Mexican Restaurant Recommendations? Bonus points if you know who serves Green Chile is... (Chicago: restaurants)

[kidcharlemagne]

I was so sick of New Mexican food when I left New Mexico a year ago. It was basically 90% of restaurants in Albuquerque, and the other 10% weren't that great.

I have spent the last year trying every other kind of food I can and have been blown away... most of the time.

But lately, I have been missing New Mexican food. And its summer, the perfect time to eat a stuffed sopapilla or green chile enchiladas so hot they make you sweat.

I cannot find any restaurants that serve green chile, which would be New Mexican style food. Or really any restaurants that serve Mexican food that is HOT or with any flavor. What I have seen that I would like to avoid is jalapenos as the main "hot" ingredient, salsa that tastes like tomato sauce, or any place that spells posole: poZole.

I guess I am looking for Mexican food that is not for gringos.... like me, ironically.

Any recommendations?

[jonnynonos]

The only really good one I was aware of was Nuevo Leone, but it got hammered with some pretty nasty health code violations.

I see a Mexican friend of mine on FB going to what look like some pretty bad-a$$ places in Back of the Yards and Little Village but I haven't been able to try them yet.

[Dennis Schroeder]

try Flo in Noble Square

[emathias]

Since "pozole" is the more accepted Spanish spelling of the hominy-based soup I believe you're talking about (and a personal favorite of mine), I think it's a bit short-sighted that you'd avoid places that spelled it that way.

For Mexican food, personally I like La Casa de Samuel on Cermak just west of California. It doesn't have pozole, but it has other caldos and a number of dishes you don't see in Chicago very often.

For pozole, I actually really like the chicken pozole at Xoco. Lots of flavor in the broth and good ingredients. It is by and mostly for "gringos," but Rick Bayless knows his stuff.

You may also want to explore some of the Mexican places on 26th Street on the SW side. Very few of those are going to be gingo oriented, although they may be targeted to budget-conscious immigrants.

[marothisu]

Chicago has a huge Mexican population. It's not hard to find good Mexican food. Most of the good stuff exists on the Southwest side, but you can find other good stuff in areas like Avondale.

La Palapa is in a weird area but has the best Mexican seafood I've had in town. Birrieria Zaragoza semi near Midway has awesome goat tacos. Nuevo Leon in Pilsen is decent though IMO it's overrated for what you can get elsewhere.

26th Street is the epicenter of Mexican culture in Chicago (though there's other, small areas. 26th street is big). There are many people who might be afraid to go there as there's some gang stuff, but go during the day some weekend and whenever I've been there, it's been fine. A lot of families out and stuff.

This is an article about Rick Bayless talking about a few of his favorites in 2008:
Rick Bayless's Pilsen favorites

[Vlajos]

Originally Posted by marothisu

Chicago has a huge Mexican population. It's not hard to find good Mexican food. Most of the good stuff exists on the Southwest side, but you can find other good stuff in areas like Avondale.

La Palapa is in a weird area but has the best Mexican seafood I've had in town. Birrieria Zaragoza semi near Midway has awesome goat tacos. Nuevo Leon in Pilsen is decent though IMO it's overrated for what you can get elsewhere.

26th Street is the epicenter of Mexican culture in Chicago (though there's other, small areas. 26th street is big). There are many people who might be afraid to go there as there's some gang stuff, but go during the day some weekend and whenever I've been there, it's been fine. A lot of families out and stuff.

This is an article about Rick Bayless talking about a few of his favorites in 2008:
Rick Bayless's Pilsen favorites

La Palapa is delicious.