A new Mexican restaurant, Taqueria El Jarocho, opened its doors in February, offering a new Mexican culinary experience in Brookings.
The restaurant is located at 605 Main Ave., and is open Monday through Saturday from 10 p.m. to 9 p.m., except for Friday and Saturday which they close at 10 p.m.
Mary Mochado and her fiancé Daniel Andrade co-opened the restaurant Feb. 23 and have already seen support from the community.
“That first day we opened we didn’t expect that many people to come in, but a lot of people came… we’ve been surprised about how good it’s been going,” Mochado said.
Opening a restaurant was a longtime dream for Andrade and his love for Mexican cuisine and culture.
“Daniel’s always been passionate about his food and culture, he loves to make spicy salsas and the best pairing for them is with tacos,” Mochado said. “Whenever we talked about opening a restaurant, his face would light up because it was an opportunity for him to showcase his salsas and bring some of that flavor to Brookings.”
Taqueria El Jarocho features a variety of menu items from tacos, burritos, and tortas (Mexican sandwiches), to their most popular dish, quesabirria.
“The quesabirria has been super popular, a lot of people are really enjoying it,” Mochado said. “We have burritos and tacos, but you can get those at a lot of places in town. Quesabirria is something new and is something a lot of people haven’t tried.”
Brynn Olverson, an SDSU senior majoring in communication studies from Madison, said she hopes to eventually check out the restaurant and was interested in their birria tacos.
“It looks like a welcoming environment… I like that it’s in a different location than some other restaurants here in town,” Olverson said. “I’ve always seen birria on social media and wanted to try it, but I’ve never seen a place in town that offers it.”
Some other unique menu items are their “specialty meats” which include, lengua (beef tongue), buche (stomach), and tripas (intestines).
“A lot of people are jumping to try new stuff and push their boundaries… and people are really liking it,” Mochado said. “One weekend we had head tacos, the head of a cow, and we sold out of it that weekend, everyone loved it.”
Mochado believes the tortas on their menu have been an underrated item and more people should try them.
“I think the tortas are being a little underrated, it’s a sandwich but it’s big,” Mochado said. “It’s a baguette bread used specifically for tortas, you can have breaded chicken or steak and I think they are really really good.”
Dylan DeBoer, a customer in the restaurant, ordered a burrito and thought the food was great.
“It’s definitely the best Mexican food I’ve had in town, the salsas were great too,” DeBoer said.
El Jarocho opened just in time for Pub Crawl which garnered a large student exposure to the restaurant.
“Pub Crawl opened the student population to us; everyone would walk over to the restaurant and people would follow… it was very busy,” Mochado said. “I know a couple of professors have come in and told their students about us in their classes.”
The restaurant is currently on DoorDash and is awaiting its alcohol license to offer a variety of drinks.
“We’re happy to be here in Brookings… I feel like people aren’t scared to try new things or go to new places and that’s the best part of opening a restaurant here, you know the community is going to support you,” Mochado said. “I love Brookings. I’ve lived here for 10 years and graduated from SDSU. My family likes to say it’s the happiest place on earth.”