Tres Gatos: Come for the Music, Stay for the Community

by Lucas De Oliveira

Image by Lucas De Oliveira

Since 2011, Tres Gatos has brought vibrant flavors to Jamaica Plain in an intimate tapas dining experience. Open just five hours each day, this cozy spot serves savory Spanish dishes, desserts, and drinks. But there’s a surprise tucked in the back—something you’d never expect: a charming record and bookstore.

Before transforming into a tapas bar, Tres Gatos was home to Rhythm and Muse, a CD, record, and bookstore. When David Doyle purchased the location in 2007, he had a fresh vision for the spot. By 2010, his vision took shape as a tapas destination. A year later, Tres Gatos officially opened its doors to the public—blending food, music, and literature into the community.

“Tres Gatos will always be dear to my heart because of the cultural piece,” Doyle said. “We like to think it’s a pretty rare concept to have a book and record store at the back of a restaurant.”

The music and literary guide, Phil Wilcox, has run the record and bookstore since 2008. Wilcox was hired after attending one of Doyle’s “recession parties.”

“This is in like 2007, 2008 when it was the worst of the recession. People had lost their jobs, and [Doyle] would open up the space to the neighborhood … and just basically let people who had been downsized, or had lost their jobs, just come in, hang out, drink or DJ,” Wilcox said. 

He worked up the courage to ask Doyle if he was hiring and, coincidentally, someone quit the day before.

Wilcox wanted vinyl records to take center stage at the store. Before Wilcox, the store relied primarily on book sales, with just a single milk crate of vinyl records. 

“Over the years, we haven’t taken away any books or anything else, but we figured out more ways to squeeze as much vinyl into the space as we possibly can,” Wilcox said. 

“The whole design of the place was that you could take a glass of wine or beer and go back to the store and hang out there, listen to music, just look through records and books,” Doyle said. “Our goal all along has been to have the store be a very integral piece of the whole business.”

For Doyle, sharing was central to Tres Gatos identity, inspiring his decision to create Tres Gatos into a tapas-style spot. The idea of communal dining appealed to him and his wife. 

“I think a book and record store is just a place where, obviously lots of people come and share ideas, a favorite album [and] a favorite book,” Doyle said. 

Even before opening, Tres Gatos felt the love of the Jamaica Plain community. During the transition from Rhythm and Muse to Tres Gatos, Doyle faced challenges acquiring a liquor license for the restaurant. Knowing it would be difficult to survive without a license, he turned to long-time supporters for help. 

“I sent out an email out to all of our bookstore supporters and just said, you know, could you please write an email to our city councilors and just explain that this license is crucial to us,” Doyle said. The next day, city hall called, amazed by the overwhelming amount of support for a small business. Doyle was able to get Tres Gatos' liquor license.

Doyle has since introduced benefit nights at Tres Gatos to fundraise for local community outreach services. 

“It’s a way for our supporters to be able to come around a different cause every month, but also just come together, commiserate, talk about different ways we can resist, different causes we can support [and] to be as strong as a community as we can,” Doyle said. 

He is planning his next event for Feb. 25, supporting MIRA, an immigration and refugee advocacy coalition in Massachusetts.

“I think the dream of a lot of people in business is that you’re able to make a living, but you’re also part of the community that you live in.”