
Chicago's food scene has won plenty of attention for its pizza and hot dogs, but I have often thought that the city's greatest unsung achievement is its Mexican food. Sure, we may not be in Texas or Southern California, but it is nearly impossible to throw a rock without hitting a corner taqueria in this town. We have legions of roving
Tamale Guys who satiate our drunken cravings for tamales out of ziplock bags. We have
Maxwell Street Market, where street food is served with the excitement of an open-air bazaar. Then, we have Mexican titan
Rick Bayless to cover the haute gourmet end of things as well. Take that, San Diego.
However, fancy 30-ingredient mole sauce is not the reason we are gathered here today. Instead, we are here to celebrate the classic taco, elegant in its simplicity, difficult to master. With all the taco joints around town, how do you separate the fresh tomatillos from the canned? I will not pretend to have exhaustive knowledge of the city's taquerias, but here are two of my favorites, which happen to be conveniently located within a couple blocks of each other.
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