Taco Bell Cantina. Photo: Ted Friedman

The time has finally come. We’re now able to nurse a beer while digging into a Doritos Cheesy Gordita Crunchwrap Supreme. Yes, the new Taco Bell Cantina is now open.

Targeting budget-conscious Cal students, the new Taco Bell at 2528-B Durant Ave. is a slightly more upscale iteration of the chain, and it features alcoholic beverages and an expanded menu including “shareable” home-style nachos, beef taquitos, and chicken tenders with buffalo and avocado-ranch sauces. It’s the second Cantina for the Bay Area, and the only one to actually serve its promised beer and wine. (The SoMa Cantina has run up against neighborhood resistance to acquiring its ABC license.)

The Berkeley Taco Bell design features an open kitchen, faux-exposed brick, flat-screen televisions and gleaming, copper beer taps.

Berkeleyside contributor Ted Friedman stopped by the new Taco Bell this week to snap a few photos, below:

The open kitchen at Berkeley’s new Taco Bell Cantina. Photo: Ted Friedman
Customers wait in line to order at the new Taco Bell Cantina in Berkeley. Photo: Ted Friedman
The beer taps are mounted on a copper pipe at Berkeley’s new Taco Bell Cantina. Photo: Ted Friedman

Kate Williams has been writing about food since 2009. After spending two years developing recipes for cookbooks at America’s Test Kitchen, she moved to Berkeley and began work as a freelance writer and...