“They say I’m crazy and that I’m going to fail,” he says.

But so far, things have gone according to plan for Espinoza, who says he opened Real Taco “because I want to work like a slave for five years, and live like a king for 15.”

Because the Cambridge restaurant is near his home, he will be managing it himself, where on top of everything else he plans to institute a make-your-own-salsa hour and, eventually, weekend cooking classes.

“There are a lot of misconceptions about Mexican food that I want to set right,” he says.

He especially hates people thinking that Tex-Mex foods such as fajitas and cooked bell peppers are Mexican.

At least some of his current customers have decided which is better.

Over a plate of piping hot chicken nachos at the downtown shop, José Velasquez, a native Mexican, explains his loyalty to Real Taco.

“This is the only place that tastes like home,” Velasquez says.

—Staff writer Eugenia B. Schraa can be reached at schraa@fas.harvard.edu.