the King of Burritos - LTH taqueria project - sort of

I've passed by this place a ton of times near the corner of California & Lawrence and always thought it looked like a poor place to eat tacos - no pastor spit in evidence, no grill for asada, even with the lawrence avenu project in effect, I was really not looking to take one for the team.

Today however after seeing a new sign in the window for salvadoran pupusas and desayunos, I was lured in. I thought maybe the ownership had changed to salvadoran. Nope, owners the same, but the new cook recently arrived from el salvador. As of yet, the pupusas aren't on the menu but they'll make you either chicharron or zucchini. Though the filling in the chicharron was just fine (not as good as the other new pupusa place down the block) , the shell on both pupusas was great, just to the point of crispy, little char crunch, but still soft and moist on the inside. The zucchini was probably my favorite of the two and the best pupusa I've had in a while.

There are some advantages to the mixed mexican/salvadoran ownership, better table salsa for the house fried chips (not warm, but puffy in the way you don't get in store bought types) and pickled vegetables to munch on with the curtido and pupusas.

King of Burritos
2739 W. Lawrence
773-275-7990

It looks as though ownership has changed since July, 2004.

On my way back east on Lawrence, I was stopped by a man at a new restaurant: The King of Burritos Taqueria and Steak House (2739 W. Lawrence). He said they do not serve pork and was wearing what looked like a yarmulke with Mexican embroidery. From the menu he gave me, it is definitely not Kosher because they use cheese and sour cream with meat.

That earlier menu included things like lamb barbacoa. Some months ago there was a business for sale sign in the window (not to be confused with the long-standing building for sale sign above the store fronts).

Zim's post encouraged me to give the place a stab for lunch today to see how it had changed. The chips, table salsa and pickled vegetables were the best parts of the lunch. My torta milanesa left much to be desired. There were three small pieces of milanesa, one with gristle and each somewhat tough. The tomato slices were poor even by restaurant standards. They did use a good, ripe avocado. Roll was average. The orchata (menu spelling) was rather thin and light on cinnamon.

I arrived after 1:30, so my being the only person in the place other than the cook may not be too surprising. I wonder how long they will last next to the live poultry store with tough parking and Taqueria Santa Rita practically across the street with a small parking lot.

I think, since the new cook is salvadoran, that you are probably better off getting pupusas than tortas. That's part of the reason (well, that and the lack f a setup for some of the taco items) that I disn't really do the lth taqueria project in my tasting

Every time I have been by over the last few weeks the place has been closed with a sign saying open at 1 :00. I think the second digit for the hour fell down weeks ago.