Amanacer Tapatio - The Best?

I am gonna skip the Amanacer Tapatio back story. It's been told before. I am writing to say that in my humble opinion, AT, might be, could be, perhaps is, just maybe is the best Mexican restaurant in the area (and I have to use the term area loosely because Joliet is FAR AWAY). Now, I have been to Casa de Bayless y Casa de Bahena many a time, but I have not been to their tipy-top offerings, so I admit upfront that my sample is incomplete. And, obviously, there are a lot of Mexican restaurants around--too many to sample. Still, when I savored the carne de res entomates verde or beef stew in a green tomato gravy, I was convinced, like an epiphany, that this had to be the best Mexican food around Northern Illinois.

The other day, some foodie friends of mine were talking about a Vietnamese 7 course of beef meal they had in NYC. They remarked that in a meal that showcased beef, it failed because the quality of the beef did not pass muster. There are times that the quality of raw materials limits inexpensive dining. Then there is Amanacer Tapatio. And times that a $20 meal can be as good as anything. Amanacer Tapatio buys market produce, cheap meat, but through alchemy produce food that tastes just simply incredible. I am not sure. Is it that when they visit the vegetable wholesaler they just have a better eye than their competitors? Do the shop more often so that they maximize freshness from produce that is not that fresh to begin with (as compared to produce grown locally). I tend to think it is more to do with them knowing exactly how much to season their food, the perfect amount of chile to bring out flavor but not to overpower. I also think there is some raw power, some innate deliciousness to the ingredients that make up AT's cuisine. The stuff cannot help but be good. Good turned into great with the amount of effort, care and skill the staff of AT put into their daily offerings.

As it has been noted, you eat what they cooked that day (specials written on the board). It is like coming over to Mama's casa para comida. You nibble on chips with two table salsas, each as good as the other, both absolutely simple in recipe* while things are finished for you. The meal proper always start with fresh made guacamole and house made, fresh tortillas and then moves on to salad (which always stumps our Northern palates that seek dressing). Honestly, I really do not do much with the plain lettuce but others improvise using the green salsa. Last night, I did enjoy, like crudite, some sliced cucumbers and rose cut radishes that I gave a good hard shake of salt.

Although I doing a bit of a disservice to the guacamole to say the first real dish was the sopa, the soup, it was. We took two or three steps up in flavor, complexity and satisfaction with the soup. I did not bother the house for the soup recipe (they will explain nearly all), but it looked almost like a brothed up version of the green salsa, the soup also featuring simmered tomatillos. Inside this green potion were chunks of pork "spine" i.e., meat from the vertebrae, potatoes, string beans, and Mexican green squash (calabeza). Again, the vegetables seemed to rise from their origins. After soup it was platters of rice, beans made in house with a glorious amount of lard (whole beans and frijoles refrito), two entrees: the aforementioned beef stew, plus chicken legs mixiote or cooked in a wrapper (I'll come back to this in a sec.), plus a side dish of corn kernels, calabeza chunks, and whole jalepenos, drizzled with crema, Mexican sour cream that is plainly, richly better than "our" sour cream, and sprinkled with some fresh cheese. I clamored for a dessert to wrap this up, but that is just not the tradition.

The mixiote, mixiote is the Mexican version of cooking en parchment or steaming in a packet. Traditionally, banana leaves are used as the wrap and often fresh herbs play a big role. AT compromised with aluminum foil and dried hoja de santo. The chicken still tasted plenty infused with a licorish-y liquid from the herb. My dear, foodie daughter, loved the beef, saying it reminded her of cholent. She just finds any delicious soft beef thing to be like cholent regardless that no Bubbe would produce anything like this intense stew.

It IS a long ride to Joliet, but there are stretches along the Des Plaines River that are a lot more scenic than generally found in these parts. There is even a stretch that amounts to a bluff. Right before hitting AT, there is the now abandoned, movie-set worthy, 20 foot high wall of Joliet limestone, old Federal Pen. That alone makes the drive worthwhile. Dinner at the best Mexican restaurant in the area just makes it better.

Amanacer Tapatio
573 Collins St
Joliet, IL 60432
(815) 727-4001

*Monica, Mama's daughter and our hostess, gave me the directions for the salsas. Green is made from simmering tomatillos and jalepenos in water, then blending with garlic and a bit of salt, surprisingly, no lime. The red salsa substitutes red tomatoes and chile de arbol. The chiles are not re-hydrated but sparked up on the griddle; the red tomatoes also simmered in water.

I enjoyed my one and only meal at AT. I think saying that it is the best is a stretch, though. Chicago is awash in riches when it comes to Mexican food, and each place has its own specialty. I'll agree, though that AT is perhaps the best Mexican restaurant west of Chicago and east of the Miassissippi (perhaps even a little further.)

I enjoyed our dinner at AT so much that I brought my husband back for dinner last night. On the specials menu were caldo de res and a bistek en chiles pasillo. Stupidly thinking we would get small bowls of soup, we both ordered both specials. When the soup came out it was apparent we would be lucky if we made it through the entire bowl. Huge chunks of meat and vegetables with a rich broth, we both thought it was one of the best soups we ever had (and that's saying a lot -- I come from a long line of great soup cooks). Served with fresh tortillas, it was all we could do to finish and our waitress was wise enough not to push the huge plate of bistek on us after the caldo. Randy did see the bistek special served to a table near us and was sorry we had not ordered one of each of the caldo and the bistek. We were really full from devouring the rich soup and finally heaved ourselves away from the table. For under $20 we had one of the finest Mexican meals I can remember in years (of course excepting my meal the previous evening) and we will be back on a regular basis.

The LTH Forum award is prominently displayed on the counter for those of you who are not sure you are in the right place!

Suzy

stevez wrote:I enjoyed my one and only meal at AT. I think saying that it is the best is a stretch, though. Chicago is awash in riches when it comes to Mexican food, and each place has its own specialty. I'll agree, though that AT is perhaps the best Mexican restaurant west of Chicago and east of the Mississippi (perhaps even a little further.)

I tend to avoid conversations where people argue about what is "the best." So I would not say that A T is the best (though in my heart I think it really is). What I would say is that most of the meals I have had at A T have been as good or better than any other Mexican food I have ever had, and often compare favorably with some of the best individual dishes and meals I have ever had. That includes simple places with single specialties, as well as Chilpancingo and Toplobampo, which I have visited multiple times over a number of years. It also includes simple and fancy places of all sorts - so while it may or may not be the best (who knows; who cares?), it is undeniably great.

In the end it is about the sauces and broths, gently and lovingly made every day by Senora. They are rich and deep, complex and harmonious. On top of that, the range of dishes and flavors is impressive, from the salty, almost Asian, Nopales con camarones (dried shrimp), to simple and rich chilaquiles done to perfection, to the fresh, grassy, herby, and nutty mole verde (primary ingredient, Romaine Lettuce), to the perfectly rich and savory Carne en su jugo, to the French-inspired pollo en crema de champinones, and so much more. A very impressive range of flavors, almost always (I have had clinkers once or twice) done very, very well.

I took my brother there recently, who is on good terms with a few high-end Mexican chefs in NYC, spends a fair amount of time in Chiapas and Oaxaca and always insists on being taken to eat Mexican when in town. He opined that most of the sauces are made in large volume ahead of time and stored frozen to be used when desired - he does this regularly, and I suppose that the chefs he knows do it as well. I asked Monica about this, and she replied that Mom never makes sauces ahead - they are always made that morning, and used up that day. No cheating.

It is a way of operating that Alice Waters would appreciate, tho, as VI points out, the raw materials are not as delectable on their own. But la Senora does know how to coax the most out of them.

The GNR presentation, which was organized by Mugs (who will join us here, and not just post on CH, one of these days I hope), did turn into a love-in of sorts. While we were talking, Mugs asked Monica point blank if these groups were too terrible an inconvenience. She replied, no, not at all, we inspire and challenge them, encouraging them to continue. This time I hope we do more than that, as two people from the Joliet Herald News joined us, and I expect there to be an article in the next few days. I will post the link.

We were quite inspired as well, as you can see here, and will organize another dinner soon.

dicksond wrote:I tend to avoid conversations where people argue about what is "the best."

I guess that was my point. Unless someone has a dish that is so much better than anywhere else, or if it's the only restaurant serevig a particular type of food, it's tough to call anything "the best". Top tier, excellent, outstanding, great...now all those (and other similar phrases) are descriptors that can easily apply. For the record, I'm not dissing AT in any way. On my visit, the food deserved all of the above descriptors, but that is not to say that there are other Mexican restaurants that are not equally enjoyable when you go for their strengths. For example, what about the duck in mole at a Bahena restaurant. What about all those little mom & pop operation down in La Villita. I don't see them being eclipsed by AT when you compare specialty to specialty. They're all great. That's my point.

OK, you've made me hungry again. And I just got back from Campero! Is AT Metra-convenient for us non-car people?

Evan B. Druce wrote:OK, you've made me hungry again. And I just got back from Campero! Is AT Metra-convenient for us non-car people?

Evan,

AT is about 1-2 miles from the Metra station in Joliet. Now I do now that a workout before and after a meal at AT is something to consider, but not my style. If you are interested in visiting just let myself or Disckson know and we should be able to make an excuse for another visit to AT.

Flip

Vital Information wrote:I am gonna skip the Amanacer Tapatio back story. It's been told before. I am writing to say that in my humble opinion, AT, might be, could be, perhaps is, just maybe is the best Mexican restaurant in the area (and I have to use the term area loosely because Joliet is FAR AWAY) [emphasis added]. Now, I have been to Casa de Bayless y Casa de Bahena many a time, but I have not been to their tipy-top offerings, so I admit upfront that my sample is incomplete. And, obviously, there are a lot of Mexican restaurants around--too many to sample. Still, when I savored the carne de res entomates verde or beef stew in a green tomato gravy, I was convinced, like an epiphany, that this had to be the best Mexican food around Northern Illinois.

Notice the wavering, also the question mark in the thread subject line? I'm not jumping up and down, holding my breath and screaming that Amancer Tapatio is the best (that I reserve for Gene and Judes and one or two places in Chinatown ). I'm holding it out as a starting point, a topic of discussion. Besides, as noted in my post above, my sample is flawed...

Still, I could not have put it better than Dickson:

What I would say is that most of the meals I have had at A T have been as good or better than any other Mexican food I have ever had [I would add, outside of Mexico], and often compare favorably with some of the best individual dishes and meals I have ever had.

That's why I go ga-ga for AT. You taste the stuff and just find it better than anything you've tried before, starting with the table salsas. And does not better than anything you have tried before make it the best?



Rob

A mention in the Joliet Herald News this weekend:

http://www.suburbanchicagonews.com/heraldnews/opinions/j31hatsoff.htm

What, no photos of VI's adorable children??

Suzy

Brief report on April 12 dinner:

It was a pleasant outing - 10 people is a very good number for Amanacer, and most places. Giovanna, Giovanni and friend (sorry, I am not so good with names) who cooks at Schnitzel Platz in GH; mhl, friend Roger, and patient daughter Emma; the Bride & I, and a couple of friends.

An unusual grouping in that there were 3 people who actually live in Joliet (J, long o, lee-et, thanks Giovanni ), so we got more Joliet info, and I campaigned for Mugs.

Unfortunately I had a challenge coordinating with Amanacer for the meal, so what we had was not "special" for us, but just a feast of that day's specials. And this Wednesday it was not the best selection. Entomatadas, Flautas both with papas and chicken, and Caldo de Res. Other than the Entomatadas, what was missing were the delicious sauces and moles that usually set Amanacer apart. Flautas do not row my boat on any occasion - in fact if I had known ahead they were going to be one of the specials, I most likely would have tried to substitute some of the other Antojitos, some of which are quite good, the fresh masa results in pretty good sopes and huaraches, for example. Deep-fried flour tortilla tubes, filled with quite plain chicken or potatoes, covered with salad and sour cream. Ehh. To be honest the potato flautas were pretty tasty with the green salsa, but not what I look for at Amanacer.

The Caldo de Res was a savory, almost light broth with a slight touch of what I think was cinammon, and an ice berg of fork-tender beef. Interesting on its own, and would have been a good meal for me with the cilantro, onion and lime garnishes. My highlight of the meal.

It also worked out that this particular meal was very light on chile peppers and the heat they bring, so other than the general warmth of the evening, nary a drop of exquisite sweat beaded my brow, quite a contrast with the chilaquiles I enjoyed a couple of weeks ago.

Not a bad meal, in sum, and Amanacer was on its game for the aforementioned chilaquiles so I do not think it represents any general decline, but nothing was exquisite or even close to it for me. Aside from the excellent company, of course. Thanks for joining me.

It being a warm night, and the meal not being quite sufficiently excessive, we stopped at Rich and Creamy on Broadway and partook of very pleasant, good quality soft-serve ice cream. Not sure of the address, but it is a few blocks north of Ohio on route 53. The bride was particularly pleased with her raspberry sundae, and unlike most places one can get a broad range of serving sizes, including very small and quite inexpensive.

A few posters hve asked that I arrange another dinner soon that does not conflict with Passover, and I shall do that - but this time only after I have coordinated a date and menu with Amanacer, though to be honest if the specials had been the same as the day I enjoyed the Chilaquiles, the dinner most likely would have delighted me. Alas, it was not to be on this night. Sigh.

Giovanni and I paid a visit to the relocated Amanacer Tapatio Monday. The new space is quite a bit bigger [20 or more tables] and very sunny yellow. The space apparently used to be a diner called "The Cozy Corner", and you should be warned that the sign for that establishment is still up on the west side of the building, making it easy to drive past Amanacer the first time you're looking for it.

The kitchen is much bigger, too, and they brought the usual quality of their work with them. The sublimely creamy beans are as good as ever, the same lady is cooking up the tortillas. [They were a little thicker than I'm used to from Amanacer, but I liked them even better because they tasted more masa-y somehow.] We both very much enjoyed the Bistec in Chile Pasilla that I ordered. They do a very good job persuading their steaks to be flavorful and just chewy enough. [My past experience of bistec in Mexican restaurants used to lead me to skip that dish because
they were gristly and greasy, but I really like Amanacer's.] Giovanni had something that translated as "Beef Stew Durango-style" [sorry, I'm irredemably monolingual] that was nothing more or less than beef stew. Simmered beef, potatoes, carrots, a piece or two of some pepper. Entirely ordinary.

I have a timing question about Amanacer. While I have greatly enjoyed every meal I've eaten there, I've yet to go there for a meal that I found revelatory or in any way tempted me to proclaim the food the best Mexican food in the Chicago area. I occasionally read people raving about dishes that I never run into when I'm there [which is usually on a Sunday]. Are some days of the week likely to have better specials than the others? Wednesday, maybe, after the day off & when the market is likely to have the freshest, most interesting ingredients?

Amanacer Tapatio
700 W. Ruby St.
Joliet

Giovanna

Giovanna,

Thanks for the update on AT. I have been going through the past posts and definitely need to get to this place since it's more in my neck of the woods and I have been obsessed with Mexican food as of late.

I have no answers to your questions, but I hope to get here and write up a little reply regarding my experience.

I think I am going to work on setting up another dinner later this month. Not sure about all the changes that have occurred with AT of late, and I think we really need to research this. Plus sdritz and eatchicago expressed a desire to go, but could not attend the last dinner. So I will start with them and see who all comes.

Soon, Giovanna, we will see if we can arrange one of those truly delectable dinners.

D,

Please be sure to post it in the Events section if you do - I would definitely try to make it. Nothing like eating at a good place with people who understand you. <smirk>

GreenFish wrote:D,

Please be sure to post it in the Events section if you do - I would definitely try to make it. Nothing like eating at a good place with people who understand you. <smirk>

Will do - Suzy has already expressed her eagerness as well, and I have made some initial contact.