Homesick & Hungry: East Boston's Best Mexican Restaurant.

East Boston commonly known as Eastie is home to a large Latino community, where hardware stores, supermarkets, hair salons, and Latino-American restaurants can be found, from Salvadorian to Peruvian, to a sea of Mexican food Eastie has it all, but even when many Mexican restaurants claim to be authentic, there is one that takes the crown and wears it fiercely.

Located in the Eagle Hill district Angela's Cafe is a small but festive restaurant that brings a unique rendition to Poblano cuisine. Puebla, Mexico is the hometown where the grandmother of the current owner, Luis Garcia, is from and it is also where she learned to cook professionally, without knowing that later these same skills would allow her to open up a highly successful restaurant in the U.S.

Angela's Cafe became a well-known restaurant in East Boston, and it has now been featured in different newspapers and magazines amongst them the highly regarded Boston Globe which named the restaurant one of the best Mexican restaurants in all of Boston. Angela’s has also been recognized and awarded by American restaurateur and TV host, Guy Fieri, who named Angela's enchiladas the best ones in all of New England.

Angela's gives you a taste of Puebla, with typical poblano dishes like the "Central American" a plate that comes with scrambled eggs, ham, fried plantains, beans, and corn tortillas, as well as the "Huevos Poblanos" which are scrambled eggs accompanied with sour cream, chipotle sauce, and avocados.

These two notoriously liked dishes are constantly on-demand, as well as their "Tacos de Tilapia" especially on Sundays when there is always a line of at least 15 people waiting outside of the restaurant, however, customers who are in a rush can simply call ahead and pick up their food to avoid waiting and skip the line.

Due to its popularity, the restaurant has also opened a different location in Orient Heights that offers a bigger dining area and bigger tables compared to the original Angela's.

As I am greeted by friendly staff and the owner Luis Garcia, I get a complimentary basket of blue corn Tostitos with fresh guacamole and when I sit down, I take in, the atmosphere I'm emerging myself in and I see the Mexican decorations made of mache-paper hanging on the ceiling and the smell of fresh sugary tamales take me back to the annual festival my school used to throw, when I was only 6 years old, way before I knew I would one day leave Mexico but I would also find a place that reminded me of home.

As my plate arrives and I try to come back from these childhood memories, I fail to do so, when I take a bite out of my enchiladas and the familiar spicy flavor with sour cream and a well-seasoned chicken takes over my palate.

After finishing my enchiladas, I order a Tres Leches cake to go, but once it’s sitting on my table I can’t help but take a quick look at it, I even contemplate giving it a bite but before I do I find myself once again being reminded of my life back home.

Only this time I remember my mom’s cake on the last birthday we spent together and I can hear her tell me I should wait for her to sit before eating, so I stop and I put the cake back into the plastic bag and I give her a call instead.

Sofia H-C.