Unknown to most, Chicago is home to the best Mexican food in the world – even better than Mexico. This may be a tough concept to swallow for many, but it is true. How does Chicago have the best Mexican food in the world? There are several reasons. The city of Chicago alone has over 3 million residents. Of those, 750,000 of them are of Mexican decent. That’s not even counting the additional 1 million Mexicans in the suburbs.
With such a high Mexican population, Chicago has no need for those all-inclusive shitty Tex-Mex restaurants claiming to be “authentic Mexican food” like all the other cities in the world. While there are still plenty of shitty Tex-Mex restaurants, most only concentrate on a specific region of Mexico while still having a few Americanized classics like nachos and burritos. Aside from regional concentration, Chicago also has the 2nd largest availability of fresh, high-quality ingredients from all over the world next to New York City. Fuck New York! Chicago’s Mexican food scene also reaches outside of the box with non-traditional food and other regional takes on their cuisine from other places in the US.
Regional Cuisine:
Nuevo Leon in Chicago’s Pilsen neighborhood is a prime example of regional Mexican cuisine. It also happens to be the #1 rated sit-down Mexican restaurant in the entire world. No matter what time of day, there is always a line out the door and down 18th Street. Nuevo Leon’s food is inherent of the state of Nuevo Leon in central Mexico – home to the city of Monterrey. Everything is made completely from scratch and cooked in lard like real Mexican food should be. Tortillas are made in-house and also sold in packs at the front counter. Half of their menu includes Monterrey-specific regional foods while ¼ has Mexican favorites like enchiladas and the other ¼ is your basic Tex-Mex food. This is not the type of place where you order a bunch of stupid tacos and burritos because they won’t be that great. Take a walk on the wild side and order their regional specialties. It will be the best you will find anywhere.
Roasted Pulled Pork from Maya del Sol
Maya del Sol in the near-west suburb of Oak Park is another great example of regional Mexican food in Chicago. Maya del Sol serves a large selection of southern Mexican dishes along with a few spins on traditional Mexican food. Southern Mexican cuisine is one not commonly found at Mexican restaurants, which makes this place somewhat unique. Mayan cuisine is very gritty, simplistic, and not very appealing to the eye. Maya del Sol’s preparation takes an otherwise unattractive regional cuisine and turns it into something beautiful and more delicious than anything found in Mexico.
New Age Mexican Cuisine:
Ahi Tuna with Negro Mole from Frontera Grill
Chef Rick Bayless is one of the most famous chefs in the US, and founder of Frontera Grill – the top rated new age Mexican restaurant in the world. Bayless is a culinary genious. He spent several years in Mexico and Chicago’s Pilsen neighborhood learning all about traditional mexican cuisine. With the knowledge he gained from working alongside Mexico and Chicago’s top Mexican chefs, he added a new age, fine dining spin on traditional Mexican. He takes traditional ingredients and recipes and combines them with modern-day ingredients and methods.
Adaptations of other Mexican-American cuisines:
Taco Sampler from De Cero Taqueria
De Cero Taqueria in Chicago’s West Loop neighborhood is an example of taking Mexican-American regional specialties from other places in the US and doing it better. After all, California is the land of fruits and nuts. They don’t know anything about food. De Cero features California-style tacos done right. If you aren’t familiar with California-style tacos, they are usually made from non-traditional meats like duck confit, panko-crusted tilapia, braised lamb, and chipotle braised beef. Instead of the usual cilantro, lime, and onion, they use new age toppings like pickled red onions, cucumber crema, slaw, and radishes. These tacos are truly unique to California’s culinary scene, but Chicago does it better. Sorry California, but maybe you should just stick with your fruits and nuts.
About the author:
Harrison Jones is the author and webmaster at the Chicagoland Food Blog and Bizarre Foods of the World. He is an internet marketing strategist by day, Chicago culinary, history, and culture writer by night. You can follow him on Twitter @hgjones2.
18 Comments
Hmm… I’ve lived in Chicago my entire life & have been to every one of these restaurants. Only one I can’t get behind is Nuevo Leon. It’s more like 4am drunk Mexican food; it’s not very good. My Mexican friends here in Chicago agree.
Nuevo Leon is one where you have to know what to order. Most of the non-Monterrey foods aren’t anything special. Their tacos just downright suck! They cook everything in lard, which very few Mexican restaurants still do and that’s a bit much for most people. I actually prefer it even though you can feel your arteries hardening after eating it lol. I would recommend trying the Asado de Puerco next time, and you’ll see how truly amazing Nuevo Leon really is.
Ok, IF I give it another chance, I’ll try the Asado de Puerco. But more importantly, what’s your favorite place in Chicago for mole?
Mole is really something you won’t find good in a restaurant. I live in a Mexican neighborhood, and have lived in Mexican neighborhoods most of my life. The best mole always comes from the kitchens of families who have passed on mole recipes through several generations. Once you have a 200 year old mole recipe, you will never want to order it in a restaurant because it just won’t be the same. I honestly never really order it anymore.
I take that back about mole in restaurants… try the Tamale Spaceship food truck. I just had it last night and it was one of the best mole sauces I have ever had! And the guy working the truck dresses like a luchadore!
I have had the mole from Tamale Spaceship and I agree, it is amazing! I’m not Mexican, nor do I pretend to be, so I don’t know how to make mole and no one will make it for me. Humph. Guess I just have to go to Mexico again.
http://www.bizarreworldfoods.com/mole-sauce/
This is one of my other blogs, and it has a real mole sauce recipe on it. It’s actually a recipe from Master Chef contestant David Martinez, who is from the Back of the Yards neighborhood.
Oddly, while living in Monterrey for a year, I found the Applebee’s there significantly better than any of the Applebee’s in the US/Canada that I have been too.
Have you been to Mexico? I mean, all around Mexico? Their foods are complex and hugely varied all around the country. Are you Mexican? It’s amazing the authority you command. I’d love to hear what you have to say about the food of another nation compared to what is offered in Chicago.
I grew up in Mexico and California. I can’t say that the Mexican eateries I have frequented in California have *ever* presented the types of tacos you describe. Maybe this is where your limited knowledge shows. What narrow generalizations you make.
Of course nothing will ever compare to home cooking in Mexico, but there are many reasons Chicago has better Mexican restaurants than Mexico. The biggest reason is our availability of all the fresh produce and ingredients common in Mexican cuisine. We also have a strong import/export market, so these ingredients are available year-round. It gives us much more options with flavors and ingredients. Most chefs in Chicago spend a few years in Mexico learning from families and restaurants, then returning up here to improve and perfect the dishes. Food experts from all around the world including Andrew Zimmern have stated many times the Mexican food in Chicago is far superior to that of Mexico.
The California tacos mentioned at De Cero are referring to those trendy, new-age type places in California. Kind of like how California has their own type of pizza with unusual ingredients, some taquerias there have popularized unusual toppings. Of course California mostly has your basic pizza and tacos. The tacos at De Cero are a take on a trend started in California.
YES Frontera Grill! Mmmmm….
now you have jsut made me hungry for Mexican!
I have never been to Chicago but I cannot believe it’s better than Mexico.
Hi Harrison,
Great list here. I doubt that Chicago has better Mexican food than Mexico, as I’ve stayed at Mexico for 1 year and most of their Mexican dishes are much better than Dallas ones. Anyway, I’m willing to try them out on my next Chicago trip. Thanks for the article! Will definitely write some reviews after the trip 🙂
Regards,
Jenstine
Considering the fact that Mexico City is often ranked among the top cities to eat in the world, including the fact that two of its restaurants are ranked among the top 50 (Chicago only has one, and it is not Mexican) I completely disagree with your article. I don’t doubt Chicago has some great restaurants, but a little travelling in areas of Mexico such as Merida, Puebla, Oaxaca and other cities including the already mentioned Mexico City, you will quickly find out that Mexican is far more complex and unique then what you think. Sorry, the best place to eat Mexican is, wait for it, MEXICO!
Yeah, because Andrew Zimmern – the host of Bizarre Foods and a guy born and raised with no Latino connection – obviously knows everything about Mexican food.
Also, you can’t say it has the “Best Mexican Food” then turn around and back that up with “New Age” food where Chicago “thinks outside the box.” Ethnic cuisine is by default traditional, they’re foods that reprsent their country/reion of origin and the people who made and survived off them – New Age, trendy food does not count as “Mexican” so much as Mexican-fusion. That’s apples to oranges. As far as access to “all the world’s ingredients” well the Aztecs (and other peoples) and Mexicans didn’t ship in fish from Japan or cheese from Europe so that’s a moot point. A chef spending a couple years is also no big deal. Sure, it’s nice to gain some individual competency in certain dishes or styles but a couple years does not amount to complete mastery and authority over a single dish, let alne a regional cuisine. Similarly, Anthropologists know they will never be fully a part of their subjects’ culture even after investing years in field work.
Also, I’d just like to point out the fact that it just isn’t wise to stake your claim over an entire people’s culture, especially when you’re not from that culture. You offend people as you did me and others who’ve posted. No, Chicago does not do Mexican food (restaurants) as good as Mexico and never will. How about this. I live and was born in the Bay. SF makes better Chicago-style pizza than Chicago. I don’t represent Chi-town culture and am definitely not a citizen but I know a person born there so that gives me the right to say that.
See how ridiculous that sounds?
Looks yummy! I was just telling someone the other day that I have found that ethnic food in the U.S. is better than in the country of origin. The only exception might be Thailand. Mexican , French, Italian you name it, I think it’s better in the the U.S. #JustSayin’ 🙂
I haven’t had a good burrito since I moved to Chicago. The Mexican food in California is far superior to the Mexican food in Chicago.