Hey neighbors,
Welcome back. We're three weeks in and this community just keeps growing. Thank you for reading and sharing.
This week we're shifting gears. The first two issues featured sit down restaurants with celebrated chefs. Today we're talking about a place with four tables that looks like a convenience store, but serves arguably the best food in the entire city.
🍽️ THIS WEEK'S EAT
Taqueria El Amigo, 196 Willow Street If you drive too fast down Willow Street you'll completely miss it. The awning is faded and the dining room is little more than a handful of small tables packed into what feels like a neighborhood convenience store.
But inside, they're serving what many food critics and local chefs consider the best, most authentic Mexican street tacos in Greater Boston. The menu is incredibly simple and unpretentious. The al pastor and lengua tacos are legendary, served traditional style with double corn tortillas, fresh cilantro, and onions. A meal here will cost you less than $15 and ruin you for any other taco in the suburbs.
Go for lunch. Bring cash just in case. Be prepared to wait for a table because the people who know, really know.
📍 196 Willow St | Open daily 10am to 10pm | 781.642.7410
📅 3 THINGS TO DO THIS WEEKEND
2nd SHIFT Concert: Rachel Sumner and Traveling Light Thursday March 26, 8pm at the Charles River Museum. Technically this is Thursday night, but it kicks off the weekend perfectly. A fantastic Boston string band playing live music inside the historic museum gallery.
Snakes of New England and the World Saturday March 28, 11am with the Waltham Land Trust. A special program for kids featuring "The Snake Man" Rick Roth and live snakes. Registration is required but it's a guaranteed hit if you have young ones.
March Madness at Shopper's Cafe All weekend at 731 Moody Street. The NCAA Elite Eight games are happening Saturday and Sunday. Shopper's is the undisputed local champion of Waltham sports bars and the absolute best room in the city to watch a game with a crowd.
🛍️ LOCAL FIND
The Wherehouse, 55 Pond Street
Tucked away behind the plaza on Lexington Street sits a completely unassuming industrial garage. In the 1970s, Aerosmith rented this space, called it "The Wherehouse", and used it as their global headquarters. They parked a mobile recording truck inside the building to record their quadruple platinum 1976 album "Rocks". It was also the official birthplace of their Aero Force One fan club. It's closed to the public today, but you can walk right up to a massive piece of rock and roll history hiding in plain sight.
💬 ONE GOOD THING
Long before IKEA existed, Waltham had the world's first DIY automobile. In 1908, a local inventor named Charles Metz took over the struggling Waltham Manufacturing Company. To clear out a massive inventory of unused parts, he invented the "Metz Plan". Buyers could purchase 14 different crates of parts on an installment plan for $27 each. You literally put the car together yourself at home using the supplied tools and blueprints. Once you built crate one, you ordered crate two. It was a brilliant pivot that saved his company and put thousands of affordable cars on the road.
See you next Thursday,
Pankhi
The Waltham Insider
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