New restaurant in Campus Center brings burritos and controversy

Meal trades are available from 4 - 7 p.m. and for a meal swipe you can feast upon any burrito, taco or salad with a side of rice and beans and a drink. Blue Agave opens at 9:30 a.m. so students and staff can enjoy breakfast and lunch as well.

With the smells of sautéed vegetables, seasoned meats and fresh chips and salsa in the air, it’s compelling to wait in the wraparound line to give it a try. 

“It’s not bad, definitely different, but I’ll definitely go back,” said sophomore Mariko Mosher. “But there’s no hot sauce!” 

Mosher’s only complaint about the new Mexican eatery was that they didn’t have hot sauce available to put on the food. Also, she waited in line for nearly half an hour for her quesadilla and drink.

“The staff doesn’t seem to know much, they weren’t trained well, it took a little too long,” Mosher said. 

Blue Agave also features popular Mexican snacks such as churros, which is a fried dough snack available in apple and raspberry flavors. 

“I do appreciate the school doing something different, it seems really popular,” said sophomore Moses Williams. “The food is actually not bad. I think I’ll be coming back more often when the excitement dies down and I won’t be in line forever.”

The grand opening featured lively music, free samples and a guy dressed as a taco handing out tacos to students in line. The “mascot” wore an oversized black, curly mustache and a large sombrero along with his taco outfit. 

However, the enthusiastic and hard-shell-sporting costume did not sit well with the Latino Student Union, Fuerza Latina. They requested an immediate apology from the university because they found the actions insulting.

“The actions of Blue Agave Mexican Grill show pure ignorance and are insulting to the Latino students and the Latino’s in the surrounding communities,” said YampieroPolanco, president of Fuerza Latina. “A review of how this incident was allowed to transpire is in need of full review and university administrators need to take steps from preventing such situations from happening in the future.”

Luis Paredes, a doctoral candidate in the Department of Latin American, Caribbean and U.S. Latino Studies said, “This promotional venture not only presents a false picture of the Mexican-American community on campus but also the Latino community at large. It is disturbing, denigrating and it mocks and belittles a proud culture. Such marketing strategy propagates stereotypes and marginalizes cultural values.”

Other students had a different opinion about the grand opening of Blue Agave and the guy dressed in the taco outfit.

“Those students [Fuerza Latina] need to chill. People think of sombreros and mustaches anyways. I don’t think any different of the Latino community. I respect them just like every other race,” Mosher said. “If anything that was a fun way to draw in customers. People are too serious. Maybe they should be offended by the fact that all whites are making the food.” 

Fuerza Latina also said that they are “encouraging fellow students to avoid eating” at Blue Agave until they receive an apology.