, garnished with onion and cilantro. While you’re in, try the chiles en nogada, stuffed poblanos in a creamy white walnut sauce, sprinkled with red pomegranate seeds and green parsley: the colors of the flag. They’re served this time each year, in honor of the holiday.
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131 Lexington St., Eagle Hill, 617-567-4972; 1012 Bennington St., Orient Heights, 617-874-8251; East Boston; www.angelascafeboston.com. Tacos $2.50-$5 each.
Crispy shrimp tacos with a prickly pear margarita at Barra. A new fall menu is coming soon. Jessica Rinaldi/Globe Staff
Barra
Mexico City-style food from Mexico City natives. The slip of a bar has a great nighttime vibe plus plenty of mezcal and sotol, on their own or in cocktails. (You can get your margarita with a chile-grasshopper rim if you like.) Along with other delights, the menu includes tacos made with hand-pressed tortillas, blistered and charred. Try the crisp fried fish with morita chile mayonnaise, pickled cabbage, and a dollop of avocado salsa.
Here’s a departure from tradition, and a welcome one, particularly for vegetarians. Chef Valentine Howell, who wowed diners at Krasi and his Black Cat pop-up at Vee Vee, has remade the menu at this Jamaica Plain spot. Now tacos range freely from carnitas to fried chicken with bread and butter pickles. I like the meat-free versions, such as yuca fritters with kale curtido and chipotle ranch; roasted carrots with charred scallion salsa and avocado crema; and Brussels sprouts with pomegranate, cotija cheese, and salsa verde (visually appropriate for Mexican Independence Day). Quesabirria tacos, the omnipresent griddled beef and cheese tacos served with consomme for dipping, are made here with jackfruit too.
711 Centre St., Jamaica Plain, 617-477-9977, www.casaverdejp.com. Tacos $7.60 each.
A lengua taco at Chilacates.Kayana Szymczak
Chilacates
This tiny spot serving Mexican street food — hecho a mano con amor — opened on Amory Street in Jamaica Plain 10 years ago. Since then it’s expanded. There are nearly a dozen locations, from Brookline to Cambridge to South Boston. The original is still the best, and it’s the one I continue to go to, even though there’s a different branch around the corner from me. Tacos on handmade tortillas with potato and chorizo, carnitas, grilled shrimp, and more are always satisfying; order a plate, which comes with rice and beans. Don’t forget to ask for extra hot sauce. It’s good. (With the addition of the delightful but less taco-focused Abuela’s Table, JP’s Mexican food scene is on the up.)
A cheerful ode to Mexican street food, Revere’s tiny, tasty Esquite helps make this corner of Shirley Avenue shine. It’s located across from Revere Beach Pizzeria and next to 4 Season Boba Tea. America, the beautiful intersection. The owners ran food cart Eloti prior to opening this location and another on North Shore Road, and they still sell the Mexican corn they became known for. It’s part of a long menu stocked with delicious things — including excellent Mexico City-style tacos, from birria to carne asada to cochinita pibil with pickled onions.
Pátzcuaro’s birria tacos, filled with braised beef, cheese, onion, and cilantro, served with beef consomme. House-made salsas elevate whatever they touch.Josh Reynolds for The Boston Globe
Pátzcuaro Taqueria & Bar
This warm and friendly Newton restaurant is named for the town in Michoacán, Mexico, where chef-owner Avelina Saavedra grew up in her father’s taqueria. Tacos are served with caramelized onions and potatoes, as they are back home. The birria version with its rich consomme is a highlight, but you can’t go wrong here. The house-made salsas elevate whatever they touch.
On the side of Plazita Mexico Tacos in Watertown are the words “No Tacos No Life.”Devra First
Plazita Mexico Tacos
The words “No Tacos No Life” are painted on the side of this Watertown taqueria, and eating here makes me inclined to agree. If the message isn’t enough to lure you in, the beguilingly tortilla-scented air surrounding the place will be. Plazita Mexico opened here in December; its original Wakefield branch debuted in 2023. Meats are juicy, salsas are on point, house-made tortillas are thick, pliant, and fragrant. I’m a little jealous of the Watertown High students who get to eat here all the time. Come on the weekends if you want tamales.
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385 Main St., Watertown, 617-923-2339; 10 Vernon St., Wakefield, 781-666-0364; www.plazitamexicotacos.com. Tacos $3.25-$4.95 each.
The Taqueria Don Roge truck is parked in a lot on Revere Beach Parkway in Everett.Devra First
Taqueria Don Roge
When you see the red truck, pull into the parking lot. On Revere Beach Parkway in Everett, Taqueria Don Roge serves tacos worth the stop. Customers range from police officers to food-tripping hipsters to Spanish-speaking locals. Place your order, take a buzzer, and soon enough you’ll be cradling a container of warm tortillas filled with cabeza, lengua, al pastor, and more.
A carne asada taco at Taqueria El Amigo.Essdras M Suarez/Globe Staff
Taqueria El Amigo
A beloved classic in Waltham: friendly, tasty, speedy. You’ll know the place by the Mexican flags that hang outside. Walls are decorated with folk art and kids’ drawings, and banda music plays on the speakers. Get your tacos to go, or if you’re lucky grab one of the handful of tables in this tiny taqueria run by the Timoteo brothers, who took over a few years ago. The cabeza taco, made with tender and rich beef cheek, is a favorite.
Taqueria Jalisco is deservedly known for its birria tacos.Craig F. Walker/Globe Staff
Taqueria Jalisco
Open for more than 20 years in East Boston’s Day Square, this has long been a contender for Boston’s best tacos. Owner Ramiro Gonzalez grew up in California, where his parents operated taco trucks. He learned the business, and their recipes. Three months ago, he opened a second Taqueria Jalisco, in Orient Heights. It is just right for the neighborhood, serving a similar menu in an Instagram-ready space. Staff make fresh tortillas on one side of the restaurant. Kids are here eating dinner with their parents; people are celebrating birthdays (the staff sings, and the whole room joins in); customers lose their minds over the soccer game on at the bar. It’s festive and delightful, and the food is still great.
Greis Garcia makes tortillas at Taqueria Jalisco in the Orient Heights neighborhood of East Boston.Craig F. Walker/Globe Staff
Now there’s also breakfast, with chilaquiles, concha French toast, and other Mexican and American classics. A full cocktail list serves up Oaxacan Old Fashioneds, spiked aguas frescas, and margaritas garnished with house-made popsicles. But I digress! You’re here for the tacos. Al pastor, lengua, cabeza, adobada … all are excellent as always. And the birria tacos, for which Taqueria Jalisco is well-known, remain some of the best around.
980 Saratoga St., Orient Heights, 617-418-5121; 293 Bennington St., Day Square, 617-567-6367; East Boston; Instagram @taqueriajaliscoeb. Tacos $4.50-$5.50 each.
Alberto Salinas tends bar at Taqueria Jalisco, where you can get your margarita garnished with a house-made popsicle.Craig F. Walker/Globe Staff
Devra First can be reached at devra.first@globe.com. Follow her on Instagram @devrafirst.
Nearly three months since assuming office as mayor of Everett, Massachusetts, Mayor Robert Van Campen isn’t wasting any time.
The former city councilor ousted 18-year incumbent Carlo DeMaria in decisive fashion last November, but even so, issues surrounding his predecessor still linger at City Hall.
A state-led salary audit of DeMaria found $180,000 in overpayment, a finding the former mayor disputes. Van Campen says the city is monitoring ongoing investigations.
“What I’ve conveyed to my partners in government here, locally, is to allow that state process to play itself out, and then we, as a community, will make a decision,” the mayor said. “In addition to that, I recently met with Inspector General Jeff Shapiro, who visited me at City Hall. We had a great conversation about transparency in government, best practices, putting in the right systems to ensure that that type of financial oversight doesn’t happen in the future.”
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Beyond the audit, Van Campen is placing emphasis on school overcrowding.
“My objective is to try to implement solutions as quickly as I can,” he said. “Our high school today, which was built for I think 1,650 students, now houses around 2,200.”
The World Cup is creating buzz across Massachusetts, including in Everett, where the Kraft Group is looking to build a soccer stadium.
To alleviate that problem, the mayor is using federal ARPA funds to repair the old Everett High School and seeking out other spaces that could be used in the future.
“Would I like to build out new classroom space for the students of Everett in the next one to two years? Yes, that’s my ideal,” Van Campen said. “But I want to make sure that if we do it on a quick timeline, it’s done in a correct and proper fashion.”
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Also in focus for the mayor is a new soccer stadium for the New England Revolution on the shores of the Mystic River.
The Kraft Group, Boston, Everett and the state Legislature have all taken steps to make the project a reality, but Van Campen says there’s still more work to do.
“It’s a transformative project, it’s a breathtaking project,” said Van Campen. “But I’ve been clear with all the stakeholders around that project, and the other larger developments going on down there, that we have to make sure that transit issues are comprehensively addressed, that pedestrian access issues are comprehensively addressed, that all those issues have to be addressed to perfection in order for these projects to succeed.”
Tune in on Sunday, March 29 at 9:30 a.m. for our extended @Issue Sit Down with Van Campen.
“No Kings” rallies are scheduled in Boston and across Massachusetts on Saturday and are expected to draw large crowds, organizers said.
Organized by the ACLU of Massachusetts, Indivisible Mass Coalition, and Mass 50501, the event is a mass mobilization in protest of the Trump administration.
The No Kings theme was created by the 50501 Movement, a national movement made up of Americans who stand for democracy and against what they call the authoritarian actions of the Trump administration. The name 50501 stands for 50 states, 50 protests, one movement.
“The Trump administration is trying to shred the Constitution; the No Kings movement is an unequivocal statement that we, the people, will not let that happen. This will be the third global No Kings Day, and it’s not just about protesting what’s wrong—it’s about building something better. We intend to show our power, build our power, and power a democracy that advances freedom, equality, justice, and dignity for all,” organizers wrote.
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The rally, one of thousands scheduled across the country this weekend, is planned for the Boston Common from 2 to 4 p.m. More than 100,000 people are expected to attend Boston’s rally. Other events are scheduled in Pittsfield, Northampton, Lancaster, Worcester, Framingham, Methuen, Lexington, and towns in southeastern Massachusetts and the Cape. For a map of No Kings events near you, click here.
Speakers include elected officials Attorney General Andrea Campbell, Gov. Maura Healey, Sen. Ed Markey and Congresswoman Ayanna Pressley, and civic leaders Hessann Farooqi Marcelo Gomes Da Silva, Darlene Lombos, president of the Greater Boston Labor Council, Carol Rose, executive director of ACLU of Massachusetts, Jessica Tang, president of the American Federation of Teachers of Massachusetts, and others. It will be moderated by Rahsaan Hall, president and CEO of Urban League of Eastern Massachusetts.
There will also be performances by the Dropkick Murphys, Boston Area Brigade of Activist Musicians, BVOCAL Chorus, and Jimmy Tingle.
A previous No Kings rally in October drew massive crowds estimated in the tens of thousands.
NBC10 Boston
NBC10 Boston
An aerial view of the crowd at Boston’s “No Kings” rally on the Common on Saturday, Oct. 18, 2025.
ALLSTON, MASS. (WHDH) – Boston police are searching for a gunman who opened fire in Allston Thursday and left one person hurt.
Police responded to a radio call for a person shot in the area of Brighton Avenue at approximately 6:46 p.m. When officers arrived, they said they found a male “juvenile” suffering from a gunshot wound. The victim’s age has not been released.
Boston police said the shooter fled the scene and remains at large. No arrests have been made.
Anyone with information is asked to contact Boston police.
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This is a developing news story; stay with 7NEWS on-air and online for the latest details.
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