Antique Taco

We saw Antique Taco recently mentioned on Check Please.  It looked fun and interesting and we wanted to try it.  We heard it can get crowded at night so we were able to get there for a super early dinner to avoid the crowds.

Pork Carnitas Tacos

Pork Carnitas Tacos with adobo rub and tamarind glaze, bacon, spinach, onion, avocado and queso fresco
Nice sauce and glaze on the pork.  Very good but a typical taco offering at these modern Mexican restaurants.

Garlic Shrimp Tacos with purple potato, black bean and edamame

Shrimp Tacos

We wish there could have been a few more shrimp in the tacos.  Halfway through eating the taco, Natalie had to check to make sure it was the shrimp taco because the 2 shrimp were located on the other half of the taco.  It had a surprisingly spicy flavor and was hearty with all of the vegetables.

Chili Cheese curds with chorizo chili, crema fresca and scallions
These were great.  Out of all of the dishes this was the most unique and fun.  If we were in the area we would definite go back for this dish for a good snack.  It elevated the concept of cheese curds  (kind of like the cheese curd version of poutine).

Chili Cheese Curds

Horchata milkshake - interesting concept but not quite thick like a milkshake would be .  It was runnier than we thought (therefore easier to drink and we drank it faster than a normal milkshake - so it didn't last very long).

Horchata Milkshake

Poptart - ice cream and chocolate and marshmallow, kind of like a dessert empanada/s'more.  Oeey gooey goodness but a little difficult to eat. (also did not last very long).

Final thoughts on Antique Taco:
Food - good and tasty not sure we would go out of way to go there again.  Like most places we eat at that are further away, we wish they were closer so we could go more often.
Service - you order your food at a counter and then it is brought out to your table.  They were observant and made sure to wait until we finished the tacos and cheese curds before bringing out the poptart which had ice cream in it.

Poptart

Atmosphere - lots of reclaimed wood and vintage signage throughout. Surprisingly they had real cloth napkins despite being a more casual and fast food type of place. There weren't that many people there at the time we were but they were all younger and probably from the neighborhood.

New Rebozo

We had eaten at New Rebozo a couple of years ago and have wanted to return for quite a while.  In the Chicago area, it has been featured on Chicago's Best and Check Please. It is located in Oak Park, but they are in the process of opening a location in Chicago.

Salads - Jicama, Cactus & Shrimp

We ordered an appetizer special of 3 different "salads" to go with tortilla chips.  One had jicama, pineapple and cucumber.  The second had cactus and pickled cabbage.  The third was a shrimp ceviche.  They were all great but the jicama salad was the best.

One of entrees we ordered was the entree special of pork with mole 2 ways: white mole with white chocolate, and red mole with chiles.  We were encouraged to try both of the moles on their own and then together. They were both pretty amazing. The white chocolate was sweet and smooth and the red mole was spicy, but not fiery.  The red mole had a great smoky flavor.  So together it was a sweet and smoky success.  This dish also came with mashed potatoes - not that this is a Mexican thing - but because the chef likes mashed potatoes.

Pork with White Chocolate and Red Chile Mole

We also ordered Camaron Mixteco - shrimp with a pumpkin seed mole.  This was a different kind of sauce.  It was good, but nothing could come close to the moles in the pork special.  This dish got a little messy because the tails were kept on the shrimp for presentation but you had to touch them (which were covered in sauce) to get to all of the shrimp "meat" out.

Shrimp with pumpkin seed mole

We love Chef Paco (the owner of the restaurant). He introduces himself to all of the tables and comes around to talk about the night's specials.  The way he describes them makes you of course want to order them. The other time we were here we only ordered specials as well. (maybe they don't need as much of a regular menu that way???)  On the regular menu there are several other types of moles but otherwise it seems like typical Mexican fare.

Final thoughts on New Rebozo:
Food: great food; the specials are always great.  This is a better more elevated Mexican food than what is typical. This restaurant specializes in moles so that is why we both ordered mole related entrees.
Service: now if Chef Paco wasn't as super nice and friendly as he is, the service would just be marginal.  The actual waiter we had was not that friendly and really didn't do a whole lot besides take our order and bring us water.  Chef Paco explains the specials and actually brought our food out to describe everything to us and he also brought out extra chips for the appetizer course we had. We weren't planning on ordering dessert but the waiter didn't even ask if we wanted anything he just brought out our check. Now the food here is great; but really the way Chef Paco makes you feel about being there and eating his food is what makes this place amazing. We wonder what will happen when the Chicago location opens and Chef Paco can't be part of the everyday operations of either location. (If you want to see a video of the chef interacting with customers go to the Check Please clip about this restaurant - we really can't do it justice talking about it.)
Atmosphere: We were there this time on a week night and it wasn't that busy. The last time we were there was on a weekend and it was very busy so you would definitely need reservations then.  There are lots of Mexican inspired pieces of art around the walls.

Topolobampo

Gaucamole

Well after going to Frontera Grill back in May we didn't think we would be back so soon to their sister restaurant Topolobampo.  But since we had a rare weekday off together and you don't need to make reservations months in advance for lunch (like you do have to do for dinner service) we decided to go.  Topolobampo is known for a higher level of service which we were hoping for after not that great of service at Frontera.

We made reservations less than a week in advance, but we really could have made them even closer to the date.  We had a reservation for 11:30 when the restaurant opens and we were the only ones in that room until noon.  You get to walk past the much busier and louder Frontera Grill and go past a door into a different more refined space. It was so nice to have the space ourselves for a half hour; it felt like such a luxury.  The waiter explained the favorite dishes and regions of Mexico they came from.

Chilpachole de Hongos

Before you get any other food you get a complimentary guacamole and chips dish. We've never had free guacamole before (usually salsa) but when you are at one of best Mexican restaurants in the country it's a little different.

For lunch they offer a 3 course fixed priced menus with limited options - but they were the options Natalie was wanting anyway (the soup, mole and tres leches cake) so she went with that and Nick went with items on the regular menu.

Tamal de Platano

Chilpachole de Hongos - wild chanterelles, butternut squash three ways, epazote, chilpachole (savory, silky broth infused with ancho and chipotle.  This soup tasted great and wonderful with all of the vegetables and spices. It is not something you would normally have at a Mexican restaurant but it was a gourmet surprise.

Tamal de Platano - plantain-malanga tamal, seared pork belly, spicy ancho-sesame sauce, jack fruit, heirloom runner beans.  This other first course was spicy but flavorful. It was such a wonderful mix of ingredients; we especially enjoyed the pork belly. It was a bit spicy with the ancho chile sauce, but nothing Natalie couldn't handle.

Lamb with Mole

Borrego en Mole Negro - wood-grilled Crawford Farm lamb leg, classic Oaxacan black mole (chilhuacle chiles and 28 other ingredients), corn husk-steamed chipil tamal, unctuous black bean, smoky green beans. The mole had a wonderful flavor.  The waiter told us that they have culinary students come help prepare the mole since it has so many ingredients in it. The lamb was tender and this dish was also served with corn tortillas to create tacos and mop up the remaining sauce.

Carne Asada

Carne Asada "Brava" - spicy habanero-marinated, wood-grilled Creekstone Natural ribeye, spicy salsa huevona (hand-crushed, grill-roasted tomatoes, jalapenos), grilled knob onions, and sweet corn tamal (topped with homemade sour cream and fresh cheese). This dish had a bit of a kick to it with the different chiles, but that heat was cut a bit with the cheese and sour cream.  We also made tacos with the carne asada and tortillas. It was nice and tender, not tough and chewy.  Both main entrees had completely unique tastes that were wonderful.

Tres Leches Cake

Pastel de Tres Leches y Avellana - classic tres leches cake infused with toasted hazelnuts, Oaxacan chocolate ice cream, vanilla-poached quince, housemade ricotta, hazelnut crumble & meringue two ways.  The cake was smooth not grainy (probably because of the ricotta in it).  The meringues that came with it were soft and it all was a great combination with the ice cream and fruit.

Crepas con Cajeta, Platano y Chocolate - warm, buttery crepes filled with ripe plantain & bittersweet chocolate, cajeta (goats milk caramel), caramelized plantain ice cream, toasted meringue, Spence Farm whole wheat crumble.  This was a great combo, especially for Nick because he loves chocolate and caramel.

Crepa con Cajeta

Final thoughts on Topolobampo:
Food - all of the food was amazing.  This restaurant elevates Mexican food to another level.  All of the food exceeded our expectations and we would eat it over and over.
Service - well this made up for the not as stellar service we had at Frontera back in May. The waiter was very friendly and explained the classics and favorites on the menu
Atmosphere - very serene; compared to the more chaotic Frontera Grill; also a definitely elevated experience as well; would prefer comping here again over Frontera but it is a bit more expensive (that is why we went there for lunch).

Interior of Restaurant

Uncle Julio's

Chips & Salsa

We went to dinner at Uncle Julio's in Lombard.  We had heard about this place from a few different friends. In Illinois they also have another location in Chicago as well as restaurants in Texas, Florida, Georgia and Washington D.C..

They bring out chips and salsa before your meal.  We had read some reviews where people loved the chips and we can see why.  They were very light and served warm.  The salsa that is served with the chips had a bit more of a kick to it than we would expect from this kind of place.

We ordered:
Fajitas Especial - with chicken, beef and grilled vegetables, with cheese, sour cream, guacamole, pico de gallo, rice and beans on the side. Typical fajitas; nice grilled items and good flavor. Nothing exotic or unique.

Fajitas Especial

Steak and Enchilada dinner - 6 oz carne asada, 1 cheese and onion enchilada with El Paso style red sauce, with rice, beans, guacamole and pico de gallo on the side (we used a couple of the tortillas from the fajitas to make tacos out of this as well). Typical Tex-Mex fare.

Final thoughts on Uncle Julio's:

Steak and Enchilada Dinner

Food - chips and salsa were definitely great.  The entrees themselves were good but nothing super spectacular.  Pretty typical of Mexican chain restaurants. With all of the more authentic Mexican options in the area, we probably wouldn't go back.
Service - a little slow at times - there was a family right next to us with 5 children that came after we got there so that kind of slowed up the service we received
Atmosphere - family friendly, there were 2 tables with multiple children very near us.  We were able to sit out on their patio because it was a nice night.

Frontera Grill

Ceviche Trio

We had to make our patronage to what some may say is one of Chicago's world renowned restaurants, Frontera Grill. It is one of three restaurants in Chicago run by Celebrity chef Rick Bayless of "Mexico: One plate at a time" and Top Chef Masters fame. The restaurant is so famous we made reservations almost 3 months in advance. For such a renowned place and higher priced resturant it was suprisingly casual and it's decore is much like any moderately priced Mexican resturant. That aside our dinner (i.e. food) was great.

Appetizers:

Meatballs a la Mexicana

Ceviche Trio: the trio included Frontera Ceviche (albacore, tomato, olive), Yucatecan Ceviche (shrimp, squid, orange, cucumber), Tropical Tuna Cocktail (big eye, avoado-tomatillo, mango salsa).  All served with tortilla chips.

- Frontera Ceviche: Hawaiian albacore, lime, tomatoes, olives, cilantro & green chile on tostaditas. 

Most traditional ceviche; the lime and cilanto made the tuna flavors dance on your tongue. This was Nick's favorite of the three ceviches.

- Tropical Tuna Cocktail: Sashimi-grade Hawaiian big eye tuna, tomatillo guacamole, honey Manila mango salsa. Also good. A little less traditional than most ceviches. The guacomole was on the bottom and you really needed a taste of the tuna, mango and guacamole all at once to get the dish - you really need all parts of the ceviche for the combination to hit the wow factor.   

- Yucatecan Ceviche: Steamed Mexican blue shrimp & calamari, lime, orange, habanero, avocado, jicama, cucumber & cilantro. Another more traditional ceviche. But due to the small size in the appetizer trio we only got two shrimp and a lot of thinly sliced calamari - which was ok but we were looking forward to more shrimp.

Meatballs a la Mexicana: Classic little Mexican pork meatballs, smoky tomato sauce, braised kale, poblano rajas, Kaskaskia cheese, served with corn tortillas (to make the dish into small tacos).  The meatballs had a great smoky flavor.  There was also a dash of sweetness.  It was a good starter for the two of us.

Entrees:

Mole Trio - pork (L), enchiladas, vegetables (R)

Mole Trio: 2 Mole poblano enchiladas, grill-seared pork in manchamanteles (chorizo, almond), roasted vegetables in green pumpkinseed mole (epazote).  

- Mole Poblano Enchiladas: Gunthorp free-range chicken, grill-roasted red onions.  

This was by far the spiciest dish of the night.  There was a hint of sweet with the chocolate in the traditional (albeit spicy) mole sauce.  The combination with the spice was amazing but be warned the dish is aggressive 

- Pork in Manchamanteles: Red chile-marinated Gunthorp pork loin, fruit-studded ancho-almond mole, sweet potato mash (ancho, bacon), braised kale, spicy chipotle pineapple, homemade chorizo.

This was definitely favorite dish of the whole night.  We would recommend to any one going to this restaurant to get this mole only instead of trio - especially since we really wanted to have more of it to eat.  The grilling of the pineapple brought out a lot of natural sugars.  The chipotle flavor wasn't that spicy but overall a great balance of flavors.
- Roasted Vegetables in green pumpkinseed mole.  The vegetables were asparagus and potatoes and it was a much milder mole sauce, to balance out the spicy mole enchiladas. On its own it might have been a little boring but it was nice presented with the other two mole dishes.  

Oaxacan-Style Carne Asada: Red chile-marinated Creekstone Natural Black Angus rib steak. Black beans, sweet plantains with homemade crema and guacamole

Carne Asada with sweet plantains

We heard about this dish from the Food Network show "The best thing I ever ate" (filled with envy episode)  It didn't disappoint.  The sauce with had a medium spicy flavor through the meat. The carne asada was wonderful in a corn tortilla with the gucamole and beans.  The fried plaintains came with homemade sour cream and fresh cheese.  The were definitely the best side dish of the night.  Not too thinly cut and not over cooked - the insides were warm with a light cruch on the outside

Dessert: 

Duo de Flanes: A duo of caramel custards: cream cheese-cajeta (goat milk caramel) & classic Mexican vanilla. Pecan polvoron cookies, cajeta drizzle. Both were great and wonderful sweet gooey custards.  Those that don't like flan don't know what they are missing.

Duo of flans

Final thoughts on Frontera Grill:

Food -  great! probably each dish can be found at the same qaulity at other authentic places here and there but not like Frontera all under one roof. We really enjoyed the pork mole, sweet plaintains and albacore and big eye ceviches (in that order).

Service - It was definitely slower than we were expecting.  Frontera Grill is not that large of a restaurant and there were a lot of servers so it was surprising that it took so long to get service sometimes.  We waited at least 10 minutes initially for a waiter to come to our table - so good thing we had an idea of what we wanted to order.  After that the service had spurts of being good and then spurts of no service - we would be checked in on by three people and then our water glasses would be empty for 10 minutes.  Now granted we seemed to have been seated by a wall so it was not easy for wait staff to check in or fill water.  But for a restaurant of this caliber we really had been expecting a lot more; so it really is a disappointment.  We heard that Frontera's sister restaurant Topolobampo just won the James Beard award for service so I guess we'll have to try that one sometime in the future.
Atmosphere - Frontera is much smaller than we envisoned and very casual; some people were in jeans and T-shirts and others were there for work dinners.  It is very difficult to get a reservation here so plan way in advance.

Xoco

On Friday night we had tickets to a musical in downtown Chicago therefore we couldn't go to a traditional sit down restaurant because there wouldn't have been enough time.  We chose to go to Xoco, a more casual quick service Mexican restaurant run by Rick Bayless.  The address is 449 N Clark Street, but you actually enter around the corner off of Illinois street.  It is right next to Rick Bayless's 2 other restaurants - Frontera Grill and Topolobampo. This is actually the second time we have been to this restaurant - the first time we went was over a year ago right before seeing another musical (do you sense a theme?).

Pepito Torta

Xoco offers quicker Mexican food - mostly tortas (sandwiches) and caldos (soups).  We ordered 2 tortas, drinks and dessert.
    The first torta was called "Pepito"; it had braised shortribs, caramelized onion, artisan Jack cheese, black beans and pickled jalapeno.  It was very tasty - the short ribs were tender and not chewy and all of the other ingredients paired nicely together. The meat to bread ratio was just right.

Fresh Orange Pineapple 

The second torta was called "Cochinita Pibil"; it had suckling pig, black beans, pickled onion, and habanero (which is specifically off to the side otherwise it would have been too spicy).  We didn't enjoy this one as much, maybe because it didn't have any cheese.  Actually it would have been better with a little more of the pig.

Cochinita Pibil Torta

We had our tortas served with fresh Orange Pineapple juice which was very refreshing and reminded us of the Tropics.

For dessert we had 3 freshly made hot churros with sugar and cinnamon.  These were accompanied by Almendrado hot chocolate - basically hot chocolate with almond milk.  Mexican hot chocolate isn't very sweet so we used the sugar that was coming off the churros to sweeten it a little. We also dipped our churros in the hot chocolate to get all the flavors at once.  It reminded Natalie of a her Spanish language textbook from elementary school which had the fanciful name "Churros Y Chocolate".
We enjoyed our first experience at Xoco a little better than this second experience. This second time we definitely liked the short ribs torta better than the suckling pig one - where the first time we liked both our tortas equally.  We don't remember which ones we ate back then.

 Churros and Hot Chocolate

The food at Xoco is a littler pricier than other more casual type restaurants but you are probably paying for it being affiliated with Rick Bayless. We plan to go to Frontera Grill in a few months and have already made reservations - we hear it that you have to book weeks/months in advance so we're being really safe.


Final thoughts on Xoco:
Food - tasty but overall for tortas sandwiches we prefer Cemitas Puebla
Service - You order your food at a counter and then are seated and your food is delivered to you.  Since we also ordered churros (dessert), it was nice that they waited until we were done with our tortas before serving the churros so they could be fresh and still warm.  The only thing that is delivered to your table is the food you order.  If you want water, you need to get it yourself at the counter.
Atmosphere - the seating is either at bar like counters or communal tables.  We got a communal table with other people at it.  So this is not the place for a private conversation, but Xoco has a fun casual vibe.

Los Olivos

Carne Asada Burrito

We ate lunch at Los Olivos, a Mexican restaurant we had heard about on Chicago's Best.  This restaurant does not have its own website but it does have a few reviews on yelp. It is located at 3400 W 31st Street in Chicago, between Pulaski and Kedzie in the Little Village neighborhood.  The menu consists of the typical Mexican cuisine offerings - tacos, burritos, enchiladas, gorditas, etc. Chicago's Best highlighted the burritos so that is what we ordered.  Nick got a chorizo and papa (potato) burrito and Natalie got a carne asada burrito with avocado.  All burritos come with cheese, sour cream, beans and lettuce.  We also ordered mango juice and horchata, a sweet rice beverage with cinnamon and vanilla.

Chorizo & Potato Burrito

The burritos are huge and made to order so they take more than 10 minutes to make, but they are well worth the wait. The tortillas as stuffed to capacity with fresh ingredients.  The chorizo and papa burrito had a great kick to it.  The carne asada burrito had a well balanced flavor and kicked any chain restaurant to the curb. Also the horchata was fresh and silky tasting.

We really liked the food but Los Olivos but it is only open until 4pm so it is not likely that we will be able to return any time soon. We went there on a rare weekday off work. This is another cash only establishment but the burritos are only between $5 and $6 so it doesn't break the bank.

Final thoughts on Los Olivos:
Food - great Mexican fare, very filling burritos, we'll take it over Chipotle any day
Service - polite and friendly, as quick as it could be for made to order food

Atmosphere - small interior, seating is limited to bar stools, seems to be a mostly carry out business.  You can call ahead and place your order to avoid any wait.

Cemitas Puebla

The main reason we went to Cemitas Puebla now is because we had a Living Social coupon (kind of like Groupon) that we wanted to use. We had been there over 2 years ago and had enjoyed it immensely - also it has been featured on all sorts of Chicago food shows and on the Food Network Diners, Drive Ins and Dives show.


Cheese Chalupas

Cemitas Puebla is located at 3619 W North Avenue in Chicago.  They are the only Mexican restaurant in Chicago serving cemitas, in fact they may be the only place outside of Mexico.  A cemita is a Mexican sandwich, originating from Puebla, Mexico.  It is different from a torta due to the type of sesame seed bread/roll it is served on.  At Cemitas Puebla you can get a cemita with various types of meats, avocado, chipotle peppers and Oaxacan cheese.

Our Living Social coupon included 2 cemitas sandwiches and an order of cheese chalupas. We picked the carne asada and the arabe (roasted pork) cemitas.  They were both great.  On the table there are 3 different types of salsa you can put on your food depending on how hot you want it.  The chalupas were corn tortillas with salsa verde and cheese on them.  If they hadn't been included in our deal we may have either ordered another cemita or a taco.

Roasted Pork Cemita

Final thoughts on Cemitas Puebla:
Food - great tasting food that is unique, it takes us 1/2 hour to get there (more if there is traffic) so we wish it were closer so we wouldn't be waiting 2 years between visits
Service - very quick, when you walk in the owner asks if you have been there before, if not he goes through the menu with you and explains what a cemita is and what they cooked for Guy Fieri when he was filming for Diners, Drive ins and Dives.  It is very nice, especially if you don't know what the restaurant is about

Atmosphere - order at a counter and then your food is brought to you, there is street parking in front or on the side streets.  Now on our second visit here we noticed that they have updated the flooring and the furniture so it looks a little classier inside.



Cane Asada Cemita