Editor's note: This story was originally published in February 2024. We're re-sharing it because Copal is hosting their grand opening 6-9 p.m. Tuesday, July 16 at 5340 E. Broadway.
Alex Bohon was destined to be in the restaurant business.
Both of his parents were restaurateurs and he grew up working in the kitchen. Out of all his siblings, he was the only one who took a liking to cooking, continuing to work with his father, Otto Ramon Bohon.
He later went to the city of angels to study and train under a few chefs, working in various restaurants around Los Angeles. He even spent time in Ensenada, Mexico and Rosarito, Mexico, where he learned the ins and outs of higher-end Mexican cuisine.
After mastering his cooking skills, he came back to Tucson to help his father out at his beloved restaurant, Taqueria La Esquina.
Now, Alex is ready to follow in his parents’ footsteps, opening a new Mexican spot on Broadway that will feature fun drinks, food and great atmosphere.
“This one is a 50-50 partnership between me and my father and I'm pretty excited about it,” Alex said. “It's like bohemian-Sonoran style with a full agave bar.”
When it came to cooking, Alex said he mostly taught himself, gaining more and more knowledge with every kitchen he worked in. He learned from the best in Mexico, describing his experience as “intense,” saying there was less room for mistakes.
“It is super high pressure, whereas I tried to create a pretty low pressure environment, so everyone is happy,” Alex said.
Alex later helped run the Taqueria La Esquina truck, which is how the south-side brick-and-mortar got its start. He and the manager would work until 4 a.m. on the weekends, putting up the tarp, tables and salsa bars in the morning and taking it all down by the end of the night.
Around four years ago, Taqueria La Esquina opened a brick-and-mortar at 4876 S. Sixth Ave. Papel picado banners hang from the ceiling while two skeletons in sombreros are painted on one of the walls. Tripa, pork belly, birria, tripa, toritos, Sonoran dogs and cheesy papas locas are all on the menu.
Various tacos, concha French toast, corn ribs, papa locas and toritos are just a few of the dishes on Taqueria La Esquina's menu.
One of their most Instagram-worthy dishes is their concha French toast. Slices of French toast cover the plate, topped with powdered sugar, blueberries and strawberries.
“I took a lot of the things that I learned in Rosarito and LA and I saw all the innovations they're creating,” Alex said. “I basically just go to the local bakeries and look at breads, think of ingredients or eat different cuisines that aren't necessarily Mexican cuisine and be like, oh, there's a way I can incorporate this into our menu. Then we take a full-staff approach at it where we give full creativity to as much of our staff as we want. Everybody gets a chance to make anything they want add to the menu, as long as we all taste and say, yeah, that's awesome.”
With so many different tacos on the menu, Alex said the key to perfection starts with the tortillas. The marinade and quality of meat are also important factors, but you have to have a good, homemade tortilla to really bring it home.
With the popularity of Taqueria La Esquina, it only made sense to expand. Alex said he and his father began toying with the idea of looking for a new spot and started to scout out places in downtown Tucson. Because of high real estate prizes, they decided to stop looking and focus on their current location.
But opening a new spot was in their fate. They eventually heard about a vacant spot at 5340 E. Broadway, which once housed now-closed eatery The Dutch. They met at the building one morning and decided to give the realtor a call.
Before you know it, they were the new owners of the place. The empty building will soon be home to Copal, which means “amber,” Alex said.
“This is the first time we've actually had a professional team in our entire life,” Alex said. “Everything that we've done has been by ourselves with our own hands, like if you go to La Esquina, the speakers are handmade. I'm really excited to work with a professional team and have this place look like as good as it possibly can.”
Copal will be twice the size of Taqueria La Esquina, with a large dining area, full agave bar and three patios. The restaurant will have a bohemian feel, getting inspiration from some of the decorations seen on Día De Los Muertos and the colorful patterns on ballet folkorico dresses.
“My dad is in Guadalajara and he’s FaceTiming me every hour. He’s like, look at these chairs, how about these aprons?” Alex said. “There's a big event right now that happens once a year down there for restaurants. So it [the décor] is all going to be authentic from Mexico.”
The menu will feature some of the Taqueria La Esquina classics, like the tacos and Sonoran dogs. They will also add higher-end meals, like pastor trompos that will be brought to the table so customers can cut their own meat.
Parrillada, which is like a Mexican barbecue feast featuring meat like carne asada, pork belly and chorizo, is also slated to be on the menu, along with vegan dishes.
Taqueria La Esquina classics like their tacos and papas locos will be available at their new restaurant, Copal.
Since the kitchen is big enough, they are even planning to have a little tortilla factory where they make and package the tortillas themselves. Every taco will be wrapped in delicious homemade tortillas.
“We'll have a team dedicated to just making and packaging tortillas, we'll probably be selling them as well,” Alex said. “There's a few things that we'll also have here, like we're going to sell our aprons, hats and non-slip shoes. We're going to sell our own products out of this location that are dedicated to people in the service industry that are as well stylish.”
In addition to the yummy food, Copal will also have a full agave bar where they will serve drinks like sotol, bacanora and mezcal. One of their drinks is a take on a mezcalita, featuring guajillo syrup, Ancho Reyes liqueur, mezcal, jamaica and jamaica reduction with lime juice. It’s then garnished with black salt and edible gold.
Right now, Alex is busy upgrading the building to make it better fit their vibe and aesthetic. He hopes to open Copal’s doors in mid-April, bringing a little bit of Mexico to Broadway.
“It's a new challenge,” Alex said. “Even coming from a family of restaurateurs, this is a scope that neither one of us has ever done. I mean, I've worked in kitchens like this, but I've never managed a place or been in charge of anything like this. I'm just mostly excited to see it function, see people eat and watching the way people react to a concept that I think is pretty new here.”
