From a humble beginning

It was a sunny spring day when Taco Jane's opened in 1998 and a lot has changed since then, from pagers to cell phones, business cards to websites, which I had neither of the latter, until 2000 when I had a friend make our first website which was still was very cartoony and still very much like a business card especially since search and other tech tools didn't exist yet and we still used phone books or dialed 411 as our search. And it wasn't till 2001 when I got my first cell phone which was a new era in operating a restaurant in those days. It changed things dramatically in so many ways but there's one that always sticks out in my mind. On those rare days off, when I would be looping The pay phone & the book, Limantour Beach, California                                                                                                                  Mount Tam on my bike and I would get a page from work on lower Ridgecrest or somewhere in the forest, I would have to race to the Pantol ranger station, because they had the only pay phone on the mountain besides East Peak.

                                                                                   My 1st birthday at Taco Jane's with my mom Jane 

I remember the first time that I shared my dream to own a restaurant, like my dad, with my friend Andy in math class in my sophomore year at Redwood High school. I had to leave Marin for several years to find that trail before the magic and the spirit of Mount Tam (sleeping lady) and that forest called me back. It was the winter of 1998 when my father first discovered the available space at 21 Tamalpais avenue in San Anselmo California. I'll never forget that first day that my dad took me by the hand to show me the location that would become Taco Jane's for the next 25 years, it was off the beaten path of San Anselmo Avenue at the time, but I fell for her. Not for what it was, but what it could be, and how it made me feel with its neighborhood charm and San Anselmo's cool & hip artist community. I remember that day like it was yesterday, I felt those warm butterflies like when your mom and dad take you to your first day of school but only in a much bigger pond as we began the process of getting a good lease, which I knew nothing about. I named my first restaurant Taco Jane's after my mom, Jane, who is the bedrock of our family. My parents are my heroes, they gave me the tools and the confidence to achieve my dream. My dad behind Taco Jane's

I have always felt a special connection with roots in San Anselmo since high school, from riding mountain bikes over Tam through down town San Anselmo & back to Tiburon, to when we would drive on the weekends during high school to San Anselmo to have coffee and listen to Jazz at Cafe Nuvo, with the other local high school kids, which I must say was the first place that I had ever had coffee! 

       My 1st birthday at Taco Jane's and I was surprised with singing telegram from a viking! 

We have weathered some tough times - floods, recession and the pandemic - but we have adapted and thrived through it all. The pandemic challenge us to rise in new ways. We changed the way you order, we launched a new website and found creative ways to eat outside. Being part of this special community has meant the world to me, I have watched young children grow up, families move away and families arrive. And with that being said I have always felt the responsibility to maintain the highest quality & consistency of our food for the health and the well being of the families that I have served for the last 25 years. I love community and I have always felt the need for it, so several years ago on different times of the year and before Christmas I would bring tamales in my tamale cart to all the employees on the avenue, including the fire department and Police so that they can have something warm to eat on those cold days. And around that time I started the first annual Dia de Los Muertos community celebration with hopes of of bringing people together in a whole different way and wanting to give back to city that has given me so much, by creating something special that can grow and that they could be proud of for years to come. The celebration starts every year in October and we build an altar (Ofrenda) outside at Taco Jane's for the community to come and  have a place to gather and put photos, snacks and memories of their departed love ones or friends...with the hopes of learning to be comfortable with death by poking fun at mortality and learning that essence of life, and with that incarnation that we can truly learn to embrace and love ourselves and others in the living world and be the best that we can be. And in addition we have aztec dancers that come and dance and play music in the park and then dance down San Anselmo Avenue to the altar and dance, honor and truly celebrate the altar (ofrenda) and its presents with a copal incense that is believed to attract & direct they're spirits so that they can come back to the altar and the living world. We look forward to seeing you all this year for Dia de Los Muertos!                                                                                         

It is rare for a restaurant to thrive in a community for so many years and I have you all to thank for that success. And when I think about what this last 25 years have meant to me, and being a part of this special place, it makes me cry. So grateful.  THANK YOU!

Here's to 25 years and many more to come!

Matteo