North Clark-a-thon: September 16

In another thread,

germuska wrote:

zim wrote:With all the new and semi new places on the street: this one, cuetzala, el rey, los chismos (colombian), asmara, big buns and pita, the pollo frito place - I may have to a personal Rogers Park-a-thon just to keep up to date

...
I'd be game for an RP-thon. I was kind of thinking the same thing.

OK, I'm ready to put my shoulder behind this one. There is a remarkable density of restaurants in the one-mile stretch of North Clark street between Touhy and Devon, some of which are known LTH favorites as well as several fairly recent openings.

I propose seizing the so-far-lovely autumn weather for a walking tour of this mile of Chicago. I'll suggest two Saturdays hence, 9/16 as a date, since I can't do it next Saturday and the following weekend is the LTH picnic.

With as many places as there are, I think it would be worth shaping an itinerary, but that can evolve in this thread. In addition to at least two dozen restaurants, there are a number of markets and a few panaderias and pastelerias which might be worth visiting.

Outside of this range but generally still within walking distance (and maintaining the arbitrary single-street constraint), some possible worthy stops are the Rogers Park Fruit Market, Supermercado Morelia, Caracas Grill, Banadir...

The list below is much more an attempt at completeness (got a little hyperfocused for a minute ) than recommendations. I was editorial enough to leave out the national chains and the two-or-three low grade Chinese places in this stretch, but I suspect some of the taquerias below may also be not worth the calories.

Touhy
El Novillo: 7137 N Clark St
Qaato African Restaurant: 7118 N Clark St
Taqueria Chapala: 7117 N Clark St
El Rey del Taco: 7104 N Clark St
Panaderia/Pasteleria La Mexicana
El Famous Burrito: 7047 N Clark St
Rocky's Tacos: 7043 N Clark St
A&T Grill: 7036 N Clark St
Tamales los mejores de Guerrero: 7024 N. Clark
El Llano Restaurant: 7018 N Clark St
Franko's Pizza
Lunt
Supermercado Roman: Clark and Lunt
Taqueria Hernandez: 6983 N Clark St
Panaderia Ayutla: 6963 N Clark St
Paleteria Monarca: 6955 N. Clark St
Dona Lolis Quesadillas: 6924 N Clark St
La Cazuela de Mariscos: 6922 N Clark
Supermercado Carreta
Rogers Park Branch, Chicago Public Library (possible rest stop/outdoor dining option)
El Castillo de Chapultepec market: Pratt & Howard
Pratt
Big Buns & Pita: 6649 N Clark St
Las Islas Marias: 6635 N. Clark St.
Grande Noodles: 6632 N Clark St
Los Niches
Taste of Peru: 6545 N. Clark St.
Asmara: 6511 N. Clark
Taqueria El Pueblito
Devon

Collected in the course of research, here are a few (but by no means an exhaustive list) of pertinent links from LTH:

Tamales los mejores de Guerrero on Clark
Big Buns & Pita
Seen on North Clark in Rogers Park
Cazuela de Mariscos - North Clark St.
In search of good ceviche in not too fancy a setting
Mexican in Rogers Park
Tacos Pioneros at El Rey del Taco
Taste of Peru
Caracas Grill
new islas marias in Rogers Park
La Unica Cafe

I'm in, but can't start 'til after 1

germuska wrote:I'll suggest two Saturdays hence, 9/16 as a date, since I can't do it next Saturday and the following weekend is the LTH picnic.

Germuska,

Great idea, please count me in.

One block out of range is Flowers Pot, a wildly inconsistent, on occasion very good, Belizean restaurant. Though I think it's obvious, from the extensive list you posted, we will have plenty to cover.

Enjoy,
Gary

Flower's Pot
7328 N. Clark St.
Chicago, IL
773-761-4388

Joe,

Rob and I would love to go, and we are 90% sure we can make it on the 16th. Will let you know for sure in the next few days.

Great idea--actually Rob and I were just walking down north Clark this afternoon, and ended up going to the Quesadilla restaurant, which had some pretty amazing salsas. I also had a cactus and fried egg sope that was very good.

trixie-pea

HI,

I will have to meet wherever you may be in mid-afternoon. I have Culinary Historians earlier in the day, which usually means lunch with everyone especially since I bring my Moms.

Whenever it is possible, then please advise by PM a cell phone.

Regards,

Great idea, Joe -- I'm in (also after 1).

Sounds like fun, so I'll be there, though I may have to leave early.

Gary-- the Flower Pot closed a few months ago. Now I'm sorry I never got there.

Great to see a lot of interested folks already!

It sounds like timing might be an issue for some folks. I picked the date pretty arbitrarily -- upon further review, I think I could do it on any of 9/9, 9/10, 9/16, or 9/17. Again, the next weekend after those is the picnic, and after that is starting to gamble with the weather...

Also, despite the fact that I made the first list, I encourage anyone who's planning to come to help figure out how to make sense of a list like the above. We could certainly start at one end and walk to the other and just wing it, but if anyone has any strategic input, let's hear it!

On another note, I forgot to list the Romanian Kosher Sausage company, which is at the Touhy end of the tour, but who will certainly be closed on a Saturday, and who in fact always seem to be closed, except in the stories of people who claim to have bought good products there!

I also found this RP rundown by Zim which blurbs a few of the candidates.

I'm probably game to go and have put it on my calendar.

I would definitely include Supermercado Morelia, eventhough it is north of Touhy. They have an amazing selection of prepared foods that changes daily. They always have some great Michoacan style stews and ceviches. I get food-to-go from there once or twice a week. Many of the dishes they sell, I have never seen elsewhere (some I don't even know the names of). On weekends they also sell carnitas, barbacoa (borrego and chivo)and montalayo (for all you Hagis fans). Cuetzala Gro., next door, also has some items worth checking out(such as Tamales Nejos with Mole and Liquados de Mamey). There is a park directly across the street from Morelia where we can stop to sample our purchases. Oh, and there are several street vendors around the Mega-Mall at Chase and Clark that are worth checking out.

I think the only possible way to cover all of Clark street, is to do it in at least two sessions. Maybe Devon to Pratt on one day then Pratt to Rogers on another. There are just too many establishments to cover in a single day.

If people are really interested in sampling wares from Romanian Kosher, I would be willing to pick up some of their wonderful hot dogs earlier in the week. Since I am already very familiar with the northern part of Clark street, I could ditch out early, run home, grab a grill and bring it up to Touhy Park and have it fired up for the end of the tour.

Sounds like a great idea. Not sure if I can do it, maybe I can meet up with you all at one point for a while. PM with a Cell phone?

Sounds like germuska's got the right idea -- count me in! I might not be able to take more than a couple sustained hours of feisty feasting, but I'd severely regret not taking part in a Whatever-a-thon held right in my own backyard. (Okay, it's still a mile or two away, but that stretch of Clark is darn close to where I live.) Thanks to a timely PM -- again, credit goes to germuska -- I hope to relive my LTH adventures from a year or so back, as Usmania still calls me back... for more biryani.

As for the restaurant candidates themselves, I've only ventured to a few of the ones mentioned in my time in Rogers Park. Surely there are more qualified voices that can speak of the quality of the establishments listed, but I'll say a bit about a couple places anyway (maybe it'll stir the pot for more responses). El Famous Burrito gets quantity right, though some have said the flavor has suffered in recent years. If we can try a better burrito place, I'm all ears. Taqueria Hernandez on Lunt serves some decent tacos, but I believe they were priced at ~$1.25-$1.75 each when I last went two years ago. I'd love to try some tastier tacos, too (if they can be had for a similar or smaller price?).

All right, we gotta pare this list down! Praises and slams for North Clark taquerias (et. al.) would most certainly be appreciated. Hope to see you on the 16th!

--Dan

Seems like there should be some Serbo-Croatian former Yugo etc. places on the list. Maybe not. The people are there, but the places might not be.

JeffB wrote:Seems like there should be some Serbo-Croatian former Yugo etc. places on the list. Maybe not. The people are there, but the places might not be.

Isn't the Montenegrin place up that way?

Amata wrote:

JeffB wrote:Seems like there should be some Serbo-Croatian former Yugo etc. places on the list. Maybe not. The people are there, but the places might not be.

Isn't the Montenegrin place up that way?

Deta's is on Ridge near Howard. It was nearly the site of an LTH lunch event.

But Ridge and Howard is a healthy walk from the proposed ground zero.

I don't recall hearing about any other former Yugo etc. places, but would be happy to be corrected. I'm pretty confident there aren't any actually on N. Clark Street.

Being Mexican Independence Day - the 16th of September might, or might, not be a good day to hit that stretch of Clark St. (with so many Mexican restaurants and bakeries). I'd like to participate in this event, but the date rules it out (because I think almost any other weekend will be better).

Bill wrote:Being Mexican Independence Day - the 16th of September might, or might, not be a good day to hit that stretch of Clark St. (with so many Mexican restaurants and bakeries). I'd like to participate in this event, but the date rules it out (because I think almost any other weekend will be better).

Won't that make it more interesting?

germuska wrote:

Bill wrote:Being Mexican Independence Day - the 16th of September might, or might, not be a good day to hit that stretch of Clark St. (with so many Mexican restaurants and bakeries). I'd like to participate in this event, but the date rules it out (because I think almost any other weekend will be better).

Won't that make it more interesting?

Without a doubt. In fact, I think that even doubles the reason to go.

Bruce wrote:

germuska wrote:

Bill wrote:Being Mexican Independence Day - the 16th of September might, or might, not be a good day to hit that stretch of Clark St. (with so many Mexican restaurants and bakeries). I'd like to participate in this event, but the date rules it out (because I think almost any other weekend will be better).

Won't that make it more interesting?

Without a doubt. In fact, I think that even doubles the reason to go.

As long as it does not resemble Perto Rican day in Humbolt Park and surrounding hoods (inc. mine). Unless your idea of a good time is *very* drunk folk walking around with large metal pipes bashing in cars and who knows what ellse...you may want to pick another date.

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Thank you,

Germuska,

Do you want to set a time and place?

***

We will be walking through Alderman Joe Moore's district. Can we talk about Aldermen who kill foie gras cookers?

GAF wrote:Germuska,
Do you want to set a time and place?

I can make a choice, but I'll admit to feeling like there must be some art to structuring a "thon" that I don't know. Pacing, how to manage the sit down restaurants, etc. (I searched for some time and still couldn't find the actual Mil-walk-ee thread, which sounds like the closest LTH antecedent of which I've heard tell. I know I've seen it before, but it is eluding all my search strategies.) This is a new kind of event for me, so I'm not really sure what my stamina or anyone else's will be.

I'm inclined to start around 11 am, so as to avoid getting so hungry as to eat at home before hand, and I hope that we'll still have enough momentum to make it worthwhile for those who are coming later. I guess there's nothing wrong with parallel LTH pods moving up and down the street if that's how it goes too.

So, disclaimers be-damned, I'll just lob this out there, welcoming counters.

Meet at 11 am at Supermercado/Taqueria Chapala, 7117 N Clark St. The market nature should mean that people can browse while we wait for the group to assemble, and they have pretty good prepared food too. They even have parking, although I don't know how "ethical" it is to park there all day. Street parking on or near Clark shouldn't be too tough.

This week's Chicago Reader has a detailed feature on Asmara, as well as slicing the RRR database along the African axis -- but apparently no reports on Qaato, the other African restaurant "on our map."

germuska wrote:This week's Chicago Reader has a detailed feature on Asmara, as well as slicing the RRR database along the African axis -- but apparently no reports on Qaato, the other African restaurant "on our map."

Every time I walk past Qaato, I stick my head in to see if anybody is actually eating there (the door is almost always open). I have never seen a single customer. I don't know how they stay open. I think they do mostly catering and delivery.

germuska wrote:Meet at 11 am at Supermercado/Taqueria Chapala

Joe,

Sounds good, see you there.

Enjoy,
Gary

I may swing by on bike! Looking forward to it.

I still don't know how it is possible to cover that much territory in such a short time. We should probably make a list of "suggested" places.

A couple of places on my hit list would be Doña Lolis for huitlacoche and flores de calabaza (not to mention the very cool ceiling), and Taste of Peru, mostly because the owner is such a warm and genuine character. Unfortunately, Taste of Peru also has notoriously slow service (everything is cooked from scratch). Maybe one could place an order, then check out another place, and return to ToP when the food is ready. I like the local branch of El Llano, which also has pretty cool decor. I have never tried their grilled rabbit. El Rey de Tacos has some interesting specialty tacos (Pioneros, Gringas and ChoriQueso) which come in flour tortillas. However, it seems that not everybody shares my enthusiasm for them. If anybody needs some B's to BYO, the liquor store at Albion and Clark (I think), has a remarkable beer selection for a corner store (eg. alpha king, two hearted, red seal, anchor liberty, fin du monde) .

A couple of my skips would be Grande Noodles (based on one visit) and El Famous (which is OK for football sized burritos at 3AM).

d4v3 wrote:I still don't know how it is possible to cover that much territory in such a short time. We should probably make a list of "suggested" places.

yes, please!

I agree with your skips. Grande is an ONR (OK Neighborhood Restaurant) but not anything very surprising. I'd add Rocky's to the skippable taquerias, although for taquerias if a few people are moved to try a place as we move by, they can be the "advance team," so to speak, rather than everyone eating something at every spot...

I'd probably have to consider A&T another ONR. Their breakfast is a little better than OK from what I remember, but it's still not life changing, and last time I ate non-breakfast there was unmemorable. Franko's is easy to pass by.

I definitely want to try the Tacos Pioneros at El Rey del Taco, and I haven't been to either El Llano or Los Niches, but would be interested in trying both (grilled rabbit!). We could have a mini roast chicken-off, as one of Chapala's specialties is roasted (but not rotisserie) chicken. People here seem universally keen on Tamales l.m.d.G. so I want to check that out. I'm still kind of interested in seeing if people want to push on through to Caracas Grill, where I only ate once but quite liked the arepas and had a pretty good steak too.

Anyone else have sure-hits, sure-misses, or places you're particularly curious about?

One possibility is that once we meet, we can each get an assignment to visit two or three restaurants for take out, and then meet an hour later at some designated nearby park. Perhaps we can do 2 or 3 of these assignments (e.g. one for main courses, and a later one for dessert). Obviously this will depend on the number attending.

I'll second Caracas Grill, Taste of Peru, and Asmara.

Has anyone mentioned La Cazuela? Very good tacos de pescado.