Pilsen: A Day's Worth of Dining

Here’s how we managed to get three meals out of a very pleasant few hours in Pilsen yesterday: we arrrived around 1:30 or so, parked on Blue Island, intending to go to Polo Restaurant, on 18th. But evidently it’s now closed; there were men standing inside who told us that it would be open next week or so – same owners or not, we couldn’t tell. On our way down the street we encountered some kids from Lozano High School who were carrying signs protesting the gentrification of Pilsen, and who were collecting for Katrina relief (they didn’t want to give to the Red Cross, significantly); we talked with them about their community for a bit, about the new condos that spring up every time we come in, and about whether our visit, since we are obvious outsiders, to the neighborhood bothered them (they said not.) We then went across the street to Nuevo Leon, but there was a line stretching almost to the door; we didn’t want to wait, and at any rate though it’s always good we’ve have grown a bit tired of the food there. So we backtracked and went to cafeteria-style Taqueria El Milagro on Blue Island, where we hadn’t been for a while. We’ve sometimes been disappointed there as my older daughter is a tamale devotee and they often run out, but they had them yesterday. Only a few tables were occupied, and we had an excellent lunch: a plate of a very good, spicy beef stew and one of chicken mole; a steak taco; six tamales (pork and chicken); superb tortillas and rice and beans for all. The bill came to about $35 dollars, including the dozen tamales we had packed to bring home with us. Then we went next door, to the factory outlet, to pick up packages of still-warm tortillas, though they were unfortunately out of the cactus salad my husband likes. Next we visited the Fine Arts Museum for the Day of the Dead exhibit. It’s one of my favorite events that takes place in the city all year, I must say: beautiful, moving, sad, uplifting, historical, political, all that. I was especially taken by the special tributes to the artist Carlos Cortez, though we noted that the explanation of his ofrenda notes his membership in the International Workers of the World, a common mistake that fails on two levels: first, it says nothing about the union’s raison detre, which was to organize industrial workers, and it’s also absurdly redundant. We chatted with one of the museum staff who told us that others had pointed out the error too, but of course it was too late to change it. After a few hours in the museum, we could begin to think about food again, so we stopped at Carnitas Uruapan back on 18th and picked up a few pounds of pork and some salsa, spending a few moments talking with a UPS driver, who said he’s tried all the carnitas places in Pilsen and Uruapan is by far the best, in his opinion (it’s the only one we’ve ever tried.) Then a quick hop into BomBon, a few blocks east, for some sweets. Thus that evening, about halfway through the Sox game, we had some tortillas filled with carnitas and salsa, along with those tamales from El Milagro, while we watched the game – perfection. A bit of cake a few innings later. And this morning, with coffee, I enjoyed some breakfast pastries, also from BomBon. It struck me while I was savoring my treat how we had enjoyed three fine meals, spending very little, having a swell time and learning some things, by visiting one neighborhood in Chicago. What a great town!

FYI,
Polo Restaurant is still closed. and Milagro (which is literally 1 block away from my front door), is still making excellent tamales. (not to mention an scrumptious pork Chile Verde per bjt's mentioning here.)

TonyC wrote:FYI,
Polo Restaurant is still closed. and Milagro (which is literally 1 block away from my front door), is still making excellent tamales. (not to mention an scrumptious pork Chile Verde per bjt's mentioning here.)

It seems to me Polo is gone for good: the building is being renovated in a major way (and the exterior looks quite spiffy) and that, to my mind, bespeaks new ownership.*

Antonius

* Though I would love to be wrong, for I was very fond of Polo in general, and in particular their handmade flour tortillas, their albóndigas, their guisado de puerco (rojo), etc.