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Date: 8/3/2021
AMHERST – Tucked away on 17 Kellogg Ave., Antonio Marquez Diaz has opened his dream restaurant. Mexcalito Taco Bar serves a variety of tacos, drinks and specials that remind Diaz of home.
“I’m bringing my mom’s recipes to my kitchen. She lives in Mexico, so every time I open these doors I’m like ‘this is just like my mom’s house,’” explained Diaz with a smile.
Diaz and his wife Jennifer Albury lived in Guadalajara for four and a half years before they moved to the area. He explained he fell in love with Amherst when he and his wife came to visit her grandparents in 2012. “I just fell in love with this town. It’s got everything. It’s small, no traffic, but it’s a city vibe because of the students. And I was like ‘I’m going to get my restaurant in downtown Amherst and I’m going to put on my chef coat and put a Mexican flag on it’ so that’s what I did,” He said with passion and excitement.
While he was dead set on having his restaurant in downtown Amherst, Mexcalito wasn’t his first idea. “My initial idea was to open just another brick oven pizza place because that was my strongest thing at the time,” he explained. However, his brick oven pizza dream was cut short when he saw Antonio’s. “We’ve got Antonio’s here and Antonio’s the king, you can’t beat them,” Diaz started with a laugh. “They have such a traditional place here. They’re big, I mean everybody knows them. It’s why I stopped thinking pizza.”
With pizza out of the way, Diaz was on a quest to see what else he could bring to the lively downtown. Of course, he knew about Bueno Y Sano on Boltwood Walk and La Veracruzana on South Pleasant Street, but he felt like something was missing.
“I figured out that it was non-Mexican food and more than that, it was non-tacos. So I put all my energy and vision ambition to do a concept with tacos and drinks but with a Mexican vibe,” said Diaz. Still, he didn’t look at the other Mexican restaurants as competitors. He said he knows not all of the restaurants are the same. “You can go to Vera, or Bueno, even Garcia’s when it opens, but they’re not going to have the tacos I have, because we’re all serving different things, different ideas,” he revealed.
His food wasn’t the only aspect to the business that he wanted to do differently than the others, but the ambiance as well. “It’s not a classical Mexican restaurant with all the colors, flags and sombreros,” he said. Instead, he wanted his restaurant to feel like the ones he loved from his hometown.
Mexcalito looks nothing like Mexican restaurants readers may have seen before. The bar is lined with alebrijes, mezcal, tequila and vodka in front of a jade green backsplash. Silver Victorian-inspired ceilings with low hanging lights setting the mood. Patrons can see wooden shelves with pictures of where Diaz and his family lived along with Día de Los Muertos figurines. There are wooden tables with leather chairs and a live edge wooden bar top. In addition, there is art decorating the walls, something he commissioned from a tattoo artist friend back home. “He designed my logo and I told him, ‘Oh, you’ll be in charge of all the art around the restaurant,’” he explained. “So we decided to put famous artists from Mexico and people important to the culture, but with a modern twist.”
With such care being taken in preserving the culture, creating a vibrant, yet comforting space, it is only natural to assume Diaz was doing the same with his food and drinks. Diaz created four signature drinks but made sure they’d stand out from the rest. “I’ve worked in a lot of places and most places use boxed concentrate, but if you want to make a difference - fresh squeeze it. That’s what I do for my drinks,” he said.
As for food, he’s keeping the menu simple. “I chose only 12 tacos. I’ve learned that in this industry, big menus can just be headaches,” Diaz explained. However, he made sure there was something for everyone. His fluffy taco is a take on American Chalupas, he has a portobello taco for vegetarians, as well as a caesar taco which has a lettuce shell. His tortilla is gluten-free and made in-house and he gets the freshest produce he can find.
Diaz also includes a specials menu. These are dishes that take a little longer than the tacos, such as enchiladas with mole, Mexican pizza, birria pizza and more. These are items he hopes to switch up every once in a while to keep things fresh. “My idea is every six months I’ll refresh the specials side of the menu unless there’s an item that customers love and really want to continue having,” he said.
Mexcalito hosted their soft opening on July 26 and is now open to the public. “I’ve been dreaming about this forever, since 2012. I’m ready,” exclaimed Diaz. Mexcalito is open Monday to Wednesday, 11 a.m. to 10 p.m., and Thursday to Sunday, 11 a.m. to 11 p.m. For more information, you can visit their website, https://www.mexcalito-tacobar.com/.