Cazuela de Mariscos - North Clark St.

Today we were visiting some garage sales today in Rogers Park and the boss and I decided to visit the neighborhood in the 6800 block of N. Clark. She grew up in the area and was amazed as to how much it's changed and this was my first visit. We spent some time staring at the menus posted on many of the restaurant storefronts (like my waistline needs it). It was close to lunch and we decided to give one of these places a try.

We are still sad at the closing of Tacos del Pacifico in far south Chicago so when we saw tacos de pescado and camaron on the menu, we decided to give Cazuela de Mariscos at 6922 N. Clark a try.

We walked in and noticed a sign directing guests to outdoor seating. We asked if the patio was open and we were invited to sit there. (Not enough Mexican with outdoor dining IMHO).

The boss ordered two tacos de camaron and I ordered two tacos de pescado and we decided to share a cocktel de campechana.

The cocktel was a generous blend of shrimp, crabmeat, octopus and avocado.

We both enjoyed our respective tacos (soft shell) although I encountered a few bones in the fish. I am not as squeemish but I do wish a little more thorough job is done in cleaning the fish meat of all bone. Wouldn't want to swallow one of those.

Cazuela does allow BYOB for a charge of 0.50 pp for up to 6 beers. If there is more than 6 beers then there is a charge of $5 for the table. This is explained on the menu.

We plan to return soon for full dinners. We were very happy with our experience.

La Cazuela is a long time favorite here. They do a nice job, and Dona Lolis is right next door.

http://www.lthforum.com/bb/viewtopic.ph ... 14535dbe27

As I mentioned in the linked thread, they make a great pulpo

We went to La Cazuela tonight for the first time in quite a while. On the whole, it was pretty good. Unfortunately I didn't get any pictures because my battery ran down (bad LTHer).

The ceviche tostada was fresh, with a generous helping of fish, but the ceviche was sort of bland, and a little chewy. I also got a fish taco which was ok, but not a "baja" style taco. Rather, it was chunks of fish sauteed with onions. Again, the serving was generous and the fish was pretty tasty, but I think it was catfish.

For entrees we had Pulpo en Salsa Picante and Huachinango al Mojo de Ajo. Both of these were excellent. The baby octopi were perfect, tender but still firm. The sauce was picante as advertised, but just short of tear-inducing, and had a nice flavor. The largish snapper was the star of the show with moist flesh, crispy skin and big chunks of garlic. Very tasty. The only complaint I had was that the rice was old and a little dried out. We got there late, and they were obviously scraping the bottom of the pot. The service was very friendly and pleasant. I am glad we went back to La Cazuela. It had sort of dropped off the radar in the last few years (after a so-so meal), but I think it redeemed itself tonight and earned a spot back in the neighborhood rotation.

d4v3 wrote:I also got a fish taco which was ok, but not a "baja" style taco. Rather, it was chunks of fish sauteed with onions. Again, the serving was generous and the fish was pretty tasty, but I think it was catfish.

I like La Cazuela. Last time I was there, the fish tacos were tilapia. Have they changed the fish they use?

nr706 wrote:I like La Cazuela. Last time I was there, the fish tacos were tilapia. Have they changed the fish they use?

I might have been mistaken, but it was a fresh water fish. I had originally considered the catfish as my entree, but went with the pulpo instead, so maybe they made my taco with catfish. I thought they used to use perch (which can be anything). Anyhow, it was pretty good.

zim wrote:As I mentioned in the linked thread, they make a great pulpo

Something funny happened to me this afternoon. I was in NE Evanston and needed to move my car because of a 2-hour parking limit. I intended to move my car just down the block and return to my office, but somehow I ended up in Rogers Park for an early lunch of tostadas at La Cazuela. I have really no idea how that happened! Anyway, I thought I'd contribute a [somewhat blurry] photo to this thread of the tostada de pulpo. I had never had one of these there before. I was pleased with what I ate though it seemed markedly different from the one in Gary's photo in this thread. My tostada was made primarily of the tentacle ends and seemed to be "cooked" longer than the version GWiv shot. It was very tasty. For a change, I actually didn't mind moving my car today!

Tostada de pulpo

happy_stomach wrote:Something funny happened to me this afternoon. I was in NE Evanston and needed to move my car because of a 2-hour parking limit. I intended to move my car just down the block and return to my office, but somehow I ended up in Rogers Park for an early lunch of tostadas at La Cazuela.

Weird how stuff like that happens. I was driving down Ridge Ave the other day, and my car suddenly veered into the lot of the Chicken Shack. Next thing I know, my passenger seat is full of Chicken and Catfish. Did you happen to notice if they had the Pulpo en Salsa Picante special? That is the dish with the whole baby octopi.

d4v3 wrote:Weird how stuff like that happens. I was driving down Ridge Ave the other day, and my car suddenly veered into the lot of the Chicken Shack. Next thing I know, my passenger seat is full of Chicken and Catfish.

Amazing. The same thing has happened to me! I feel like the Chicken Shack lot is some kind of magnetic forcefield that just pulls cars in.

d4v3 wrote:Did you happen to notice if they had the Pulpo en Salsa Picante special? That is the dish with the whole baby octopi.

Shoot. I didn't make the connection between the squirting baby octopi and Cazuela on the day I went. I had tunnel vision, knew I wanted tostadas and didn't even think to check the specials menu. Next time.