Bueno y Sano – The food that got me through college

I started my freshman year at the University of Massachusetts, Amherst in the fall of 1998 as a vegetarian with some picky eating habits and quickly developed a major aversion to the food served at Berkshire Dining Hall, the closest on campus food facility to my dorm. Unlike the young whippersnappers of today who seem to have some pretty tasty on campus eats, we had cereal and a salad bar plus a variety of atrocious options heated, reheated, and then heated some more, served to us and called food. If you ate meat, you had chicken finger night to make up for the rest of the week; if you didn’t eat chicken, things were pretty bleak. Sure, make-it-yourself waffles with sugary fruit toppings and fake whipped cream or a make your own sundae bar were nice, but as someone who had already begun a journey to eating both well and balanced, these things grew old fast. The thought right now makes my teeth hurt. Clearly, I had to find something within my meager budget that would satisfy my desire for healthy and quality food. Enter Bueno y Sano. Located off of the lovely Amherst common, Bueno y Sano is a tiny restaurant that serves excellent, healthy tacos, burritos, quesadillas, and salads for dirt cheap. As students, it appealed to us because the food was cheap, filling, delicious, and healthy. For those very same reasons, I crave Bueno today. The quality cooking, as you can read on Bueno’s website, comes from an El Salvadoran family who definitely put a lot of love, tradition, and great ingredients into the food. Over the years I have tried many of Bueno’s burritos like grilled tomato and garlic, veggie chili, and sautéed spinach, all delicious and healthy in their own different ways. But I always go back to simple, bean soft tacos with crisp lettuce, chopped tomatoes, black beans, hot sauce, a slightly sharp white cheese, and yogurt. I love that Bueno was one of the first places that offered yogurt in lieu of sour cream.    I think I am actually getting worse at photography. What sets Bueno apart from all other taco and burrito shops for me, however, is their homemade hot sauce. For years I have wanted to crack the mystery of this addictive, spicy goodness, and I have not been able to. In college, life was good. I spent $1.25 on a taco, then helped myself to 4 cups of sauce, one which I would consume with the taco, the other would be brought home and eaten with anything I could find, chips, crackers, bread, and sometimes with a spoon. This hot sauce is that good. When I get to Amherst, I stock up, but it is so fresh it must be eaten within a couple of days. I am quite lucky to have good friends who are in Amherst fairly often; they always bring Bueno out East to me. It is hard to believe, but Bueno opened a Boston location years back, and it failed. They now have restaurants in Northampton, MA, Springfield, MA, and Burlington, VT. If they came back to Boston I would love them forever. Well, I already do. Bueno was a huge part of my college life as we ate there at least a couple of times a week. And, not like I ever did ;), but if you happened to “overindulge” at a party or local watering hole, Bueno provided the best cure for headaches and other ailments the day after. If you are in any of these towns, and I can definitely recommend visits to Northampton, Amherst, and Burlington, check out Bueno y Sano. It may not be the burrito place you are used to, but I can almost guarantee you will find something that you love whether you are a vegan or want a burrito chock full of steak. Do you have any favorite budget food memories? Are they still foods that you like or miss?