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Unfortunately, our schedule is packed tighter than I thought this weekend, so I'll have to bow out. But please post all the details about this expedition! I'll have to arrange my own tour next weekend.

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Late-Nite Eats Database

Mike, just out of curiosity, I wonder if you would elaborate on what you mean in your original post by "authentic food." You also mention native and non-native, and I'm wondering if you're referring to countries or neighborhoods.

I'm wondering, do you mean (a) that the food authentically represents the cuisine of a particular foreign country or region thereof, where "native" means natives of that region, or (b) how a foreign cuisine has been adapted by immigrants to local conditions (availability of ingredients, say), such that what it authentically represents now is a uniquely Chicagoan or Chicago neighborhood version of the original, or (c) something else. Obviously, if you can eat it and derive some nutritive value from it and don't die from it, that's authentic food, so, do you really mean, for example, authentic to some region of Mexico, or authentically uniquely Chicagoan version of the same?

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"I would gladly pay you Tuesday for a hamburger today."

I think in this context it means "Mexican food with the fewest concessions to the possibility some gringo will walk in the door and so we better make things easy for him and have some of the things he'd expect."

This varies, of course— a place like Carniceria Jimenez, which is just around the corner from Logan Square, is considerably more gringo-accommodating, with English on the permanent signboards and countermen who speak it fluently, then some like Los Potrillos where I seemed like a curiosity, as if I'd gotten lost on my way to Acapulco and popped up in a small town not on the map.

And I don't mean to suggest that you can't find many of these same things in many Mexican restaurants, of course. Or that they're wildly exotic, though things like tongue and tripe are common enough. All the same, there is something of a unique atmosphere to these places that comes from the total immersiveness of a Mexican milieu with, as I say, few expectations that they need to soften its edges for gringos.



Mexican grocery stores have interesting ideas about shampoo.

As far as the deeper questions about authentic to Mexico, regional variation, Chicago influence, etc., I'm really just starting to puzzle that out. There are clearly differences between the supermercado taquerias around different parts of town-- for instance, rotisserie chicken is a big thing in the Humboldt Park-and-further-northwest community, but not in La Villita. In La Villita, gorditas are a standard item given as much attention as tacos, which is not true on the north side. And so on. My suspicion offhand would be that there is some regional influence in that, especially when it comes to weekend specials, but that there tends also to be a category of "restaurant food" that exists separate from regional variation, so that, if you came from an area that didn't make steak tacos, you would nevertheless find yourself offering steak tacos pretty quickly up here, in a commercial setting.

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The Wife would like Pie Lady's vacated space, if still available. Thx.

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

I look forward to the report and wish good weather on you all! I do the bulk of my shopping at Mexican supermarkets (and Tony's, which is a hybrid) on the West Side, several of which have embedded taquerias. I would guess that the genre is not so much 'unexplored' as 'unposted about on LTH,' which I will also work to rectify.

On second thought, Cathy2's thread on tofu turducken persuades me that I'm going to have to refine this definition further ...

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"I would gladly pay you Tuesday for a hamburger today."

Psst, Santander!

Quote:

I would guess that the genre is not so much 'unexplored' as 'unposted about on LTH,' which I will also work to rectify.

Well, I have a list of 14 of which at least half have never been posted about, and only about three or four at any length or detail (Tierra Caliente more than any other by a factor of 10). Barring the discovery of transdimensional eateries, that seems unexplored to me... but hey, don't be harshin' on the hype if that's what it takes to get people out trying them out instead of posting about 50 more ways restaurants piss them off, kapeesh?

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Watch Sky Full of Bacon, the Chicago food HD podcast!
New episode: Soil, Corn, Cows and Cheese
Watch the Reader's James Beard Award-winning Key Ingredient here.

I'd rather be noshin' than harshin' - can't make tomorrow, but a bunch of us Out West do eat regularly and this type of place, and don't post about it enough (you don't want to see my archive of half-written posts). You're leading the way.

Maybe afterwards, we can stop for The Greatest Cheese Blintzes in North America!!!

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Watch Sky Full of Bacon, the Chicago food HD podcast!
New episode: Soil, Corn, Cows and Cheese
Watch the Reader's James Beard Award-winning Key Ingredient here.

The Wife is driving...so I cede my seat in the C2mobile, or if you'd decide you'd rather ride with us, that'd be fine.

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

Sorry I missed you. My class went to 11:40 a. See you next time!

Great day and thanks to Mike G. for organizing a delicious tour!

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“The problem with people who have no vices is that generally you can be pretty sure they’re going to have some pretty annoying virtues.” Elizabeth Taylor

Thanks all who attended, more info & pics to come, I'm sure, but here are a couple of photos in the meantime:

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New episode: Soil, Corn, Cows and Cheese
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Wow - that gordita is calling my name!

True to my word, we got takeout from Chapala, which I'll include here as a data point:





Supermercado Chapala
7117 North Clark Street
Chicago, IL
(773) 465-3907

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This gordita was my favorite bite of the day, which is saying a lot as it was the last bite I had on my three-stop tour, which included one very filling stop at place #2 (Taqueria Ricardo, 4429 W. Diversey).



I liked the saucy meat just fine, but I'm a pushover for the hand-griddled masa envelope. As MikeG pointed out (accurately I think) at our stop #1 (Los Potrillos, 3624 W. Belmont), tortillas and other corn-based platforms at in-store taquerias are probably rare because, you know, they have a huge inventory of El Milagro, etc, on hand, so why bother?

Well, the reason to bother is that it makes, as will come as no surprise, an immense difference in the warmth and mouthfeel of the sandwich, in the ability of the corn container to absorb the flavors of the moist contents, and in the eye appeal of the thing.

Check out the griddle-woman's gordita-removal-tool, which appears to be a nail, providing protection for the hands without resorting to a spatula.



Thanks, MikeG, for engineering this event.

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

I've posted my notes on 14 supermercado taquerias in a separate thread, but here's more info on Saturday's adventures:

Besides wanting to introduce my finds to more people, I was eager to visit some of them in a larger party that would allow me to explore their menus in greater detail. So if you're interested in checking some of these taquerias out, I'd recommend these three first as not only three of the best but offering a good cross-section of the scene and what's to be had at different places. Our first stop was Los Potrillos:



This is a small taco grill that really does first-rate steak tacos, cecina tacos, etc., thanks to an excellent grillman who serves good quality meat hot and juicy off the grill in big, tender chunks. We also ordered the consomme de chivo which had impressed me on an earlier visit, though it was kind of watery and not as exciting this time— maybe it would have been better after cooking down for another hour or two. (The pot on which Consomme de Chivo is painted in big letters was curiously missing as well.)



Next was Taqueria Ricardo. Besides the best atmosphere (you wouldn't necessarily know you were in a supermercado at all, as it's pretty separate), a ramshackle riot of tile that suggests the over-the-top exuberance of Mexico, this has such an extensive menu that we wound up really having a full (very full) lunch here. Chicken grilled over live fire was a star here, but so were pastor tacos served at the peak of grilled crispiness, an excellent green salsa-poblano tamale, a lively caldo de siete mares (soup of the seven seas) with a big langoustine plopped right in it, a weekend special of barbacoa de res, and more. (Though one I wouldn't recommend was David Hammond's choice of pickled pig's feet, which proved that there is a lot of fat and not much meat on a pig's foot.) This is really a great Mexican restaurant in both food and atmosphere, which deserves wider attention and discovery.



Taqueria Ricardo; above: chicken over heater, below: caldo de siete mares, pickled pigs' feet.





Finally we headed down to La Villita to Carniceria Aguascalientes, which has a large cafeteria-style area built on the handmade gorditas that are its star attraction. Pork in red and green salsas and a poblano-cheese filling all proved to be worthy fillings for the wonderfully warm and nurturing freshly-fried gorditas.



Thanks to all who came along with me on Saturday and I hope many more will follow in our footsteps.

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Watch Sky Full of Bacon, the Chicago food HD podcast!
New episode: Soil, Corn, Cows and Cheese
Watch the Reader's James Beard Award-winning Key Ingredient here.

I could have eaten more of the pickled pig's feet, but they were whisked away before I could have seconds. They were very fatty...but, you know, so's lardo, bacon, etc. I think, as with pig ears so with pig's feet, you have to find a way to appreciate the almost crunchy texture of the fat. I did.

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

I enjoyed them, especially as a part of a bite composed with a bit of pickled carrot and jalapeno! The "meat" had firmer texture than typical "fat"--I assume due to the pickling. Just one of many great bites on Saturday

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“The problem with people who have no vices is that generally you can be pretty sure they’re going to have some pretty annoying virtues.” Elizabeth Taylor

Yes!

Taqueria Ricardo has leaped towards one of my favorite places to eat in Chicago these days (and an obvious location for an OP Boyz club after the far away trek to Wheaton). In several visits, I have not found a dish I have not loved, although to be willing to criticize, I will admit that the deliciousness comes at a marginally higher price than the norm.

The grilled chicken, produced over hardwood probably gets the most attention, and it should for the way it carries the flavor of the brazier to the table, but one should not overlook the daily guisados and the many seafood offerings. The langostinos ala plancha are not as neat, nor maybe as hyper-flavored as Islas Marias' version, but make up for it with a greasy chuzpah. A mess of arroz with seafood surprised me with the excellence of the seafood. Affection towards the guisados sometimes also takes an affection towards fat. If you can dig it, slabs of shoulder meat, thick with skin and goo taste wonderful.

As has been noted about this place, their tacos al pastor rank high and also rank high in my campaign against excessive crispness. Rather, these pastor, like some of those guisados, as a bit of goo to the bite. Like I say, the only thing one has to fear at this place is an affection towards fat.

While I would say a certain amount of the character of this place does arrive from its connection tot he supermarket, which plays itself out both in frequent visits next door for supplies and in seeing the butchers grab their lunches, but I would also say that this should be reviewed just a a place in the same building as a grocery store. Go.

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