Things are pretty good for Edgar Victoria. The lauded chef, known for his Mexico City-style street food, opened a brick-and-mortar location of Alebrije in East Nashville in January after several years of pop-ups around town. The new restaurant, on the second floor of a multi-use building at Gallatin Pike and Eastland Avenue, doesn’t have prominent outdoor signage. Even Victoria jokes that it kind of looks closed from the outside. That is, until you notice a line out the door, with people waiting to sit in one of the bright-yellow chairs and order Victoria’s tacos.

“People just stand on the corner and eat, so when I saw a line of 30 people, I thought, ‘This is becoming Mexico,’” he says, laughing. That’s part of the reason people are willing to wait for a table at Alebrije. Victoria is bringing specific food to the city and infusing it with his own experience — the immigrant experience. But some immigrants and first- and second-generation restaurant owners in Nashville are concerned about sharing their personal stories given the current backlash against immigrants. Read article