Which sign do you believe?
Taco El Jaliscience, or Taco El Jalscience, depending on which of their signs you believe to be correct, is a well-yelped taco joint on a lonely corner in Humboldt Park. Its al pastor taco was named the best in Chicago by CLTV and WGN. I’m not sure what year. The sign is very vague. So, I rounded up a bad-ass posse and headed down to the Puerto Rican/hipster neighborhood.
Julia (my princess) and I picked up David (a graphic designing, song writing, thunderous singing, album designing, penny pinching, athletic training, movie watching, web nerd) and Summer and Dawn (sisters who are ex-Venus Swimwear models from Florida).
Not only is the building isolated on a corner, but the inside is rather lonely as well. Counting the five people we had, there were five total patrons in the place while we were there. How could a place with such accolades from CLTV and WGN be so lonely? Maybe we showed up at the wrong time.
Or maybe it’s that the tacos aren’t as good as advertised. While they are pretty decent, they shouldn’t be included on anyone’s top list of anything. The al pastor is definitely the best taco there, but not the best al pastor in the city. It has nice seasoning and carmelization from the spit, but is a little on the dry side. The pineapple and onion aren’t as pronounced as they are on other al pastor tacos either.
The carne asada taco is very average. I didn’t taste much seasoning and it too is a little dry. The chicharron is overdone and dry as well. The chorizo tastes like it comes from one of those grocery store greasy chorizo tube thingys. Uh.
This fish on the pescado taco is pretty good. It is seasoned well and cooked well. The problem is that there isn’t anything else on the taco. No sauce. No cabbage. No relish. Just the fish.
This place is like when one of your friends tells you they listen to this new awesome band that will melt your face off. This band will destroy your perception of what music even is. They will….yadi-yadi-ya. Then, you go see the band and they are pretty decent at best. They can’t live up to the hype. While El Jaliscience may be decent on its own, my expectations were too high and it disappointed.
They aight.
Such is life on the taco tour.
P.S. – the gucamole is pretty darned good….
- Location: 2859 W. Chicago Ave., Chicago, IL (Humboldt Park)
- Tourists: Josh, Julia, David, Summer, Dawn
- Tacos sampled: carne asada, al pastor, chorizo, chicharron and pescado (also have pollo, molida, chorizo con huevos, vegetariano, tripa, cecina, lengua, lomo encebollado and chile relleno)
- Toppings: onions and cilantro, lime, jalapeno
- Salsa: salsa verde and salsa roja
- Extras: chips
- Tortillas: corn
- Atmosphere: byob, parking, lonely corner, sublime (the band) sun, religious candles, spelling confusion, “OVER-RATED – DUH, DUH, DUH,-DUH,-DUH” (you know, like the high school basketball chant)
- Price: $2.36-$2.75/taco
- OVERALL RATING: 7.0
taco tourist 