La Pasadita, Chicago, IL

One of the good things about graduate school is having the opportunity to travel to new places to present our research. On the downside, since we tend to be on the bottom of the academic totem pole, budget is a primary concern. As such, I found myself bleary eyed on the L from O'Hare to the Chicago Loop, having woken up at 5 AM to catch the most affordable early morning flight out of Pittsburgh to give a talk at a recent conference.

To make the commute longer, construction on a section of the L tracks required me to disembark the train, dragging my luggage onto a bus to complete the trip to my hotel. I was tired and cursing my decision not to take a cab, when a mural visible from my bus window at the intersection of Ashland, Division, and Milwaukee streets reminded me of the presence of La Pasadita, a series of three adjacent Mexican taquerias that I had enjoyed on a previous visit to the city.


Stomach now growling, I continued my way to my downtown hotel, only to be told my room wouldn't be ready for a few more hours. I left my bags at the front desk, and immediately hopped back on the shuttle towards the airport to La Pasadita to get some breakfast. By ten AM, I was the lone customer at the 1132 North Ashland joint. Not holding back, I ordered the super carne asada burrito, figuring that would satisfy my now raging hunger.

The ever-present taqueria tortilla chips were served with my drink, along with their two house salsas: green and black. I enjoyed a few chips while watching the morning shift set up the restaurant for the day, the waitresses and cooks flirting with one another, catching up on last night's gossip. The black salsa was particularly excellent, flavoured prominently with roasted peppers and garlic, searing my lips and tongue.


Before long, my burrito was served, and even though this wasn't my first La Pasadita burrito, I was impressed. The giant tortillas were expertly packed with loads of beef and rice, and perfectly proportioned quantities of lettuce, tomato, sour cream, grated cheese, refried beans, and guacamole. Unlike a lot of lazily packed burritos, these ingredients were evenly distributed such that every bite had a nice ratio of beef to everything else.


Having estimated the size of the impressive burrito to be almost 9 inches in length and 5 in diameter while tipping the scales at close to two pounds, I settled into a slow, comfortable pace, squirting a little of the hot salsa before each bite. Squirt. Bite. Squirt. Bite. I savoured the well-seasoned, nicely seared meat, and the garlicky guacamole. I was full after I had finished the first half, but persevered until my plate was empty.


The assembly proved not only to be flawless in its ingredient distribution, but in terms of structural integrity too. The foil-wrapped bomb didn't tear, didn't crumble, and didn't leak or spill a drop of its precious goodies.

La Pasadita is unique in that once its popularity proved to overwhelm their original location, they opened up a new branch, not in a different part of the city, but first two doors down, and then across the street to better serve their existing clientele. You can choose from one of three storefronts within 50 feet of one another, and regulars all seem to voice their preference. I'm told that during rushes, there are lines into all three locations.

By 11AM, the restaurant had slowly started to fill with a mix of hipsters getting breakfast and labourers eating lunch. I slowly waddled to the register to the pay my $10 tab, including tip. Not bad for enough calories to feed me for the rest of the day.

La Pasadita has three adjacent locations located at 1132, 1140, and 1141 North Ashland Avenue in Chicago, IL. All stores are open from 9AM to 3AM daily. You can check their website for more information and for individual store phone numbers.

Maxwell Street Market, Chicago, IL

On a recent frigid November weekend, my partner (in and out of dining adventure) Tamar and I found ourselves exploring Chicago. Due to Pittsburgh’s sad scarcity of quality Mexican offerings, when we get out of the ‘Burgh, we often crave food from south of the border. Hungry for lunch on Sunday afternoon, we set out on foot from our hotel in The Loop to find the Maxwell Street Market, which was alleged by a blurb in our travel guide to have a good selection of Mexican street food. Not the most scenic of walks, we did eventually reach our destination, which was not on Maxwell Street, but on S Desplaines Street between Harrison Street and Roosevelt Road.

We were first bombarded not by food smells, but tables of power tools, used DVDs, sweat socks, and random junk (used juke box, anyone?) for sale from a collection of dodgy-looking flea market vendors. Starving and cold, we made a beeline down the street to the first person selling anything we could eat. This happened to be the churrero slinging his warm dessert fare. Bypassing the versions filled with strawberry or chocolate, we ordered a churro natural. It was homemade, with a nice crisp shell and a soft, chewy core. Slightly sweet from the sugar in which it was rolled, Tam proclaimed it perfect to take the edge off her hunger.


Our next stop was the elote vendor. Ever since eating this hand-held food on the side of a road outside of Puebla in Mexico, I can rarely eat corn any other way. This version was grilled and then slathered in mayo, disgustingly delicious squeezable imitation butter product and sprinkled with grated cheese and lots of ground chile pepper. A work of art! Unfortunately, this is an item that is more enjoyable in warm weather, when the mayo-butter shell does not quickly approach freezing temperatures.


Our appetite was sufficiently whetted, so after exploring our options, our next stop was a taqueria stall where we could sit at the end of a bar and watch tacos being made to order in the outdoor kitchen right in front of us. We were sitting downwind of the barbacoa meat, which was eminating a huge cloud of steam. I’ll gladly take that humid, meaty warmth instead of a space heater on a cold day. Tantalized by the smell, I ordered two tacos con barbacoa, while Tam had hers filled with grilled chorizo. Con cebollo y cilantro? Of course. Bowls of lime wedges, hot peppers, and red and green salsas were on the bars for us to use as we pleased. With a few squeezes of lime juice and a splash of hot salsa, the moist, tender, fatty barbacoa meat made the perfect comfort food.


Shoulder to shoulder with other diners wrapped in hooded parkas, breath condensing in the cold air with each uttered word, basking in the shadows of some of the world’s most famous skyscrapers… it hit me that it’s unlikely that there is any other place in the world where I could have enjoyed this experience.


After a few non-food acquisitions of estate jewelry and some used LPs, we searched for some hot chocolate to try and warm our frigid hands. Our styrofoam cup was nicely spiced, rich, and frothy, but unfortunately felt like it had been sitting outside as long as we had (close to two hours at this point) and was barely lukewarm.

Desperate for warmth, we made one last food stop, which undoubtedly the tastiest of all. We ordered a quesadilla con mole rojo. The tortillas were hand-made moments earlier, the cold balls of masa pressed until flat and grilled on a wide hot plate before being folded over with a thick slab of cheese until nicely melted. To order, our quesadilla was pried open and filled with a thick Oaxacan-style red mole dotted with small cubes of stewed pork. We sat at one of the tables inside the tent set up to keep diners warm and traded bites of deliciousness. The spiciness of the mole was complex and persistent, without being overpowering. Each bite balanced the freshly grilled tortilla, rich mole, and gooey, melted cheese. It was the perfect end to a memorable lunch.


The two of us shared some of the best Mexican street food found in the USA from five stalls for under $20. The Maxwell Street Market is located on S Desplaines Street between Harrison Street and Roosevelt Road, Chicago, IL. It is open from 7AM to 3PM every Sunday. Cash only.