tecalitlan restaurant

Great picture, I know.

12:55 a.m.

Hungry.

Been at Lollapalooza all weekend.

Free drinks. Free.

Julia, Paul, Glen and I decide to make a stop at Tecalitlan Restaurant. It’s Mexican. It’s open until 2:00 a.m. Let’s do this!

We sit down, looking around.

“Our kitchen is closing. If you guys order now, we can put it in, otherwise the kitchen will be closed,” explained our server, politely.

Paul was immediately out. He knew they were going to spit in our food or rub our tortillas on their undesirables. But, after a little coaxing, he agreed to stay and order. We all felt a little nervous, knowing some of the horrific things some of our friends have done in their days working in a kitchen.

It was a little weird that they were packing up an hour before they closed. But, when they said that we couldn’t get chips because they were packed up for the night, we knew it was a little weird. What kind of impenetrable storage containers are they using to hold these chips overnight?

They did bring out a bottle of salsa verde that the server said they were “able to squeeze out”. We didn’t ask. We assumed the worst and hoped for the best.

I quickly orderd a carne asada, a chorizo and an al pastor taco.

The carne asada taco is alright. It’s nice and charred, but a little dry. They double up the tortillas here, so a dry meat isn’t exactly desirable, but at least the flavor is good.

The chorizo is very similar. It’s house made and has good intentions, but comes up a little dry. Too bad because the spices and paprika are flavorful in the sausage.

Stop me if you’ve heard this before….The al pastor taco has some nice flavor. It is sweet, smoky and spicy – all important in the al pastor world. BUT, it is a bit dry.

Needless to say, this place is a little dry. Maybe a nice loogie in my tacos would have moistened them up a bit…

NOW, I will take about 5% of the responsibility for this trip because we came in late at night, but I still think they should

Looks good, donut?

have been a little more prepared for us (please remember, I am a taco diva…).

Herearethedetails:

• Location:  1814 W. Chicago Ave., Chicago, IL (Ukranian Village)
• Tourists:  Josh, Julia, Paul, Glen
• Tacos sampled:  carne asada, chorizo and al pastor (also have picadillo, aguacate, pollo, pierna del puerco, vegetariano, pescado, chile relleno and lengua)
• Toppings:  onions and cilantro; tomato and lettuce
• Salsa: salsa verde
  
• Extras: chips (although, they were “packed up” when we were there)
• Tortillas: corn
• Atmosphere:  empty, liars, probably spit in our food, ready to go home, late
  
• Price:  $2.25-$2.65/taco
  
• OVERALL RATING:  6.5