Those that love Mexican food and live in Chicago are lucky to do so. Whether you enjoy eating it out and whether that's the fancy high end or the low, low brow spots you love we got lot's. If you like to experiment in your kitchen and play around with recipes the Supermercados are as abundant as the taqueria's are and most of them have their own place you can eat at. The ingredients coming from the grocery store in almost all instances connected to each other so you can kill two birds with one stone and eat lunch while shopping for dinner needs. Always eat first before shopping. Today we head West on Diversey to a unique Supermercado Taqueria.
a locals favorite on Diversey in the Hermosa Neighborhood
I'll be the first to admit, not too many of these combo market/restaurants are different than one another, yeah the menus can vary but it's either the typical taco/torta/burrito menu or a cafeteria style line with stews and ready made meals like your at grandmas. But then at the same time, their almost always comforting, extremely filling, above average and have character to each their own. But what got Ricardo on my radar was their grilled chicken. The restaurant is located next door and connected to the grocery store. You can also enter the restaurant thru it's own door and you can see their awning with wood grilled chicken below.
Wood Grilled Chicken!? Sweet
As we enter
I was first rec'd Carnaceria Ricardo by Mike G from Sky Full of Bacon when he did a great round up of these Supermercado Taquerias over at LTH. It was an inspiring piece especially to someone like myself who will always try to stop in at as many of these as I can. Ricardo was named the favorite to that date. It wasn't just the food but the charm is what he said and I agree, when inside you can feel like you've stepped into Mexico. It's a popular neighborhood stop and one of their more popular ordered items is their wood grilled chicken adobo. No gas grills here, it's authentic, grilled with real wood and you just don't see this too often especially inside so when you do show some love. How can you not. Check out their setup below.
Wood Burning Grill
The menu is expansive and sitdown service is available but the chicken is what they boast about outside and it's what most people stopping thru for pickup are rolling in for. My visit was a couple months back but I got enough to feed three folks that can chow and couldn't believe the price, it was too cheap, I felt bad. The chicken being the highlight as advertised, it had some really nice wood flavor and was kicked up with the spice, it came grilled perfectly. Crispy skin, moist meat and plenty of warm corn tortilla's, grilled onions too.
Half of a Grilled Chicken Dinner (Rice, Beans and Fries included)
Since they grill up so much chicken they also have some specials like chicken tacos and flautas for $.99 which are popular with folks going into shop. These arent as good as the chicken dinner. The tacos were nice, they come with housemade salsa but the flautas are fried before and weren't crispy at all. But as cheap as they were I might even get a couple to chow on again if I ever stop in for some ingredients or a grilled chicken dinner. It's the places like Ricardo that keep Chicago running. I'm looking forward to exploring more of these Supermercado places this year.
Chicken Taco and Chicken Flautas
Entry into the Supermercado
Wood Grilled Chicken Adobo
Carniceria Ricardo
4419 W. Diversey Ave
Chicago, IL 60639
(773) 292-0400
Didn't realize you'd written up this place--I love it. I went on the crawl that Mike organized--it was my first LTH event--I knew NO ONE. LOVED Ricardo and try to go at least a few times a year--I usually bring back 2 whole chickens and freeze one for use in other things. SO good. Let me know if you head over there!!
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