Street Cart Chicken at the new Painted Burro location in Cambridge’s Harvard Square. (Photo: Tom Meek)

I’m not sure you’d find folks willing to fall on their swords for the food or the sweet-and-salty margaritas at The Border Cafe, the long-running Tex-Mex cantina in Harvard Square at Church Street and the cobbled path known as Palmer Street. But it was a comfy, affordable go-to – festive and cheesy and something of its own, despite being the cornerstone of a small chain. A friend described the Jim Bowie steak there as the best filet mignon you could get in town for the dollar (under 20 bucks). And where else could you get sizzling fajitas or snapping turtle soup? A kitchen fire shut the eatery down pre-Covid after 34 years, and in the aftermath the owners decided to move on and out.

That decision made many realize the intrinsic, took-it-for-granted value of the Border. The question of what would happen to the space lingered long before the good news that the Alpine Restaurant Group – behind Posto and the Painted Burro in Somerville’s Davis Square – would claim the spot and open another location serving the same Mexican staples and more. That said, the Harvard Square Burro is muy diferente than the one-two stops elsewhere on the red line. Davis is a homey, college pub cantina, whereas Harvard is a clean, spartan sparkle bursting with a large horseshoe-shaped bar at the heart of the street-level floor once taken up by most of the Border’s no-frill dining tables. It’s a stunning, if not shocking, white marble top that grabs the eye when you enter, nothing like the rustic wood the Border had or even the Burro in Davis; it’s more like the clean, vast top at the center of Josephine in the Cambria Hotel. The downstairs has a regal Spanish Colonial Revival vibe with Baja and adobe accents. It’s cozy and majestic at the same time, a great venue for a company outing or birthday bash.

How’s the food? The tacos at the Davis Square locale are always more than serviceable, so I decided to try other, newer things on the Harvard menu. (I did this on like day two and three that the restaurant was serving, but there were no real opening yips, and the staff was ready to serve eagerly.) For appetizers, the lunch and diner menu has everything from nachos, street corn and tuna ceviche to spicy beef and pork Mexican meatballs, but I went with the shrimp al ajillo, basically a jazzed-up shrimp and grits done with garlic, mezcal, cheesy stone-ground grits and chipotle butter, a rich and succulent indulgence that will have you wanting more.

Painted Burro’s excellent chips and salsa. (Photo: Tom Meek)

For my main, I tried the Street Cart Chicken (“street” on any culture specific cuisine is clickbait for “authentic”), a roasted half-chicken rubbed and seasoned with achiote accompanied by silky sautéed kale and yummy fried plantains atop a fluffy, moist mound of creamy poblano rice made even more irresistible with savory tamarind butter. The chicken was moist and pleasant, but I wanted more achiote bite to it. Once off the bone, the pollo played well with the rice and kale. The seamless confluence of flavors and textures on the plate reminded me of a tagine. On my other night in, the sizzle of those Border fajitas were ringing in my ears, so I decided what-the-poblano and went all in. My grilled strips of pollo came in a china bowl atop nicely grilled and sautéed peppers and onions. Disappointingly, there was no sizzle and pop, or a red-hot cast-iron handle to avoid. Like the street cart chicken, the meat was moist and perfectly grilled, but the lack of ceremony made it less than what I had hoped for. A fine dish, but no flash – had I become that person?

The chips and salsa were tops: thin, crisp tortilla chips that were not greasy the way the Border’s were, and the salsa was smooth and sweet with the right amount of bite (heat seekers may be a little disappointed, but this is the one thing besides that shrimp that the Burro absolutely nailed). They come on the house, and you’ll likely be asking for a second basket with your next pre-main round. Speaking of that, the house margaritas are head and shoulders above the Border’s. I can’t recall how many times I had to go to the bathroom to wash the syrup and salt from my hands from those glory days gone by – let alone the smell of those deep-fried chips that clung to your jacket for days after. 

The Burro in the Square is open for lunch and dinner and on the weekend offers a bottomless brunch – tortas, tacos, Burro Benedict, huevos rancheros, Mexican omelets and more that you can eat and eat until your barriga bursts. You get all that that for $25, but you do pay for your margs and mimosas.

The thing on the menu that the staff highlighted as unique is the Yucatan Meatloaf, spicy ground sirloin, chorizo, ham, chicharron and green olives with chipotle mayo and some of those cheesy grits. Atop it all are two fried eggs soleado side up. 

Painted Burro, 32 Church St., Harvard Square, Cambridge   

Tom Meek is a writer living in Cambridge. His reviews, essays, short stories and articles have appeared in the WBUR ARTery, The Boston Phoenix, The Boston Globe, The Rumpus, The Charleston City Paper and SLAB literary journal. Tom is also a member of the Boston Society of Film Critics and rides his bike everywhere.