Rising Above the Crowd
Oringer’s latest venture ups the game on Lansdowne.
- Photo by Leighann Babel.
Despite the slogan proclaiming it’s “Like a Night in Tijuana,” Ken Oringer’s new taqueria, La Verdad, has all the makings of a further civilizing influence on Lansdowne Street. The one-time Wild West of Fenway, this strip—fresh off a million-plus facelift, and future home of a $14 million entertainment complex—now has imaginative, good-quality dining that almost makes the Sox horde bearable. Almost.
Visit during an away game, and you’re free to relax and enjoy the wry, Mexican wrestling–themed décor and the cheap, flavor-packed food (complex mini tacos and excellent tortas, grilled sandwiches piled with meat and refried beans). During home games, though, the service staggers under the jersey-and-flip-flops crowd, and that chicken burrito you ordered may have mysteriously morphed into beef when it finally arrives. All the same, La Verdad’s mission to class things up on Lansdowne is unmistakable, and worth cheering: Last time we checked, the Wild West didn’t offer patio seating.
One Lansdowne St., Boston, 617-351-2580.
Visit during an away game, and you’re free to relax and enjoy the wry, Mexican wrestling–themed décor and the cheap, flavor-packed food (complex mini tacos and excellent tortas, grilled sandwiches piled with meat and refried beans). During home games, though, the service staggers under the jersey-and-flip-flops crowd, and that chicken burrito you ordered may have mysteriously morphed into beef when it finally arrives. All the same, La Verdad’s mission to class things up on Lansdowne is unmistakable, and worth cheering: Last time we checked, the Wild West didn’t offer patio seating.
One Lansdowne St., Boston, 617-351-2580.
Originally published in Philadelphia magazine, June 2007
