Carnitas El Paisa Alegre (Wheeling and Prospect Heights)

My corner of Mt Prospect, near Prospect Heights and Wheeling is really shaping up with great Mexican options. Aside from my perennial favorite, Monica's (Palatine & Milwaukee - best table salsa of the bunch, great cesina, unbelievably good refried beans), there's Mi Restaurante (Wolf & Kensington - solid on just about everything, and they have carne en su jugo), Abarrotes la Rosita (Wolf & Camp MacDonald - a mediocre hispanic grocer with really good tacos al pastor on a spit), and now another entry.

I had mentioned this place in the Openings & Closings thread, and decided to try it today.
I'd call this a soft opening of their Prospect Heights store at Camp MacDonald and Wolf Road, since they don't yet have printed menus.

When you walk in, you get a view of them working with meat. Lots of it, braised pig being torn to pieces. There are also hot trays of birria and guisado, and to the right (not in picture), a deli case with meats (including breaded chicken, marinating skirt, etc.) that they can prepare.


Aside from carnitas, they offer birria de borrega and also chivo (lamb and goat), as consomme, tacos, burritos, tortas, etc. Lamb sounded really good, so two tacos it is. They have four salsas: green and red, hot and mild. I said she could keep the mild, and I may have been too fast on the draw: The red is habanero based, and merely spicy. The green is avocado and serrano, and brings the heat very strongly -- one of those that hurts when you stop.


The tacos were, I believe $2.29 each, quite fair. Consomme is $9, I think she said platters are $12.50, burrito $8 or $8.50.

Carnitas El Paisa Alegre #2
1 S Wolf Rd
Prospect Heights, IL 60070

Carnitas El Paisa Alegre #1
48 W Dundee Rd
Wheeling, IL
(847) 808-8992

https://www.facebook.com/El-Paisa-Alegr ... 9/timeline

I'd like to take my dad here. Which of the two would you recommend for, you know, a "dad". Also, anything for my non-meat eating wife to eat?

I haven't been to the wheeling location. PH was clean, if a little disorganized with getting open. The mound of fatty meat you see above would have driven my mother away, but my father would have snuck back on his own.

i've been to the wheeling location. it's a hole in the wall/cramped during lunchtime.

got a carnitas, they asked if i wanted just "meat" or "everything". the everything includes some offal, i think... i wussed out.

the burrito was really good but took awhile to prepare (they were busy though). i could only finish half before wrapping it up.

I've been frequenting the Wheeling location for several years now. Very consistently good food. Not sure if they still do this, but they had shrimp tacos on Fridays a while ago. On the weekends, go for the carnitas, lamb, and goat. I was recently turned on to the milanesa torta by one of the servers, and it is fantastic. The chicken is fried to order, hand smashed beans, and bread that I was told is home baked (can't confirm, though). Glad to see them get a bit of exposure.

Second outing: ordered a Carnitas Sope and a Chivo Burrito. Both were huge (there's an upcharge for chivo and borrega). The sope was piled high with meat, and the burrito about 50% bigger than El Famous... and much better. Absolutely delicious. Next time I think it's the pork ribs in salsa verde.

El Paisa #2 at Wolf and Camp McDonald has become my go-to in the area. Carnitas tacos are stellar, and yesterday I discovered that they make a very good birria/consomme. Cabeza and chivo tacos were also enjoyable, as was the passionfruit agua fresca. The table service is always friendly. An excellent value.

Do they have a printed menu yet?