La Choza

Many years ago, I think in the early 70s, there was a Mexican restaurant just north of Howard near the el station called La Choza. This was a destination restaurant for Evanston and the North side of Chicago. As I remember there were few Mexican restaurants around the area and it was my introduction to Mexican food. Yesterday I noticed a new?? restaurant on North Clark with the same name. Does anyone know if there is any relationship - I know it's been thirty years but they did have great nachos...

Ginkgo wrote:Many years ago, I think in the early 70s, there was a Mexican restaurant just north of Howard near the el station called La Choza. This was a destination restaurant for Evanston and the North side of Chicago. As I remember there were few Mexican restaurants around the area and it was my introduction to Mexican food. Yesterday I noticed a new?? restaurant on North Clark with the same name. Does anyone know if there is any relationship - I know it's been thirty years but they did have great nachos...

First, I think the restaurant was on Paulina, just north of Howard. And, weren't those nachos called kamoosh or something like that? It was a chip, topped with a layer of refried beans, which then had some cheese baked on top. Them was good! I too have wondered if these 2 places had any relation to each other.

=R=

I remember the spelling as La ChoSa and, boy, do I miss that restaurant. I hope it's OK to post this link to a recipe website where I've posted my version of the famous La Chosa Kamush:

http://www.recipezaar.com/74291

I can't answer your question Gingko, about whether or not the Clark St. La Choza is affilicated with the Paulina St. La Chosa but I've informed the husband that we need to go out and do some 'research'!

Yes, that's exactly where it was, on Paulina. It was well known in the mid 1970s as "the" place for Mexican food in Chicago. Just as, at that time, "the" place for an affordable splurge meal was Louis Szathmary's The Bakery, with its beef wellington, and the "sky's the limit" meant Jovan Tryboyevich's Le Perroquet, with its tiny elevator from the ground floor to the dining room. But I digress.

There's a blurb on the internet with similar recollections of La Choza, here.

No, I don't know if the new La Choza Mexican Grill has any relationship to the old one.

I have a fading memory of some rather raucous get togethers at La Choza and want to think it was BYOB also, but not sure. A meal here was always considered a great base for further carousing at the music clubs in Rogers Park (Biddy Mulligans, Minstrels) or back to Lincoln Avenue (Ratso's, Orphans, Wise Fools).

Never made it to the Bakery but used to save up for months to splurge at Le Perroquet. In addition to my first taste of sea bass there, they could mix up the best sazerac I could find outside of New Orleans.

T Comp wrote:I have a fading memory of some rather raucous get togethers at La Choza and want to think it was BYOB also, but not sure. A meal here was always considered a great base for further carousing at the music clubs in Rogers Park (Biddy Mulligans, Minstrels) or back to Lincoln Avenue (Ratso's, Orphans, Wise Fools).

Never made it to the Bakery but used to save up for months to splurge at Le Perroquet. In addition to my first taste of sea bass there, they could mix up the best sazerac I could find outside of New Orleans.

La Choza (or, La Chosa), was BYOB...I remember bringing bottles of wine to our meetings.

The bar of choice for us afterwards was Cunneen's, on Devon east of Clark.

In addition to great food, they also had a wonderful outdoor patio in back of the restaurant that was great of a summer evening. Loved the place.

I was living in Rogers Park at the time (late 70's-mid 80's) and frequented La Choza regularly for kamoosh. Cut to early last year and I'm back in Chi driving down Clark to Romanian and I notice this new La Choza.

U turn, park, go in hopeful and excited and ask if they're the same La Choza from back in the day or if they have any affiliation. Nada. sorry to say it's only coincidence. The had nothing to do with the other, but were vaguely aware of it's prior existence.

Wow, a blast from the past. The first week I lived in Chicago (1977) friends took me to La Choza and thereafter it was a weekly destination (I had a friend who lived on Jarvis, a few blocks away). My introduction to Sidral. A pretty murky neighborhood at the time.The last time I went there was probably 1985 and then it went away. By the way, La Choza in Spanish means the cabin, the hut, something like that.

As far as I know, they are unrelated. The current La Choza on Clark St is owned by the same people that formerly owned La Mexicana, which was directly across the street.

BTW, if you want good nachos in RP, you should try them at Cuetzala, just up the street from there.

trpt2345 wrote:By the way, La Choza in Spanish means the cabin, the hut, something like that.

That's correct, and that is the way the word is spelled. However, my 30-year-old recollection is that Judy is correct, that the restaurant on Paulina spelled it with an S. EDIT: This recollection is not correct, as noted below. However, I am not familiar with a word in Spanish with that spelling.

While non-Latinos generally say the name with a Z sound, in Spanish, Latin Americans would pronounce either name with an S sound, rather than a Z sound. Those from Spain, with their Castilian accent, would pronounce La Chosa the same, but La Choza would instead be pronounced with a TH sound.

I remember the spelling as La ChoSa and, boy, do I miss that restaurant. I hope it's OK to post this link to a recipe website where I've posted my version of the famous La Chosa Kamush:

I recall it being spelled La Choza and a quick glance at The Good (But Cheap) Chicago Restaurant Book (1974) by Jill and Ron Rohde bears that out. The restaurant was at 7630 N Paulina. By the way, kamoosh (spelling according to the Rohdes) for two was $1.10 back then.

Mrs. Luvstoeat and myself were in the neighborhood tonight and decided to have dinner at LaChosa on Clark. First thing I noticed was that out of four mexican restaurants/taquerias within 200 yards of each other, only LaChosa had any customers. Most of those who were in there seemed to be regulars and indeed we received (unsolicited) dinner suggestions from the family at the table next to ours. I ordered Lomo a la Mexicana which was steak with jalapenos, onions and tomatoes. The Missus got a pastor dinner. Both meals were good size and accompanied by warm, commercial tortillas. The lomo was pretty good although somewhat overdone, but the pastor was very good with the requisite charred pieces. Table salsa's and pico de gallo had a good spice bite. The one waitress who was serving half a dozen occupied tables did so without missing a beat or losing her smile.
As a side note, when first married we lived not far from the original LaChoza and ended up there every so often. The most memorable night was when we headed over there when there was a wind-chill of something like -30. Ahhhh to be young again!!

Rene G wrote:I recall it being spelled La Choza and a quick glance at The Good (But Cheap) Chicago Restaurant Book (1974) by Jill and Ron Rohde bears that out. The restaurant was at 7630 N Paulina. By the way, kamoosh (spelling according to the Rohdes) for two was $1.10 back then.

It was definitely LaChoza. Paulina St. was a fantastic chow block in itself. Across the street from La Choza was Talbott's for ribs & steaks and Villa Girgenti an Italian place that made their pizza, which was pretty good,on a rectangular baking sheet with the slices cut in vertical strips. The "Unique" lounge and restaurant was at the corner of Howard St and IIRC there was a Huck Finn donut shop under the L.

Rene G wrote:

I remember the spelling as La ChoSa and, boy, do I miss that restaurant. I hope it's OK to post this link to a recipe website where I've posted my version of the famous La Chosa Kamush:

I recall it being spelled La Choza and a quick glance at The Good (But Cheap) Chicago Restaurant Book (1974) by Jill and Ron Rohde bears that out. The restaurant was at 7630 N Paulina. By the way, kamoosh (spelling according to the Rohdes) for two was $1.10 back then.

La Choza was located very near my all time favorite Chicago Thin Crust Pizza Establishment, Villa Gargenti(sp) that was also located on Paulina just north of Howard. The pizza there was oblong shaped thin, thin, thin cracker crust, served in a sheet pan. I recall their sausage as being phenomenal. After gigs, my band used to go there for pizza and to divvy up the huge stack of small bills we got paid with. I'll bet they're in that book, too.

stevez wrote:I'll bet they're in that book, too.

Villa Girgenti (7625 N Paulina) gets only fifteen words, with no mention of the pizza: "The place for a meatball sandwich. Big, sloppy, delicious. The eggplant parmigiana's not bad either."

Rene G wrote:

stevez wrote:I'll bet they're in that book, too.

Villa Girgenti (7625 N Paulina) gets only fifteen words, with no mention of the pizza: "The place for a meatball sandwich. Big, sloppy, delicious. The eggplant parmigiana's not bad either."

Interesting. That's like putting in an entry for Johnnie's that only talks about the Italian Lemonade.

nsxtasy wrote:It was well known in the mid 1970s as "the" place for Mexican food in Chicago. Just as, at that time, "the" place for an affordable splurge meal was Louis Szathmary's The Bakery, with its beef wellington, and the "sky's the limit" meant Jovan Tryboyevich's Le Perroquet, with its tiny elevator from the ground floor to the dining room. But I digress.

Both the Bakery and Le Perroquet were included in the touching Valentine's Day photo tribute to long-gone restaurants in today's Tribune, as I posted here, in the Other Culinary Forum. No photos of La Choza, though.

This thread touches on many of my formative firsts on arriving here in '76. La Chosa was the first Mexican restaurant I'd ever been to. Coming down from NU everything about the experience was exotic and a bit scary. There was the whole gestalt of the Howard St. area at the time, buying the beer at a nearby dingy pacakge store with a walk-through to an even dingier bar. Chosa itself: i'd never encountered a jalapeno, seen refried beans, eaten red or green salsa. All of this came at me at once. Great days.

Then we splurged at The Bakery (and imagined ourselves in pre-War Europe). Ate late-night breakfasts back up near Howard at the Gold Coin (oh-so-wittily known amongst us as the "cold groin.") Experienced my first stuffed pizza courtesy of the Howard Edwardo's. Brunched at Fritz That's It (the first salad bar I'd ever encountered.) Listened to Blues at Biddy Mulligan's and Jazz at Colette's (saw Dexter Gordon there; he could barely stand, but he could definitely play).

Encountered my first wine bar set-up at Kennessey's, where they had the elaborate gas injection system, before the simple vacuum was intruduced.

And there was a place a block or 2 north of the Biograph with an outdoor garden that served extravegant desserts with French press pots and little timers that told you when to hit the plunger. That seemed the height of urban sophistication to me, along with a Thai-ish spicy steak salad that seemed as exotic as all get-out.

"Jesu, the mad days I have spent." (Henry IV, pt. 2)

Yes memories.......I used to go to La Choza all the time back in the early seventies. And the Gold Coin, and Ashkenaz. Also the Pekin House on Devon, and Ichiban. MMM I could go for some nice kamoosh right now.

I started eating at la choza's in the late 60's. Their kamoosh, steak oaxaca, flautas queso fundido etc. doesn't anyone remember their garlic soup? yum yum yum

rustykatz wrote:I started eating at la choza's in the late 60's. Their kamoosh, steak oaxaca, flautas queso fundido etc. doesn't anyone remember their garlic soup? yum yum yum

Garlic soup, yeah! The only other place I ever had it was in a tin roof shack on the Costeña in Acapulco, Los Braceros. What a great idea.

I also remember the Dill Pickle west on Howard near Western. Corned beef sandwiches. I think they served popcorn and had a crock of dills on the table.

toria wrote:I also remember the Dill Pickle west on Howard near Western. Corned beef sandwiches. I think they served popcorn and had a crock of dills on the table.

Do you mean the Pickle Barrel North on Western near Howard? It was a branch of the original Pickle Barrel in Old Town.

Rene G wrote:

toria wrote:I also remember the Dill Pickle west on Howard near Western. Corned beef sandwiches. I think they served popcorn and had a crock of dills on the table.

Do you mean the Pickle Barrel North on Western near Howard? It was a branch of the original Pickle Barrel in Old Town.

The Pickle Barrels were owned by the Osher family who went on to open Barnum & Bagel in Skokie.

stevez wrote:

Rene G wrote:

toria wrote:I also remember the Dill Pickle west on Howard near Western. Corned beef sandwiches. I think they served popcorn and had a crock of dills on the table.

Do you mean the Pickle Barrel North on Western near Howard? It was a branch of the original Pickle Barrel in Old Town.

The Pickle Barrels were owned by the Osher family who went on to open Barnum & Bagel in Skokie.

Correct. Here's the text of the link you quoted.

Rene G wrote:The Pickle Barrel was at 1423 N Wells. It was opened in the early 1960s by Leo Osher, who later owned Barnum & Bagel (also discussed above).

Pickle Barrel North, at Western & Howard, was opened in 1967 by Osher and his partner Ben Kramer. There was a Pickle Barrel South in Park Forest and also a Pickle Barrel Northbrook. I believe Barnum & Bagel (reportedly almost named 20th Century Lox) opened in the late 1970s.

Before Barnum & Bagel, before the Pickle Barrels, Mr Osher ran the Corned Beef Center, a small delicatessen on Broadway.

Yes the Pickle Barrel. I was mistaken. The Dill Pickle was downtown. It was the PB I went to.

Rene G wrote:

toria wrote:I also remember the Dill Pickle west on Howard near Western. Corned beef sandwiches. I think they served popcorn and had a crock of dills on the table.

Do you mean the Pickle Barrel North on Western near Howard? It was a branch of the original Pickle Barrel in Old Town.

Just to muddy the waters a little more, there was also an Evanston restaurant circa the same era (1970s) called The Big Pickle. It was located at University and Benson, where Las Palmas is now. If I remember correctly, it was more of a pizza joint than anything to do with corned beef and dill pickles. The owners probably just thought Big Pickle was one of those groovy '70s names....

Anyone know where to find Sylvester or any other employee of La Choza? I still dream about the salsa. Would kill to get the recipe!

It was definitely spelled La Choza. I ate there for 20 years. Sylvester and his mentally challenged son Jimmy I believe, and all the great waiters. The garlic soup, the Kamoosh, Steak Oaxaca, the combo plates and the delicious flan. Yum Yum. Does anyone remember Raul's on Webster?