Aguacate Verde Restaurant in Porter Square recently celebrated its one-year anniversary.

By Cathleen Twardzik

The one year anniversary of the Aguacate Verde Restaurant, located at 13 Elm St. in Porter Square, was recently celebrated on a night that featured live music by Vicky Vega and Sergio Espinoza from Inkas Was.

Silvia De La Sota, Manager/Owner of the Aguacate Verde Restaurant is running Aguacate Verde Restaurant by herself. “Aguacate Verde” translates to Green Avocado. The restaurant’s fare consists of inexpensive, healthy Mexican dishes.

De La Sota would like to make the Somerville “community aware of the mission of my restaurant” [which] is to get people to “appreciate that I sell healthy and inexpensive [food].”

Mexican food has a great “business projection” in the United States. De La Sota likes the food, which she sells because it offers many options “from authentic to healthier, vegetarian and vegan,” she said.

The majority of the most popular menu items are “the dishes made with fresh corn dough: las gorditas, huaraches, mulitas and pupusas.”

The menu also includes tacos, burritos, and quesadillas, complete with nutritious ingredients.

Originally from Peru, De La Sota’s background is in public health, and she holds a degree from Harvard University.

“I started the restaurant project two years ago. It was a long process, almost a year, but I knew [that it] was worth it. I wanted to start a business to contribute with improving people’s health,” said De La Sota.

For her, the best part of being a business owner is “the contact with the costumers in my area, the neighbors that come almost daily.” People are extremely “grateful to have access to healthy options for their lunch or dinner,” she said.

In the future, “I would like to offer new specials from the Latin American cuisine and to make my restaurant more of [a] sit down [eatery] than a take out.”

She would like to sell “not only the food, but also the cultural experience from many different countries in Latin America that I visited and enjoyed,” said De La Sota. “I am contacting the different culinary art schools in the area to work with new chefs with new ideas.”

“I would like to continue entertainment, bilingual Spanish-English karaoke. I will continue applying for the license to serve a glass of wine for dinner. This summer, I am contacting the local Farmers Market to buy local and create new dishes with vegetables in season,” she said.

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Aguacate Verde Restaurant in Porter Square recently celebrated its one-year anniversary.