Mexican --- El Pelon Tacqueria

Seth replied ---
From:sethadrie@earthlink.net (Seth Ditchik)
Posted: January 09, 2000 at 18:56:28

In Reply To: Austin Grill - Astonishingly Bad

Posted by Tord Svenson on January 09, 2000 at 08:56:00
Message:
Tord,

If you're looking for real Mexican food in Boston, check out El Pelon in the Fenway area (96 Peterborough St.). It's a small place, with a few tables and nothing over $6.

Chef/owner Loretta worked at East Coast Grill and Casablanca before opening up this place in an attempt to bring authentic Mexican food to Boston, as opposed to the Tex-Mex that most places serve.

Their tortas are excellent (try the pork), they make their own chips & salsa (three varieties, one very hot), and if you come on a weekend you can get tamales and sometimes even brunch. Full disclosure: my wife works there, but I ate here before she started working there and was overjoyed to find good Mexican food in Boston (I lived in Queens, NY, which as Jim Leff will tell you is ground zero for Mexican food in NY). Give it a try; I promise a much better experience (and much lower bill) than Austin Grill.

------- Reply -----------
Thanks for the tip, Seth. I will try to get over there soon. I found the cuisine in Mexico to be very different than what I had been eating along the Texas and SW border areas. I liked the Mexican influenced food in New Mexico, Texas and Arizona. The regional food varied considerably throughout Mexico. We traveled from around Brownsville, Texas down to Mexico City then south west to the Pacific coast and back across through Chiapas to Merida and the Yucatan peninsula. A lot of different food all along the way.

I doubt if I will ever set foot in Mexico again. I have lived in many places but never anywhere where life is so cheap. (I haven't been to Russia or Brazil). Life in Mexico makes "Last Exit to Brooklyn" look like a Barbie book.

Anyway - your post gives me an itchy, Chowhound feeling. We may try to get to El Pelon this week.
Tord