A taco at Bandolero’s in Devens, Massachusetts.
Between Massachusetts’ two main east-west highways, one offers drivers more restaurant options, including some real hidden gems.
Travelers on the Mass. Pike tend to favor stopping at the service stations for meal breaks, because it’s a toll road with relatively few exits. But Route 2 to the north is quite a bit different, with no tolls, many exits and some of the “highway” isn’t really a highway at all, rather an old-fashioned two-lane road, especially the further west you go (the stretch west of Greenfield is nearly all two lanes).
One of those Route 2 hidden gems is only a couple of miles off the highway but nearly completely unknown, perhaps because it resides within an old military installation that might seem like the last place for a restaurant worth going to. But Bandoleros Mexican Grill is all that and more, a place that hits on all fronts, including food, service and atmosphere.
Devens used to be the largest Army post in New England, but it was decommissioned in the mid-1990s and is now a residential and business center. It’s a bit of an odd place, as parts of it remain off limits to the public. While it is considered its own community, it’s actually within part of three towns — Ayer, Harvard and Shirley — and does not have its own post office, library, public school system or town hall.
It does, however, have a village center of sorts, where its residents (which number a bit under 2,000) can go for food, gas and limited shopping, though the commercial district of Ayer a few minutes to the north tends to be where locals go for their everyday needs. To say that the “downtown” area of Devens is sleepy would be an understatement, but Devens Common is attractive in its own way, with lots of green space and a laid-back vibe to it, and right in the middle of it is Bandoleros, which is easy to miss from Jackson Road, the main route through Devens, even though it sits just off the street.
Bandoleros first opened in Devens in 2021, taking over the space that had once been home to the Devens Grill; the restaurant went through extensive renovations before opening, and diners will find it spacious, with a quiet dining area to the right that includes bench seating and couchlike chairs, a sleek lounge area to the left with seating at the bar along with a handful of high-top tables, and a spacious patio overlooking the common just outside the bar. Paintings of famous Mexican figures adorn the walls inside, and moody lighting helps give the place an intimate, cozy atmosphere. Outside, customers will find plenty of parking, and the sprawling common just outside is a good place to take a leisurely walk after enjoying some food and drink.
More often than not, Mexican restaurants in the suburbs of Boston and beyond tend to focus on such familiar dishes as nachos, quesadillas, tacos, enchiladas, burritos and chimichangas, and Bandoleros certainly offers all of these items, but the restaurant feels a touch more upscale than many of the little independent Mexican eateries that dot the region as well as some of the Mexican and Tex-Mex chains out there — its menu reflects this with a number of scratch-made items that may not be quite so familiar to those who tend to go to Mexican-American dining spots.
Eat New England
And the “familiar” items are anything but, as they tend to be more inventive in both their ingredients and presentation. Take the house-made blue corn quesadillas for example; these are a world away from the overly cheesy quesadillas you might find at a chain or the local pub, and the roasted poblanos, portobello mushrooms, pickled onions, tangy crema and zesty pico de gallo all work together to make this small plate a memorable dish that could easily be doubled up and turned into a full meal.
The taco options are many here, with the al pastor option being a real highlight that includes tender marinated pork, fresh pineapple and a nice mix of cilantro and onions.
One of the best items on the menu at Bandoleros may be the extraordinary torta ahogada, whose roots are in Jalisco in west-central Mexico and which is basically a pork and bean sandwich soaked in a hot and spicy criollo sauce.
A simple but flavorful dish that you might not see all that often is the choripollo, which includes a mix of chicken and chorizo in a hearty cheese sauce and is served on a bed of rice.
Seafood lovers have a few choices, including the camarones salseados, which features pan-seared jumbo shrimp served with avocado and rice, and it can be ordered with a sweat-inducing diabla sauce.
Much like the food offerings, the bar items at Bandoleros go well beyond your basic drinks, featuring fresh ingredients that may cause you to have to wait a few minutes for your drinks to be made, but the wait is well worth it.
The margaritas here are works of art and make use of organic agave, while the Elmer’s Wahakan is their take on an old-fashioned and gets quite a kick from the use of mezcal. The Diablito might not be for the faint of heart, as it makes use of ghost tequila (yes, it is made with a pinch of ghost pepper), mixing the heat with the sweet and sour tastes of tamarind. A “safer” drink might be the Pepefino, which has a grassy/woodsy flavor from the use of gin, cucumber and rosemary.
Beer and wine are also offered at Bandoleros, as is an extensive list of tequilas that range from your basic Patron to a wallet-busting Clase Azul Ultra that tops out above $400.
Devens is a rather fascinating place with a lot of history behind it, but it’s one that many tend to pass by, perhaps because it feels off-limits to visitors. But it is indeed open to all (well, most of it, anyways), and is a welcoming place, one of many communities just off Route 2 that is worth visiting. One of the main reasons to visit Devens is this little-known Mexican restaurant that locals know all about for its food, drink and hospitality.
Bandoleros Mexican Grill, 4 Ryan's Way, Devens, MA, 01434. mybandoleros.com
[Ed note: A second location of Bandoleros opened earlier this year and can be found in Concord.]
