Los Chilaquiles in Cicero

I am kind of surprised this place has not been written about here on LTH, but my search turned up nothing. So, I figured I would show Los Chilaquiles some LTH love and see if others have been there.

I went for the first time today for lunch. They specialize in, you guessed it, chilaquiles - tortilla chips simmered in a chile-based sauce and served with crema, queso fresco, and some onions. They have about half a dozen different types on the menu, along with a variety of other mexican goodies, including several types of tamales.

First of all, the place is tiny. I think there are five tables. They do take out and delivery. The staff when we were there consisted of the chef and his wife.

I had the guajillo chilaquiles with steak. It was fantastic. A little spicy, but not overwhelming. A rish, deep flavor. The tortilla chips appear to be made from homemade tortillas. I got it with steak, and it was a small piece on the side, well seasoned and tender. You can also get it with cecina and or a fried egg.

It came with some fantastic homemade refried beans and some "southwest potatoes" which were kind of like home fries with green pepper, onion, and chorizo mixed in. Very good as well. My son had steak tacos served on thick, homemade corn tortillas with onion and cilantro, limes on the side. Very tasty.

The house red and green salsas were both good. I was more partial to green with its bits of roasted char in it.

The staff was very warm and friendly. And the place is, as you might imagine, pretty cheap.

I want to go back and try some of the other chilquiles. There is a chipotle, a pasilla, a mole, a poblano, a diabla (yes..it is supposedly very spicy).

I would be interested to hear if others have been there and what their experience has been.

Los Chilaquiles
5735 W 16th Street
Cicero, IL 60804
708-477-6454

The menu says they deliver to cicero, berwyn, oak park, and forest park.

We were there back in July.... did carry out and headed down to SummerDance at Grant Park. We also ordered chilaquiles and tamales. Everything was great... service, quality, taste. While at Grant Park, others around us enjoying the aroma of our meals, asked where we had carried out from, so we passed out the menus we had and hopefully drummed up more fans of Los Chilaquiles.

We would definitely go back...

Nice, that's pretty close to me. Think I'll take the wife there tonight. Thanks for the info!

Just an fyi.... it is very low-frills and byo.

We're looking for some good Mexican in the same area (Cicero, Oak Park, Berwyn) tonight and this would be an option, but since it's for a bday celebration, want somewhere with a little more atmosphere. Since you're from the area, do you have any suggestions?

Enjoy Los Chilaquiles!!

Depending on the size of your party New Rebozo is very good according to my wife. I haven't been there myself.

Lalo's on Oak Park can definitely accomodate larger groups I think. Not great but okay imo.

Usually for Mexican my wife and I travel to Cemita's Puebla on North, Mexican Steak House on Archer or Pancho Pistola's on 31st. If we're grabbing mexican close to home we hit up the El Milagro in North Riverside mall.

That's why I want to try this place tonight. We could use another decent sit-down place close to home.

Sorry if that's not much help.

So, how did you & your wife like Los Chilaquile

We loved it. We're bound to become somewhat regulars there I think. The owner and his staff are extremely friendly. I think it was his wife waiting on us and there was a younger girl helping out as well.

It was pretty much what I expected as far as size, decor and such. The menu is what surprised me. They have so many things on their menu it was hard to decide what to try. I'm extremely lactose intollerant so that limits me on the Chilaquiles and some other staple dishes.

My wife brought a bottle of wine and I brought a bomber of Goose Island Demolition. We started with the guacamole which was very tasty. They put chopped lettuce around the sides which my wife and I really like in our guac. They give you a very generous portion compared to some other places I've been.

I always have to sample tacos at new places so I started with 2 steak tacos. Then rethinking it I had to tack on a chorizo taco as well. My wife helped with the steak tacos and we both enjoyed them. Like schenked said, the tortillas are nice and thick and I assume made in house. They give you a little wedge of lime with each taco which is the way to do it imo. I like mine traditional with just onions and cillantro, squirt of lime and some green sauce.

Then on to our main courses I had the mole chicken and my wife had the carne asada. The carne asada was fantastic, they get a really good flavor on that meat. The mole was good but not my favorite mole I've had. I actually like it a tad sweeter but this was still good. I made tacos with it and ended up bringing most of it home as I was full from our starters.

I want to sample several other things on their menu (like their fish tacos and their specialty steak tacos.) I ate way more than I intended to going in there. The chips and salsas were very good as well.

We chatted with the owner for a bit after our meal. He mentioned looking at some space in Forest Park (or maybe it was Oak Park.) He also mentioned some Chicago local TV show is coming in there to film in the next week or so. Hopefully that will drum up some more business for them as they just didn't seem that busy for a Friday night.

Thanks for the recommendation! I also told him about this place so he might stop in and peek at this thread if he hasn't already.

I'm very curious about this spot, and will prolly try it out before the week is over. I stopped in last Fri to get a takeout menu. The owners (I'm assuming) said they ran out of takeout menus, and basically insisted that I take a dine in menu. I had a good while to look it over, and plan a takeout feast for the fam while I was at a park with junior, and then somehow, I flippin lost it. I think I may have left it on a bench, and someone snagged it, cuz I retraced my steps and tore the car apart looking for it. Wound up doing Inos takeout for a meal I mostly threw away. But anyway - if anyone cares or remembers, Los Chilaquiles is in the old Los Tamales spot one door East of that panaderia. Stone's throw from Freddy's. Think I'm gonna try a torta ahogada and chilaquiles tradicionales with the guajillo sauce. I have VERY high hopes for their guajillo sauce. Seems like this might be one of those places that does it correctly.

I almost forgot, we got some tamales to go as well. Some pork and some mole. The pork ones are the only ones I tried and they were very tasty. They weren't as greasy as a lot of pork tamales are and they're about twice as big as a normal tamale with a more flattened shape to them. Made for good snacking the next day.

We made it over tonight, and wife 1.0 has already started making plans for a return visit. I thought it was pretty good. Table chips were fresh and warm. Salsas were fair to middlin, imo. Nothing great about them. Nothing popped out in the salsas. The guacamole was very good - very bright with lime and generous cilantro. I needed to try their guajillo sauce, so I opted for the Chilaquiles Tradicionales, and wife 1.0 went with enchiladas rojas with chicken. I had a feeling we'd be getting the same sauce, and I was right. No matter. The wife loved it. I really liked it, but I was hoping for something with a little more of a fuller, earthier, deeper, chile flavor. It was far better than most, but if chile flavor was a percentage, they were at about 85% of the deep chile flavor that I was hoping for. For guajillo sauce in the area, it's not the best I've had, but it's the best I've had lately. If they can make it that good consistently, it might turn out to be the best I can get consistently, as the place I have had better at is a complete crap shoot on quality. Rice and beans tonight were far too salty for me, but the wife and junior had no problems gobbling them up. Definitely going back, and soon.