Smokin' Chokin' and Chowing with the King: Especialidad de la Casa Pt. 13

Monday, March 10, 2025

Especialidad de la Casa Pt. 13

-Grubbing in Chicago
Five of a Kind: Specialty of the House Series

In his weekly newsletter roundup of Chicago food writing, Michael Gebert at Fooditor (sign up HERE) wondered last week if the next great Mexican dining find in Chicago had yet to be uncovered. He wondered if it hasn’t due to the fact the Tribune no longer has much of a food presence. He did give props to me mentioning I’m always on the prowl and I can verify that - but I can also verify that it’s been rather quiet of late. Not bc Nick is no longer on the beat but bc it’s just not an exciting time for Mexican food in Chicago in the way it's been with South Asian food of late - in part bc Mexican food had its coming out party more than a decade ago during the heyday of LTHforum in the mid 2000’s and beyond. It’s the reason I haven’t done any of these specialty of the house posts in over a year, because there just hasn’t been a ton of interesting Mexican to uncover. That said I plan on taking another deep dive this summer as it’s been a couple years since I last scoured the south side for street food and what not. But as far as the taquerias and restaurants go I’ve still been checking out new spots but I haven’t had much luck finding the next Asian Cuisine Express or Minna’s Restaurant as it took me over a year to collect today’s five spots - each is worth a stop for the house specialty.

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Aztlan Mexican Grill (Albany Park)

Albany Park is full of low key Mexican restaurants that almost exclusively serve the neighborhood itself. Most of them look just like Aztlan Mexican Grill which is a small family owned spot on Montrose. Thus it can be tough to figure out which one to go to and what to get but there’s always clues. In the case of Aztlan those clues were found in both the menu and online reviews. The menu is deep with all of the typical Mexican favorites ranging from tortas to burritos but there’s a note next to the quesadilla section stating that their 8 inch quesadillas are hand made and if you look at the pictures of them online they look legit - and they are. I don’t eat a ton of quesadillas anymore but I still enjoy one from time to time and the next time the taste for one comes I'm heading straight to Aztlan where they load up thick hand made tortillas with a number of interesting fillings including an alambre (steak, bacon, pepper, onion, melted cheese) but there’s something about a chicken quesadilla with guacamole that I love - I rarely get chicken at Mexican restaurants but the combination of tinga with hot melted cheese and cold and creamy guacamole is comfort food I trace back to my childhood at TBP or Taco Burrito Palace a long gone MExican restuarant on Halsted I ate at for more than a couple decades before it's closing. TBP had great quesadillas and I commonly got the chicken with a side of guacamole but the ones at Aztlan are much better with a strong masa taste thanks to the made from scratch tortilla.

Quesadilla at Aztlan Mexican Grill
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Barca Restaurant (Portage Park)

Next stop is a spot that was originally featured in the Tribune back in 2022 when it was named one of the 32 best Mexican restaurants in the city. Barca Restaurant is family owned spot specializing in birria tatemada, which the family matriarch learned to make growing up in San Jose Casas Caidas, Jalisco. Nick Kindlesberger describes it in his story: “Instead of cooking the meat in a large pot until finished, the goat is simmered part of the way before being removed and slathered in chile paste made with ancho and guajillo chiles. It’s then roasted until the outside starts to char from the high heat.” I had forgot about this spot which I visited over a year ago so I'm due for a return visit very soon. The goat tacos from here are served on handmade tortillas and come with a trio of excellent salsas that truthfully aren't even needed thanks to all the flavor induced from the chile pastes but I found the addition of the salsa verde elevated these to 1st tier status - one of the best tacos in town.

Birria Taco at Barca Restaurant
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Cecina Grill (Pilsen)

This 18th Street Cecina estilo Guerrero specialist isn't new but they updated their menu recently and it now includes one of the city's top tacos in the form of the 'Taco Mejica' which features sliced cecina (dry cured beef) loaded into a soft and sturdy made to order corn tortilla blessed with a glistening cheese crust and topped with a dollop of guacamole which is what brings the whole thing together.

Taco Mejica at Cecina Grill
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Carniceria Maribel (Pilsen)

Nobody does hot dog and hamburgers as good as the United States and nobody comes close but Mexico is a distant second. Our love for hot dogs and hamburgers has traveled south to Mexico where they have a culture all of their own. Street food stands across the country load up bacon wrapped hot dogs and mesquite grilled burgers with a ton of toppings making them a custom experience. I always have to get at least one burger or hot dog when I'm in Mexico and I usually do so after a few rounds of drinks so that the booze can soak up all of the grease. Carniceria Maribel is a popular taqueria / butcher / liquor store in Pilsen that I've featured on here a few times before. They have good tacos. I like the grilled steak options as the butcher stocks some quality carne asada for backyard barbecues and such. At some point between my last two visits they put a cheeseburger de la casa on the menu. It starts with a 6/1 ground in house beef patty dressed with grilled jalapeno + onions, chipotle mayo and melted Chihuahua cheese and its very fairly priced at $10 with fries.

Cheeseburger de la Casa at Carniceria Maribel
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Querrepario (Archer Heights)

Comida de Guerrero is popping up all over the Chicagoland area. I don’t have exact numbers but there’s clearly a large number of Mexicans in Chicago with connections to the Southwestern Mexico State based on all of the Guerrerense restaurants that have opened over the last handful of years. Most of these spots are on the city’s Northwest side. Querrepario Mexican Kitchen is on 47th street in the heart of Archer Heights. It been on my radar for a bit before I finally got the chance to check it out last April and it was worth the wait so to say. Pictured below is the ‘Querrepario Platter’ which comes with an array of antojitos including one picadita, two chicken chalupas, two tacos dorados con pollo (with green sauce) and I switched out the quesabirria for a Taco Torreado - a cheese stuffed pepper with cecina and guacamole on a made to order corn tortilla. Each of these regional snacks was as good as the last and I feel like this place would've been a hit with the old LTHforum crowd and others like previously mentioned former Tribune food writer Nick Kindlesberger so maybe this is the place Fooditor's Michael Gebert is looking for or maybe those days of those type of finds are dwindling.