Boquita - CLOSED

Overview

You've heard of the lemon juice cleanse, the soup cleanse and the Gwyneth Paltrow cleanse, but have you heard of the taco cleanse? It's simple: just eat tacos for one or all of your daily meals. The one condition? They've gotta be Boquita's plant-based tacos. Entirely vegetarian, vegan and gluten-free, the taco cleanse will make people stop you on the street and say: that taco looks delicious, where did you get it from?

Boquita was opened last year by the owners of Miramar's much-loved Mexican eatery, La Boca Loca, after a very witty and successful 'Taco Cleanse' PledgeMe campaign which raised enough dollars to open a taco joint in the city.

The menu is short and sweet: four different tacos to choose from, three seasonal salads, and La Boca Loca's own house-made totopos (corn chips) with guacamole or mole beans, or any combination thereof. I'm an eater and ordered two tacos and salad ($17) for lunch and felt pretty full, but to be honest, could have smashed another taco and left the salad.

I chose the tempeh and seasonal vegetable taco and one with falafel with baba ganoush, aioli and jalapeno. The seasonal vegetables were seasonal in the sense that they were of a season, but not the current one: corn, tomato and green beans. The falafel taco had deliciously crispy chickpea patties and some sweetly tart cranberry, which was unadvertised but it worked. The salad was a crunchy and zingy slaw of red and green cabbage plus poppy seeds for that post-lunch 'I've got something stuck in my teeth, haven't I?' paranoia. Verdict: delicioso.

Boquita is small; there's enough space inside for around 20 taco-eaters at a push. When I went for lunch there was only one staff member on, so I bet she was hoping those seats wouldn't all fill up (and they didn't). There's no booze — yet, but plans for liquor license are afoot and in the meantime there are cold-pressed juices and Six Barrel Sodas.

Boquita isn't a stay and linger sort of place, but it's perfect for a quick lunch with a friend, a bite to eat before a movie or for takeaway tacos to eat on the waterfront when the weather is bueno.

Image: Boquita