Good Burritos on NW side

Hi LTH,

My parents are coming to visit and my dad specifically requested "Mexican, someplace with burritos". I searched around a bit, but most of the GNRs seem to be more specialized and most of the posts on burritos seem to be in the "Worst thing..." or "Beyond Chicagoland" threads.

Can anyone provide me a suggestion for a restaurant with the following parameters:
Location: N/W side, possibly near Logan Square
Price: Doesn't have to be super-cheap, as this will be a special occasion
Restaurant: Sit-down, nice ambiance-- something good for mom.
A little gringo is okay!
Good burritos.

Thanks, Jen

There's plenty of good Mexican places in Logan Square. One of the better sit-down ones is the El Cid on Kedzie-- it sounds like exactly what you're looking for. I also like Taqueria Moran and Las Asadas quite a bit but they're more bare bones.

Even though it isn't what it used to be (and I've become more of a taco guy), I still have a 'guilty pleasure' place in my heart for the carne asada burritos from La Pasadita at Ashland and Division. There are 3 locations there and I prefer the most divey of the 3 (on the east side of Ashland) but one of the locations on the west side of Ashland is more of a sit-down-type restaurant and it might fit the bill.

Another place of note is Pollo Vagabundo, which has been mentioned here and more recently, here.

=R=

La Pasadita (not sure which location has the dining room)
1132 N Ashland Ave
Chicago, IL 60622
(773) 384-6537

La Pasadita (not sure which location has the dining room)
1140 N Ashland Ave
Chicago, IL 60622
(773) 278-2130

Pollo Vagabundo
101 W Grand Ave
Northlake, IL 60164
(847) 288-0713

Taqueria El Ranchito in Logan Square on Milwaukee is, despite the name, more of a restaurant than a lunch counter, with a full bar, and they definitely know how to make a burrito (and are pretty good across the board whatever you want). However, while completely fine and very typical of its kind, El Ranchito might not be conducive to the type of family-visitation meal you are looking for and/or meet your mom's expectations on ambience, because it's sort of a standard, semi-claustrophobic and dimly-lighted fonda/cantina sort of atmosphere. I mention it, however, because I think it's a notch better than El Cid II, mentioned above (which I think would be a good choice, but actually does a better job on Cuban food than Mexican at that location) and my next recommendation, La Puebla (below), which is prettier to visit but not as delicious.

La Puebla would likely be an easier sell on the aesthetics, if slightly less delicious on the food. They definitely have you covered on burritos, and they also do gringo-killer frozen margaritas, etc. The decor is 1987 festival marketplace Mexican restaurant preserved in amber (and always impeccably clean, well-lit, breezy, etc. ... certainly "nice ambience ... good for mom").

Finally, you might want to consider Las Asadas on Pulaski just north of Belmont. I've never been, although I believe gleam had some good things to say about their carne asade, which I assume would translate well into a nice carne asada burrito. It's located in a former Pepe's restaurant location (full-service, sit-down restaurant) with its own parking lot.

Taqueria El Ranchito
2829 N Milwaukee
Chicago, IL 60618
Phone: (773) 227-1688

La Puebla
2658 N Milwaukee Ave
Chicago, IL 60647
(773) 227-5499

Las Asadas
3243 N. Pulaski Rd.
Chicago, IL
(773) 283-8832

Edited to note that Semper Fudge also highlighted Las Asadas, above.

Thanks for all the great options everyone-- my husband and I have a date night next weekend, we'll pre-screen and let you know how it goes!

Cheers, Jen

Tecalitlan was a favorite years ago when I worked in the West Loop area. A bottomless bowl of excellent house made pico de gallo and a basket of warm chips started every meal. It was always my buddy and me, and we could never decide between the steak or avocado burritos. So we'd order one of each and split them down the middle.

I was introduced to Tecalitlan by a bunch of Mexican guys I worked with on the weekends at a certain pizza place in the past. I figured they knew better than me where the quality grub was located. And they did.

Hope you have a good time with Mom and Dad in the city.

Buddy

Tecalitlan (Pronounced TEK-ah-leedle-ON)
1814 West Chicago Ave.
Chicago, IL 60622‎
(773) 384-4285

There is always the 2nd non-GNR location of Tierra Caliente. Sometimes as good as the original location, but always decent.

Further up north by lincoln square, Taqueria El Asadero, has some of the (if not the) best asada in the city.

Tierra Caliente
2556 West Armitage Avenue
Chicago, IL 60647
(773) 486-5936

Taqueria El Asadero
2213 West Montrose Avenue
Chicago, IL 60618
(773) 583-5563

Cafe El Tapatio on Ashland and Roscoe should be all the requirements--sit-down place with nice enough ambience, solid food (both gringo-friendly and a bit more upscale mexican fare) and a few different types of burritos on the menu. Just beware of going at prime time on a Friday or Saturday night because it gets pretty crowded. The Pechuga a la Tapatia, Carne Asada, Revoltijo Ajijic, Tortilla Chicken Soup and Guacamole are standouts.

Cafe El Tapatio
3400 N Ashland Ave, Chicago, IL 60657
Phone: (773) 327-5475
www.cafeeltapatio.com/

This is a tough one. If there's the potential for two meals (lunch and dinner, say), I'd suggest doing burritos for lunch with the promise of something else with a nicer atmosphere for dinner. I'm racking my brain and I can't think of any halfway-fancy place that serves burritos of any quality (although boudreaulicious might have just what you need in Cafe El Tapatio).

I second the recommendation of Taqueria Moran, my overall-favorite taqueria in the city. It's not fancy, but the consistent cleanliness and friendliness of the staff elevates it a bit over your run-of-the-mill NW-side taqueria. And it's right in your neck of the woods. With all due respect to BuddyRoadhouse, I caution you against Tecalitlan. The food's okay (not much different than Americanized Mexican you can get in any large city; you can do better in Chicago), but it's the dining room that kills it for me. It's dark, huge (they often have the lights off for half of it, which is weird), and smelled faintly of bleach the last time I ate there. If it's busy, it's probably okay, but it's downright creepy when there are only a few other parties there.

Not that I recommend going there, but I did take my parents to Arturo's Tacos on Western, where I used to eat 4-5 meals per week, when they first came to visit me in Chicago. My dad had one of their gigantic chorizo burritos con suizo (topped with melted swiss cheese). I'm pretty sure it was unlike any burrito he'd ever had before and it made quite an impression on him.

Sounds as if you want the decor and cleanliness of Uncle Julios's (good for what it is if you want texmex, they have burritos) but authenticity of good Chicago neighborhood Mexican. The only other thing I can think of is Antique Taco (burritos?). Does Chilipan have burritos? El Taco Veloz? Arturo's is pretty authentic and clean enough. I was disgusted the last time I ate in at La Pasadita. The sit down restaurant one. I consider La Pasadita carry out only. This really is a tough one. I agree with the burrito lunch.

I'll 3rd Taqueria Moran.

I rarely ever get chicken burritos, but their Chicken Burrito Suizo is insanely good. Pastor ain't half bad either!

First data point, we tested Taqueria Moran on Saturday and found it quite good. Staff was friendly, atmosphere was acceptable, Bohemia was cold, and the chicken burrito suiza was HUGE:



That's my 7-year-old daughter's hand in the photo, the excellent table salsas in the background and my husband's steak enchiladas with mole a bit further back. All were quite good-- I liked the green salsa served in the squeeze bottle.

I'm happy to report that the burrito was even delicious as leftovers, two days later, and cold. Yum.

Thanks for the report-- we'll try another candidate next Saturday, then dinner with the parents the following weekend.
Cheers, Jen

Pie-love wrote:

Taqueria Moran
2226 N California Ave
(773) 235-2663

Pie-love wrote:First data point, we tested Taqueria Moran on Saturday and found it quite good. Staff was friendly, atmosphere was acceptable, Bohemia was cold, and the chicken burrito suiza was HUGE:

Also at $5.95 for suizo burrito ($4.95 for regular I believe), it is one of the best values in the city!

Special occasion, authentic Mexican burritos on the Northwest Side (by which we mean Logan Square). Tough one to answer correctly.

JeffB wrote:Special occasion, authentic Mexican burritos on the Northwest Side (by which we mean Logan Square). Tough one to answer correctly.

Yeah, special-occasion burritos might be an oxymoron, hmm. The occasion doesn't have to be that special-- we're not fancy folk. I mostly meant not-too-much-of-a-dive. Taqueria Moran was quite acceptable. Next weekend we'll try our local and report back.

Cheers, Jen

Pie-love wrote:First data point, we tested Taqueria Moran on Saturday and found it quite good. Staff was friendly, atmosphere was acceptable, Bohemia was cold, and the chicken burrito suiza was HUGE:



That's my 7-year-old daughter's hand in the photo, the excellent table salsas in the background and my husband's steak enchiladas with mole a bit further back. All were quite good-- I liked the green salsa served in the squeeze bottle.

I'm happy to report that the burrito was even delicious as leftovers, two days later, and cold. Yum.

Thanks for the report-- we'll try another candidate next Saturday, then dinner with the parents the following weekend.
Cheers, Jen

The Lunch Gods were on my side today as I was in the neighborhood. I had a steak burrito. Quite yummy. The green salsa was an excellent accompaniment. Although I had an incident with the squirt bottle that will require a trip to the dry cleaners tomorrow morning. Thanks for the heads up on this spot.

laikom wrote:There is always the 2nd non-GNR location of Tierra Caliente. Sometimes as good as the original location, but always decent.

Further up north by lincoln square, Taqueria El Asadero, has some of the (if not the) best asada in the city.

Tierra Caliente
2556 West Armitage Avenue
Chicago, IL 60647
(773) 486-5936

Taqueria El Asadero
2213 West Montrose Avenue
Chicago, IL 60618
(773) 583-5563

Second El Asadero. My favorite. Grilled and not griddled steak, killer all around.

Tired and hung over after several days of over-indulgence and travel, we set out to collect our next data point in the Great Burrito Quest today. Not in the mood for braving the traffic jams and insane driving practices of the N-W side, we set out for our nearby Carniceria (y Restorante) Ricardo
4419 W Diversey Ave, which was also discussed (mixed reviews) in the Supermercado Taquieria's thread (viewtopic.php?f=14&t=27400&p=420816&hilit=Ricardo#p420816).

Husband had a burrito al pastor that was excellent-- flavorful meat, good balance of veg, not overly heavy of a gut bomb:

Now, it's a bit unfair to compare al pastor to pollo, so I will have to get the chicken burrito next time-- I wonder if they use meat from the wood-grilled birds.

After plane travel, I was in the mood for soup and had the caldo de pescado, a fish soup that included a red broth and fish steaks (i.e. a cross section of fish including backbone, rather than a filet). A bit awkward to eat, it was just the thing after being subjected to the TSA.


And yes, the Bohemia was cold here too.
Love Ricardo's-- hoping we don't hit an off day when my parents visit next weekend!

Cheers, Jen

Thank you all for the advice! My folks and I had a great dinner at Carniceria Ricardo tonight and they left quite satisfied! Dad said he enjoyed it more than Sol de Mexico (sacrilege!) and it put a very small dent in our wallets. The pollo burritos at Ricardo use the flame-roasted chicken, with some sort of mole-type barbecue sauce, so the meat was much more flavorful than the poached/stewed chicken in the burritos at Taqueria Moran. The burritos at Ricardo didn't have much beans, but a nice mix of cheese, lettuce, and meat. Once again, the Bohemia was cold!

Although I'm no Nate Silver, I like to think that (with the help of the LTH), I too picked a winner! I'll report back with any more relevant data. Thanks again!

Cheers, Jen

This is from the Las Asadas on north Pulaski Rd (taken out). I have eaten there as well, but didn't take any pictures that time. (I think I didn't bring my camera.) [One warning: This image may go full screen on your monitor.]

BuddyRoadhouse wrote:Tecalitlan was a favorite years ago when I worked in the West Loop area. A bottomless bowl of excellent house made pico de gallo and a basket of warm chips started every meal. It was always my buddy and me, and we could never decide between the steak or avocado burritos. So we'd order one of each and split them down the middle.

I was introduced to Tecalitlan by a bunch of Mexican guys I worked with on the weekends at a certain pizza place in the past. I figured they knew better than me where the quality grub was located. And they did.

Hope you have a good time with Mom and Dad in the city.

Buddy

Tecalitlan (Pronounced TEK-ah-leedle-ON)
1814 West Chicago Ave.
Chicago, IL 60622‎
(773) 384-4285

Beloved Mexican restaurant Tecalitlan will reopen at 1538 N. Clybourn Avenue in the massive NewCity development

https://chicago.eater.com/2021/3/16/223 ... ttractions

I was a regular at Tecalitlan in the late 1980's. Good burrito.

That's how out of touch this pandemic has left me; I didn't even know Tecalitlan had closed. Glad they're coming back. I recently reconnected with the buddy I mention in the above quote, and we were planning to go the original location sometime. Would've been a very disappointing discovery when we got there to an empty storefront. At least now we know where to go when they reopen.

Thanks for the update.

Buddy