Post Punk Kitchen Forum

In everywhere I've lived in the US and visited (Chicago included), every grocery store has an aisle that has hispanic food items. Corn tortillas can be bought at most urban/suburban grocery stores. Chicago also has a fairly large hispanic population so they probably also have hispanic grocery stores. If you specify near where you'll be, someone might be able to help you locate one.

I'll be staying in a downtown hotel.

Chicago does indeed have a big (several! big) hispanic populations. In both the neighborhood where I live and the neighborhood where I work (Logan Square/Pilsen), awesome fresh corn tortillas from tortillerias in the city are very prevalent. Often you can get them still warm in their paper wrappings from the tortilleria. However, they are super basic in their ingredients and don't have preservatives- I don't think they'd travel very well. They usually get moldy and/or extremely stale after only a few days. We also have excellent tortilla chips (both El Milagro and Ranchero) that are made here by those same tortillerias; those might travel better.

Pilsen is also just an awesome neighborhood, and not that far from downtown. (Probably no more than 15 minutes by pink line, depending on exactly where your hotel and the part of Pilsen you're going are.) Maybe you should visit the neighborhood and incorporate some grocery shopping...I love the grocery store La Casa del Puebla at 18th/Blue Island/Loomis. Not only do they have fresh tortillas and similar things, but they also have a bunch of vegan-specific stuff (so many flavors of tofurkey! vegenaise! daiya!) It's like the best combination of cheap Mexican bodega and all the junk food from a health food store- like they made it just for me!

That grocery store sounds exactly what I am looking for! Basically normally on our last day in the country we go food shopping so that'll be perfect! Where is your favourite Mexican Chicago place to eat?

I also wanted to say that if you are interested, there are Trader Joe's in the Chicago area. I used to travel frequently to Chicago and I always enjoyed it.

Mmm, my favorite Mexican place is called El Faro, they are a pretty traditional Mexican diner kind of place BUT they have a vegetarian menu! They have a tofu scramble with beans and rice and a million tortillas that is pretty yummy but basic, but is a fuckton of food for less than $4, and a bunch of carne de soya tacos that are the best! And I think a soy torta and filets and other things. They also have some yummy juice combos. During the week they have a different vegetarian combo of entree + juice every day. I would go there way more often but it's not on my way hardly anywhere anymore- it's over at 31st and Pulaski, and I used to go there all the time when I visited Chicago because friends that I would stay there with lived nearby there. Then my friends moved to the North side into an apartment with me when I moved here, and now I only go there once or twice a year. Sad. I wish I could tell you other things to do in that area, but if you're up for a bit of a ride to have the best tacos ever, then I highly recommend it.

There's also an all-vegetarian Mexican place in Logan Square/Bucktown on Western at Fullerton called Quesadilla. They're alright but very Daiya-heavy, and definitely don't have the same place in my heart as El Faro. Maybe I just haven't gotten the right things there, though?

In general I'm a fan of good house-made sopes- if you go to any old Mexican place in Pilsen I'm sure they'll be able to serve you delicious sopes piles with beans, rice, lettuce, tomato and avocado. I'm not sure about the veganness of most places' beans and rice though.

Another thing you should try if you've never had it is huitlacoche. I've seen it in some taquerias and they also have it at my local Mexican supermarket. I was intimidated at first but it's actually pretty mild and delicious, and it gets bonus points from me for being so weird. (In Mexico it's considered a delicacy but in the U.S. lots of corn farmers view it only as a blight and call it "corn smut".)

That's one of the things I have on my list to try!!! Thanks for all the info. I need to plan some travelling routes.

I'm going to close this general thread, so you can make new threads in this new forum!

If there are any Chicago threads I missed from the Midwest forum, please report them so I can move them here!