Cookies & Carnitas ... Deliciouso!

This place replaced the (awful) Barry's Spot a few months ago. I was encouraged as they were building, as I would see the owner/chef with lumber and tools and equipment piled high out the truck of his little car - doing all the work himself, when clearly construction was not what he did for a living. That's how we started, so I always dig places that grow from humble beginnings...

I've been here twice now - and think they've got an interesting concept, though maybe a little too broad. I've had 2 sandwiches - the goat carnitas sandwich - which is roasted/stewed goat meat (reminded me of the style at Zaragozas) piled high on a ciabatta roll, topped with house-made slaw...this sandwich was REALLY good. Great combination of flavors - the goat meat is super rich, and the acidity in the slaw balanced out the dish nicely..

I also tried a "Cheesy Beef" - which seems like a totally different style/genre of food, but the menu mentions stewed brisket topped with house made cheese sauce. This sandwich just didn't work for me. The meat tasted as stewed brisket should taste, but the cheese they use didn't go well with it. I think my taste buds expected something closer to an Cheesy Italian Beef, and the stewed/shredded beef just didn't work as well. Again, not a bad sandwich - just didn't work for me.

I've gotten a cookie (ok, several) with each order - and they really shine in this department. The cookies are HUGE, rich, fresh, and soft/chewy. I've tried their Oatmeal/Cranberry, a Chocolate Chip, a Maple Glazed Bacon cookie, and something they call the "Kitchen Floor" that has a little bit of everything - including some coffee grounds...

They also have Pizza on the menu, which again - doesn't vibe with the Carnitas/Mexican dishes they do so well - but I haven't tried it so I can't comment. They've only been open a month or so, and maybe this will all come into focus as they get feedback from customers. The guy can clearly bake, certainly cooks certain things very well, and has a ton of energy with a nice staff backing him up.

I'll be back to try a few other items, and will probably stick with Carnitas, tacos, and the other Mexican dishes on the menu (with of course the delicious cookies)

Cookies & Carnitas
5757 N Broadway St
(between Early Ave & Hollywood Ave)
Chicago, IL 60660

I've been meaning to post about a meal that I had here a few weeks ago, though now I'm a bit hazy on what I had! IIR, we had a skirt steak carnitas sandwich, that was awesome (and enough for two), chicharrones, and some pork belly tacos. I was very impressed and look forward to trying other things.

Mr. X and I enjoyed the summer-like weather last night with a walk up to Cookies and Carnitas. We split the pork belly carnitas sandwich and the blue salad (iceberg, romaine, organic boiled eggs, bacon, avocado, roasted corn, tomato, blue cheese, house dressing). The salad was huge and tasty. Lots of blue cheese, good balance of other ingredients. The sandwich was also excellent. The ciabatta held up well with the pork, coleslaw and hot sauce. We brought the cookies home to sample -- triple chocolate, kitchen floor and peanut butter and jelly. I'm not much of a peanut butter cookie fan, but this was one of best I've tried. I know Mr. X agrees. The triple chocolate and kitchen floor cookies also passed our taste tests.

The restaurant is BYO. Water, ice, and cups are self-service. The staff couldn't have been nicer. We chatted with both owners and the personable guy working the counter. We overheard one of the owners talking at another table with a rep from Virtue Cider and ended up chatting with the rep and getting some tastes of the different ciders he had with him. (The Mitten, aged in bourbon barrels, was my favorite.) Cookies & Carnitas will become a regular in our rotation.

I really enojoy this place...laid back environment, great pork (sleeper best porchetta candidate), frequent interesting specials and don't miss the vegetable escabeche

This place is certainly a welcome addition to the hood, and I've been there a few times. The tacos and sandwiches that I've had were all quite tasty (I liked the Cheesy Beef, even though it doesn't really fit in any genre). And as noted before, the owners and staff are all very friendly.

I only have one issue with the place. I've gotten a cookie three times there; all three of which were during the evening. Two out the three times, the cookies tasted a bit old, not stale but rather sitting around for a while. The ingredients and flavor were both very good. However, when it comes to cookies, the best cookies are the freshest cookies. By the same token, the reason why Doughnut Vault and Do-Rite Donuts are so good is because you almost never get a chance to buy one that has sat around for a while. I got the sense that these cookies may sit around due to the $3 price tag. And for $3, I'm less inclined to play roulette on the freshness.

If the name of the place wasn't "Cookies & Carnitas", I probably wouldn't have mentioned it. But if you're going to highlight something in your name, it deserves a little more scrutiny.

I've been to Cookies & Carnitas twice. I had the meatball sandwich the first time, which I found over-the-top salty. The pork shoulder sandwich on my second visit was much better.

One caveat--there were mistakes in my order on both occasions. Each time, one of the owners was very apologetic, but I've found the quality of the service frustrating.

We went here last night and the service was very good and the vibe is great. Good food and good people. We had the cheezy beef and pork shoulder tacos. Good flavors. for dessert we had the kitchen sink and the cowboy cookie. We will go back. Lots of effort and it shows. Yum.

I feel like I must've been to a different restaurant, though I guess I'm glad that someone had a decent experience.

I spent over $20 on 3 tacos, and they were by far the worst "food" I have eaten in the last year, if not the last half decade. The meat itself had a rank, gamy flavor (not just the goat -- I would never compare it to Zaragosas even if I had ingested an entire bottle of tequila, so don't accuse me of not knowing goat) but also the "aged" steak which also was impossible to chew. Everything was slathered in a pineapple salsa atrocity and enough sour cream to drown an fútbol team.

Service was awful -- slow and dejected.

This was one of the very few times in my life where I felt so insulted by the grandiose awfulness of the meal that I was tempted to ask for a refund ... but realized that it would probably take 45 minutes to do so. One worker (I'd tend to not use the word "server" since that would imply this person is in the business of service) noticed I had only taken one bite of each taco before getting up to leave and said, "I guess you don't like the food?

"No. Not at all."

"Your loss, I guess."

Whatever, bro.

I mean seriously ... "Mexican" food, random sandwiches, cookies, pizza ... can anyone actually take this concept seriously? Is the taqueria that serves pizza EVER good? Maybe they make good food SOMETIMES, but the sheer degree of disgusting I experienced was borderline traumatizing. A meal I'd never have posted about (99% of my posts here are positive) had I not seen others praising the place. Consider yourself warned.

Hmm... I've only visited once and liked it. Had the (pork) carnitas sandwich, which may be the way to go. No pineapple atrocities were committed on my watch. They had cookie samples out which were quite tasty.

My experience last night only positive. Brisket, shoulder, belly, the chicken, sandwiches & tacos all top notch. Belly was my favorite. Pizza thin crust & crackly w/brisket & giardiniera excellent. Overall, the 4 of us over ordered. Next time less food will be fine but it was 1st time & we wanted to try everything. Sauces & flavoring all well balanced. Pineapple judiciously used & was just right. Definitely heading back.

I thought I've posted more about our experiences at Cookies & Carnitas, but I guess not. Must be in the backlog of posts in my head. C & C is a regular stop for us. We have not had a bad experience. We order different things each time to try the menu. Their fries are fantastic -- thick cut potato wedges, perfectly cooked, ample but not excessive salt. We've tried different tacos and have been pleased. Tonight, my friend and I each had the loaded chili. So good...layers of flavor. Mr. X had the Amish chicken BLT. Messy and delicious. The owners and cashiers all checked in with us to see how things were. It's not a cheap dinner, but I think the quality is worth it.

This is a photo from their Facebook page of the loaded chili.

Two of us went last night for the first time. Split the Red salad (roasted beets, dried cherries, cucumber, feta, roasted garlic, croutons), brisket taco, rotisserie porchetta sandwich special and black beans side dish. We thought everything was really tasty.

The porchetta was very crispy and porky and served with a vinegary slaw on a fluffy potato bun. Loved this porchetta style. The taco was overstuffed and delicious. The salad had great goodies in it but the dressing was applied a tad heavily and featured cheap red wine vinegar which kind of overpowered the dish. Still, the roasted beets and feta were great. The salad was huge.

For dessert we got the cowboy cookie and triple chocolate cookie. Both were excellent, if a little expensive ($3 per).

The decor was cute, walls painted red featuring interesting art. It was kind of quiet, with only a couple very small speakers going. Not super crowded at 7:30 Saturday. It seemed like a cross between a coffee shop and proper restaurant in that you order from a bar and get your own water, etc. We appreciated the BYOB and brought a bottle of wine to split. We both came away impressed; the food was very very high quality especially considering the setting and self serve vibe.

We would definitely go again.

[quote

This is a photo from their Facebook page of the loaded chili.[/quote]
that pic they chose shows a raw egg. why do people eat those things- i feel queasy just looking at it....

justjoan wrote:
that pic they chose shows a raw egg. why do people eat those things- i feel queasy just looking at it....

Because they are awesome?

justjoan-

It's an over-easy egg, not raw. Mixing that up into the chili is so good.

this is the problem... no one knows anymore what a cooked egg looks like. in that picture there clearly is egg white that is translucent and liquid, sitting close to the yolk, on top of cooked egg white- that is not a cooked egg. and the yolk doesn't look cooked at all. i don't want to argue, if you guys want to eat it, fine. but it's getting more difficult to get a properly cooked egg, when so many are willing to eat undercooked eggs with unset whites.

I prefer my whites cooked as well. I suppose they would cook when mixed in if the chili was hot enough?

Had an enjoyable meal at Cookies & Carnitas last night. Glad to have mhl join us. We ordered the chicken soup, pork belly carnitas sandwich, giant meatball parmesan sandwich, loaded chili, and sides of house pickled escabeche, braised greens and fries. mhl took home a goat taco and ice cream sandwich. We took home a couple of cookies.

The soup was perfect for a cold night.


I don't think I've had the pork belly carnitas sandwich before. I liked the different textures with some nicely crispy pork, the slaw and the nice bun.


I'm on record as loving the chili.


Apparently I missed taking a shot of the meatball sandwich and the escabeche. I liked the meatballs a lot. It was a fork and knife kind of sandwich.

Service is casual which might turn some people off. They were doing a brisk delivery business, which was good to see. Happy to have C&C in the neighborhood.

I was able to drop by C&C in time to join The GP and Mr. X for dinner, ordering the fully-loaded C&C Chili, pickled escabeche (pickled cold vegetables), and a goat taco. The nutshell summary: excellent food, but distracted transaction+delivery.

One of the owners took my order at the cash register--which was paid-for in cash at that point--and acted as primary server, afterward. Unfortunately, it seems he was distracted by a separate concurrent conversation when I ordered, because he didn't make correct change, then forgot to add the goat taco to the kitchen order. Our food arrived presently, but The GP got & sent back a grilled cheese sandwich that appeared instead of her meatball parmesan sandwich--two different times--before the correct sandwich came out of the kitchen.

Later when we were mostly finished, the owner asked again how everything was, which was when I reminded him we hadn't gotten the goat taco. He subsequently made one appear, saying he wasn't going to charge me for it (which was a nice gesture, but not really a benefit since I had already paid for it.) I ended up taking the taco with me and reheating it for breakfast the next day--it was tasty and generously apportioned: tender goat, with crema, shredded cabbage, salsa, and a bit of diced pineapple, served on a couple of El Milagro tortillas.

In conclusion, the food itself was really quite good and worth a future visit--plus, I overheard another customer spontaneously comment on how much he liked the place--and I'd be happy to sample more of the menu. (However, I'd also give somewhat closer attention up-front to making sure the order was correctly communicated, paid-for, and served.)

--Matt

I enjoyed a great meal at Cookies & Carnitas this weekend. I'd pretty well decided on the porchetta sandwich as described in this thread. I read and reread the menu and, while it was not an easy choice, fell back on my early vote. This is a fantastic sandwich. The pork is so beautifully done and the lightly but well dressed cabbage slaw proved a fine topping. My side of pickled veggies (escabeche) cut the richness of the pork just right. I remarked to a companion that I'd have a difficult time ordering any differently on my next visit. This was the type of pork that had me looking up porchetta recipes when I got home. The fries are thick, steak-fry type, not normally my preferred but these are a really nice rendition and well-salted.

We were warmly greeted on arrival. There was one minor service issue in that my escabeche was not delivered to the table. I flagged the woman at the counter and the problem was quickly corrected.

There were a one or two other tables occupied during my visit and what appeared to be a steady carryout line. They also deliver so food for thought. This is a nice comfortable place with a compelling menu. I'm looking forward to future visits.

Moved to Edgewater a few months ago and have been meaning to hit C&C up. Appreciate the reviews and once I go I'll be sure to share photos/comments.

-Zach

Brasserie by Cookies & Carnitas gives the chef more space to cut loose

https://chicago.eater.com/2020/3/2/2116 ... eeshop-bar

Dave148 wrote:Brasserie by Cookies & Carnitas gives the chef more space to cut loose

https://chicago.eater.com/2020/3/2/2116 ... eeshop-bar

That address doesn't make sense unless the Little Corner diner is closing. I wonder if he's taking over the space at 5938 N Broadway that was last occupied by the Growling Rabbit?