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Has anyone been to Brioso in the old Toucan space? I'm meeting some friends there Friday night and, judging by the name only, I have a bad feeling about this. It sounds like trixie heaven (will that be stroller or no stroller, sir?). It is supposed to be Fusion/Mexican. Have I waved enough red flags yet?

Brioso
4603 N. Lincoln Ave.
Chicago, IL
773-989-9000

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Steve Z.
Photographer/Pseudojournalist

"The only time to eat diet food is while you’re waiting for the steak to cook." - Julia Child

stevez,

I'm on the prowl of Mexican of all sorts, so I'd be very interested in what you turn up (though based on your sense of the place, I'll keep my expectations low).

Hammond

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“We all have to stand before the kitchen gods.” Chef Jacob Sahaya Kumar Aruni

My wife and I went to Brioso over the weekend and here is the poop:

Started with a cheese fundido and a squash soup, I would rate them as very good. Also ordered the house margarita and this I would also rate as very good.

The menu is very simple and is divided into a taco section with 6 different kinds of tacos and the second section being the other entrees. We choose to get one of each of the tacos for $22.00. The tacos were good, but not great and for $22.00, I would say it was a tad on the expensive side as the tacos are small. They are served with a slaw salad of sorts and a sensational corn salsa.

Finished up with 2 deserts and they both were excellent.

Overall, I would say that Brioso is a good neighborhood mexican joint. The only problem is that there are probably a hundred good neighborhood joints within a few miles and they need to do something to stand out to insure that people will come back.

Jeez, closing in on four bucks a pop for small tacos, I'd expect more than just "good," as do you. Slaw is kind of interesting "Mexican" side.

I may be on the threshold of developing a new Universal Law for Selecting Mexican Restaurants: Patronize no Mexican restaurant that offers Margheritas.

Hammond

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“We all have to stand before the kitchen gods.” Chef Jacob Sahaya Kumar Aruni

Hammond,

First I laughed, then though, hummmmm, oddly true.

Enjoy,
Gary

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Sauce on the side, always, implied, axiomatic..........never a doubt, BBQ sauce without.

Low & Slow

I believe I spelled the name of the drink incorrectly -- that's how often I order it. For the same reason, I also have trouble spelling Pino Greejoe.

Hammond

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“We all have to stand before the kitchen gods.” Chef Jacob Sahaya Kumar Aruni

Yeah, don't confuse the pizza with the drink.

I agree, but only as regards frozen and/or strawberry 'Ritas.

Right, and by the same token, try to steer clear of Chinese restaurants that serve tea or German restaurants that serve beer.

Reb

Shouldn't be hard. I've been to probably 10 Mexican joints in the past 3 weeks. Not one of them sold frozen tequila drinks.

Hammond

PS. Perhaps more dangerous: German restaurants that serve tea.

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“We all have to stand before the kitchen gods.” Chef Jacob Sahaya Kumar Aruni

Warning-sign drinks:

Japanese: Sake-tini
Korean: Soju-tini
Anywhere: Apple/Chocolate-tini

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Ed Fisher
my chicago food photos

RIP LTH.

Mirai Sushi and Bob San both make a great apple-tini and serve your dreaded "choco" and "sake" concoctions too. They also have darn good fish - some of the freshest around.

Frozen tequila concoctions are abundant at Ixcapuzalco, Chilpancingo, and even at La Oaxaqueña - all of which serve some of the best, most authentic Mexican food around.

And what about the often revered Moto. Have you seen their "signature drink" list? Heck, even Ambria has one now.

We're not in Tokyo or Oaxaca. This is Chicago, where the competitive market demands that restaurants - even those who respect tradition and authenticity - adapt to the tastes of would-be consumers. The - imho - pretentious attitude that decries immensely popular drinks because they are not "authentic" is also the reason so many people complain about their favorite restaurants closing. Good food and authenticity alone are not enough to survive. Marketing savvy is important too. I hate restaurants that are all glitz and no substance, but the best restaurants find a way to have both.

Kenny, do the fancy Mexican places actually have frozen margarita machines? I thought they served the classic, 100% legit, "rocks" version. Maybe it just never occurred to me that they had booze slurpees.

See, I disagree with Hammond about the negative connotations of margaritas per se. It's just the "killer frozen margarita" that I take as a symbol that I'm in Cuervo Nation/Cubs Nation and not Mexico.

I actually think the best margaritas come from taquerias with liquor licenses. The Mexican delivery place El Ranchito will bring to your door a huge, stiff, and very good traditional margarita for a silly cheap price. The pozole and menudo are also very good, while the antojitos are pretty lame. But my last bowl of menudo included a long-cooked knuckle form a pork shank that was some of the best tendon I've had in a long while.

Kennyz,

With due respect, I believe you misunderstand me...or perhaps I didn't completely explain myself. In my experience, the Mexican food I've enjoyed most has not been at restaurants that serve frozen tequila drinks; the Mexican food I've enjoyed least has been at restaurants that serve frozen tequila drinks. The logical conclusion is not that all restaurants that serve frozen tequila drinks are bad; I do believe, however, that if they don't serve these drinks, the likelihood is higher that the food will be good.

Authenticity is a different, though related, issue.

David "Hey, it's ALL marketing, babe" Hammond

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“We all have to stand before the kitchen gods.” Chef Jacob Sahaya Kumar Aruni

Point taken...the wacky fruit-flavored sorority girl frozen slushy cherry lime peach "margarita" is usually found at your Chi-Chi's type places or similar, chain-type, Americanized Mexican joints. Yeccch (double yecch??). A classic, top-shelf margarita made with a good, 100% puro de agave tequila and freshly squeezed juice, though, is a different animal. It's not a frozen drink (but is served on the rocks), makes a terrific counterpoint to chile and mole based dishes (especially in the warmer months) and is quite popular among Mexicans and gringos alike. When Abril in Logan Square was under different ownership a few years ago, I enjoyed a great evening with Antonio (the ex-owner himself) eating, drinking, and talking about Blues. He had the cooks make us some food representative of his remote hometown in Mexico and we enjoyed several rounds of his brother's margaritas, made from Don Julio an~ejo tequila, lime juice, pineapple juice, and bitters over crushed ice. Can't say I exactly complained that evening....

Reb

If I may butt in... I don't want to disagree with Kennyz' point but just add a comment along the lines of DH's statement regarding the implications of the presence of frozen tequila drinks on menus or even just alcohol.

I would say that the best Mexican food I've had in Chicago is typically from small, family-run eateries with limited menus that are in Mexican neighbourhoods and cater to an overwhelmingly Mexican clientele. They need to do the food well (i.e., 'authentically' in the sense of 'as typically done in the old country'), because their customers know what it's supposed to be like. Such places just about never have liquor licences, so no tequila frosties or mescaltinis and, for that matter, no margueritas nor even cerveza.

A further observation I'd like to make here is that the most interesting (not necessarily the best, though indeed often of excellent quality) Mexican food I've had in Chicago is typically in places of the sort mentioned above but where the owners (who are typically also the staff) speak very little or no English.

What's going on here is, I believe, that they are often more recent immigrants who a) haven't yet had a chance to learn much English and b) also haven't started adapting their cooking to Mexican-American, much less Gringo-American, tastes; and consequently they offer up dishes rarely if ever seen in the more established restaurants and especially not in those with strongly non-Mexican audiences.

Antonius

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Alle Nerven exzitiert von dem gewürzten Wein -- Anwandlung von Todesahndungen -- Doppeltgänger --
- aus dem Tagebuch E.T.A. Hoffmanns, 6. Januar 1804.
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Na sir is na seachain an cath.

A, you bring up a good point about "interesting" as distinguished from "best." It would make sense that recent immigrants, who are less acclimatized to cooking for norteamericanos, would prepare dishes in ways that would be unfamiliar, and thus more interesting, to those of us up North. In such cases (and no doubt others) discussions of "best" cease to make sense.

Hammond

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“We all have to stand before the kitchen gods.” Chef Jacob Sahaya Kumar Aruni

I generally agree with this with one notable exception: TLO, at least the one on Milwaukee, is one of my favorite places for Mexican in Chicago, they have a liquor license, and serve a delicious margarita that I quite enjoy from time to time. No blender, no slushies.

Best,
Michael

A,

I think you are correct. Unfortuantely, I'm not expecting anything approaching authentic tonight.

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Steve Z.
Photographer/Pseudojournalist

"The only time to eat diet food is while you’re waiting for the steak to cook." - Julia Child

M:

Yes, there are definitely some notable exceptions, even setting aside completely the 'high-end' places of Bayless and Bahena, etc. One such exception I would add alongside yours is Casa de Samuel, which has a liquor license but serves in addition to 'classics' also 'funky' dishes for a primarily Mexican audience (at least in La Villita). But then, CdS is no taqueria but rather a restaurant of a sort that one presumably finds in Mexico (with espagueti a la Boloñesa and such).

A

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Alle Nerven exzitiert von dem gewürzten Wein -- Anwandlung von Todesahndungen -- Doppeltgänger --
- aus dem Tagebuch E.T.A. Hoffmanns, 6. Januar 1804.
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Na sir is na seachain an cath.

I agree with those who have opined that the best Mexican food generally comes from neighborhood spots that serve mostly Mexican clientele and generally don't serve liquor.

Also, I personally can't stand frozen "margaritas" from machines, and - even worse - any margaritas that replace fresh lime juice with Rose's, triple sec, sweet and sour mix, or some combination of these scabs. I'm not a fan of chocolate martinis or anything made with something called "Pucker". Leave out the "c" in "Pucker" and I think you have a more accurate description.

My issue is with the notion that places that serve these immensely popular drinks should be avoided, just because they serve them. To each his/her own, but I'm going back to Ixcapuzalco, which actually has one of the horrible premade frozen machines behind the bar. I won't hesitate to get the wasabi tobiko, kani nigiri, or hamachi-ohba maki at Mirai, even though the black-dress clientele is sipping apple martinis next to me. And if Dorado gets a liquor licence and starts serving Jolly Rancher Martinis, I'm getting the smoked duck nachos anyway.

I just got back from my dinner at Brioso. In the spirit of trying to be positive, I'll just say that my dinner was everything I expected and more!

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Steve Z.
Photographer/Pseudojournalist

"The only time to eat diet food is while you’re waiting for the steak to cook." - Julia Child

Last night, I had a late dinner at Col-Ubas, which advertises “Real Columbian and Cuban Food.” The Wife ordered ropa vieja, a traditional Cuban favorite, and it came with a huge quantity of crispy cooked red, yellow and green bell pepper. This is not quite a traditional preparation: I’ve never seen it made like this either stateside nor in the Caribbean’s Coolest (and only) Communist Country. There is always a green pepper involved, but it’s usually one pepper to three or four pounds of pot roast; here, it was more like 3 parts meat to 2 parts pepper. I thought this was a fine variation on the time-honored recipe, upping the veggie ante is something I usually appreciate, and this dish is a good example of how “authentic” dishes can be varied to meet the tastes of different times and cultures.

Col-Ubas
5665 N. Clark Street
Chicago
773-5-6-1579

Hammond

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“We all have to stand before the kitchen gods.” Chef Jacob Sahaya Kumar Aruni

Last night we were two for dinner at Brioso. I was a bit unenthusiastic about this choice having read a few disappointing reviews and what with any number of attractive alternatives in the Lincoln Square corridor.

The place is much smaller then one might gleam via the front windows. Maybe 12-14 tables in all...all two-tops some pushed together for larger crowds. The noise level was very high for the first half of our meal...I really don't mind a loud restaurant but if you're sensitive to this element, proceed with caution.

We waited too long for our drink orders as the server was busy closing out a few of his other tables...he seemed tired from a long night of work - we were there about 8:30.

Drink service came quickly after we finally ordered. The lady had a fantastic rasberry margarita - full of fresh flavors. I am not one for anyting other than an original margarita but this beverage was truly a tropical delight.

I ordered the chicken tortilla soup...BTW - I'm a full-blown tortilla soup whore. I've had tortilla soup at every single restaurant I've been in the last 6 or 7 years that had it on the menu. I even love bad tortilla soup. Brioso's offering was quite simply the freshest tortilla soup I have ever had. Chucks of avocado; savory chicken slices; a little dreched tomato and what tasted like a perfectly melted (an amount of) provolone cheese or some equivalent. Not the best I've ever had but a staple for any patron.

In fact, we had one of those "boy it's been 10 minutes here and I don't have my soup yet I bet he forgot" moments...within 30 seconds of my thinking this the server stopped by and comped both my companion and my next round of beverages having apologized for forgetting to put my soup order in...the right thing to do and classy. This in and of itself almost warranted a return visit unless the entrees were terrible. The server was very apologetic without being overly dramatic as can happen from time to time and handled the situation very well.

The lady's pulled pork tacos were outstanding - you get three nice-sized tacos for about $9-$10. Very succulent.

I opted for the ahi tuna which was very nice with thin sweet potatoe chip-fries. The tuna was well-preapred with crushed peppercorns and a gigantic portion for this type of entree. The lone faux-paux was my mistake in ordering it medium-rare insted of rare.

A very enjoyable experience and well-run restaurant.

We felt that the food at Brioso was good, but it was just too expensive for what it was. Since we love Mexican food and live within walking distance of the place, that fact that we haven't bothered to go back says it all. The prices are (if I recall) what you'd pay at Frontera - but the food just didn't wow us that much.

I should've put the bill in my post:

One appetizer; two (paid for) drinks; and two entrees with tax and tip came to $54.

While definitely not cheap by any means, it would be difficult to find anything along Lincoln Avenue up in this area for this scale of restaurant for cheaper. Grafton; Soiree; Bad Dog; Tank; Kitchen Square; The Italian Place who's name I forgot; Jury's; etc. would all cost at least $54 for the same amount of food.

The food was good, and the service excellent considering how they reacted to their faux paux with my soup. However, Mexican food in Chicago, much like Irish pubs and Italian restaruants and, up in Lincoln Square, the litany of Thai restaurants that seems to be spreading like a rash, are a dime a dozen in Chicago and I generally like to try places with a little more originality, so while I may be back to Brioso on account of their service, it won't be for awhile.

Has anyone been to Briosa lately? Also, do they bring complimentary chips and salsa to the table or do you have to pay for them?

Aren't they out of business yet?

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Steve Z.
Photographer/Pseudojournalist

"The only time to eat diet food is while you’re waiting for the steak to cook." - Julia Child

Nope. Still open despite the absence of your patronage.

We went the other night - I didn't post because it was unremarkable. Yes, they bring free chips and salsa to your table, and that was the best part of the meal I'm sorry to say.
We both wanted to try the tacos, and so we each ordered 3 different ones. I think they're trying to do something they're just not capable of - ingredients aren't good enough and they just overall fell flat. I can't remember all six kinds, but the shrimp/mango was the tastiest of all of them. The chorizo was second best, and the rest, I really can't recall. Even though I was still hungry, I didn't finish mine - Just not good enough.

The margaritas were okay - tried both the watermelon and the pomegranite. Watermelon was better.

Brioso is a cute space. Maybe other things on the menu are better. let us know if you go!

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"Food is Love"
Jasper White

Thanks for you reply, messycook. I will definitely report back if we go.