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Several of their relatives worked at one or the other spot, Baja Bistro or The Station (or both), over the years. Luis, Leona, their children, and other family members and friends could often be found gathered together with Oscar at Baja to share meals. Baja was an unassuming, inclusive space with reasonably-priced food. In 2010, Luis and his wife, Leona Moore-Rodriguez, opened The Station, a community and social-justice-minded cafe, and Castro focused on the restaurant. Local drag queen Atasha Manilla hosted a drag show every Wednesday night in the latter years. In the afternoon and evening, fish tacos, enchiladas, and tortas were main attractions, as well as their specialty margaritas. In the mornings, Baja would serve Stumptown coffee and breakfast favorites like huevos rancheros, chilaquiles, and pancakes. Ten years into the business, the adjoining space became available and Baja expanded, growing their kitchen and adding a small bar. “We’re going to have more seafood … We’re going to have grilled fish, we’re going to have shrimp … maybe add some mussels and clams,” Castro said but affirmed the restaurant will keep the regional focus on Baja California cuisine and recipes he learned from his mother and grandmother.īrothers Oscar and Luis started Baja Bistro in 1994, then as Java Love, Beacon’s first specialty coffee shop that also served popular Mexican dishes. Not only will the new restaurant be bigger, the menu is expanding as well. The new bar area will overlook the corner of South McClellan Street and Beacon Avenue South, across the street from Hilltop Red Apple Market and kitty-corner from Perihelion Brewery. The new space is easily twice the size of Baja’s approximately 1,000-square-foot original site. The Paraisos also owned Kusina Filipina, another cornerstone of the Beacon Hill community that was displaced in 2017. Baja will split the ground floor with CheBogz - the first brick-and-mortar for the Filipino food truck of the same name, operated by Trixia and Paula, sisters from the Paraiso family. It’s also even closer to Castro’s brother Luis Rodrigquez’s cafe and community hub, The Station coffee shop. The new location, at Colina West to be exact, is just south of the Beacon Hill light rail station. We’re looking forward to seeing our friends and customers and starting this new adventure together.” We can’t wait to go back to whatever the new normal is. “It’s been a tough year and a half for everyone. “We’re excited to come back,” Castro said. He’s hopeful the restaurant will officially reopen in December. “The ball is rolling,” said owner Oscar Castro. Now they’ve secured a new location: the ground floor of the new Colina Apartments. But Baja was forced to close last summer during the pandemic. For almost 25 years it was North Beacon Hill’s longest-running neighborhood Mexican restaurant - and eventually became its one and only gay bar.