The Taco Truck Will Move into Old Felipe's Site

UPDATED: April 10, 2014, at 12:47 a.m.

Mexican food will continue to be served at the former home of Felipe’s Taqueria at 83 Mount Auburn St. when the The Taco Truck opens its first Boston storefront location in the space in the coming months.

Students familiar with The Taco Truck from its current mobile location outside the Science Center can expect to see much of the same menu at the planned brick and mortar location.

“We plan on opening somewhere between mid-May to sometime in June, in the next two to three months,” Kevin Nigro, the director of operations at The Taco Truck, said in an interview. “We plan on selling the same food that we’ve been selling out of the truck.”

Nigro noted that he may alter the menu slightly to include new dishes such as Elote, a corn dish that features cotija cheese and chili powder.

According to Nigro, The Taco Truck has been planning the move for a long time.

“It’s been a long time in the making,” Nigro said. “The final decision was made somewhere in December 2013, and we’d been working on it for months and months before that.”

According to Nigro, Cambridge was an ideal place for The Taco Truck—which also has locations in New Jersey, New York, and Boston—to put down permanent roots.

“Cambridge is perfect and The Garage is a really well-known area in Cambridge,” Nigro said.

Nigro noted that part of what attracted The Taco Truck to Cambridge was its large student population.

“We feel like the College is going to take well to the food,” Nigro said. “We’ve been running the truck in Harvard two to three days a week, and we’ve been doing really well.”

According to Nigro, The Taco Truck will keep the same late hours as Felipe’s, remaining open until 2 a.m. on weekends.

Nigro said he does not anticipate any conflicts with Felipe’s, even though both Mexican restaurants offer similar cuisine. In fact, he thinks that selling tacos, not burritos, will distinguish The Taco Truck from other quick service restaurants in the area.

“There’s plenty of room for both of us,” Nigro said. “We hope that some of the guests that have been to Felipe’s will try us out.”

Before the Truck makes the official move, students can still purchase food from its mobile location at the Science Center on Saturdays. Even after the move is complete, Nigro still anticipates bringing the truck by the Science Center every so often.

Denise A. Jillson, executive director of the Harvard Square Business Association, said that she was excited about the news.

“If places stay vacant, people get concerned,” Jillson said. “I’m delighted to hear that the space is taken.”

—Staff writer Ivan B. K. Levingston can be reached at Ivan.Levingston@thecrimson.com. Follow him on Twitter @IvanLevingston.

—Staff writer Celeste M. Mendoza can be reached at Celeste.Mendoza@thecrimson.com. Follow her on Twitter @CelesteMMendoza.