I'm a card carrying member of the "Chicago Taqueria Scene is Bullshit" crew. Yes, we have Rick Bayless and the absolutely delicious Frontera, but my Metropolitan Mexican scale lives and dies in the trenches that are the Taquerias. Now before writing this off, let it be known I grew up around Los Angeles and the Central Valley of California, as well as lived in the Mission District of San Francisco. I know enough about great Mexican food to hold a weighted opinion.
This place, overall, is not very good. The burritos are pretty weak and they cut them in half. Why the midwest cuts their burritos in half, I'll never understand. It should be packed and wrapped as tightly as possible, like a newspaper, but instead they cut it in half, thus compromising the structure. If you can't get the wrap right, the burrito is flawed from the start, no matter what you stuff in it.
Hamburgers and hot dogs? Come on, guys. The Bistec Mexicana? Okay, at best. Really great flavor, but the steaks themselves are butchered too small. The breakfasts? The chorizo is a good effort, what with being made in house and spiced just right, but they continually burn the eggs. Bad news.
So what makes this place four stars? The tacos.
They have these down to a science, except for the chicken tacos. For some reason, they cast these aside, but the others pull up the weight. I do believe it's because there isn't much flavor in chicken to start with, whereas the rest of the tacos derive the majority of their flavor from their own rendered fat. Flavor in, flavor out.
The carne asada is amazing. Diced and sauteed pieces of ribeye that didn't make the cut for the Bistec. They have an awesome adobo spice they use on these, then topped with lettuce and tomato--and I do avocado--all while sprinkling the crown jewel: soft Queso Blanco over the meat. The flavor of the Mexican cheese with the adobo spices and the meat, absolutely rock and roll.
The lengua (beef tongue) tacos, pastor, and carnitas are amazing as well. The same adobo spice, topped with cilantro and onion. Squeeze a little lime on these bad boys, and the rendered pork with the carnitas and pastor really come through and leaves the meat extremely juicy. The pastor has a little more kick to it, but man alive is it good.
The chile relleno taco is great due to perfectly roasting the peppers, leaving a sweet hint to the heat. Stuffed with cheese? Can't go wrong.
The one thing that throws people about this place is the salsa. It's not straight up, traditional pico that most people are used to. This isn't Chi-Chi's or Uncle Julio's Hacienda, it's salsa roja. The roja is roasted red chile peppers with a few slivers of habanero thrown in, then blended into a puree, made every day from scratch. How do I know? I asked and watched one Saturday morning while nursing a hangover. The little black bits? Charred skin left from the peeling process. While not a great dipping vehicle for the chips, the roja is amazing drizzled on the tacos.
Beans are refried with lard, old school style. Doesn't come out seeming like a canned ordeal. I dig the rice, but then again, I have nothing against papas in my rice. Pretty middle of the road.
Three carne asada, pastor, lengua, or carnitas tacos, with rice and beans, and a horchata? All for $5? Beautiful. read more