Maxwell St. Market Guide 2009, W.I.P. -- Feedback Requested

I’m developing a new Maxwell Street Market Guide because the old guide is no longer relevant and because C2 has asked me to lead a tour for the Greater Midwest Foodways Beef get-together on October 25 .

This work-in-progress guide is being prepared primarily for non-LTH civilians who may never have been to the MSM before. I’ve included lots of basic information and even a few vocabulary words, so for most everyone reading this, it’s probably nothing new…which is exactly why I’m asking for your input. If you spot an inaccuracies, omissions, etc., I’d love to know. If you have suggestions for improvements, I’d love to know. You can post here or IM/email me.

Of course,once this guide is "finalized," I will post it in the Reference section.

Thanks.

NOTE: The first version of this guide that I posted last week has been deleted to avoid confusion. The revised draft is posted downthread on Sunday, October 18. Thanks to all those who offered input.

Your MSM guide is one of the first things about LTH I can remember. I was recently moved to that area, and that market can be a little daunting for first timers (stands without signs, stands that move from week to week, Spanish words for body parts I'd never eaten, etc). Your guide gave me the direction and confidence I needed to become familiar with it quickly. Now my 4 year old twins want to know if we can go to the market every weekend. I almost credit you, rather than Rubi's or Manolo's for introducing me to the fresh tortilla.

Thanks you for the update. Now that I am in the 'burbs I don't get down as often as I should. Once it is finalized, I will use it to lead a tour for my 'burban friends.

BTW, It looks good to me. Only one typo - you refer to strawberry "sweet tacos", when I know you mean "tamales" at Tamales Oaxaquenos.

MelT wrote:Your MSM guide is one of the first things about LTH I can remember. I was recently moved to that area, and that market can be a little daunting for first timers (stands without signs, stands that move from week to week, Spanish words for body parts I'd never eaten, etc). Your guide gave me the direction and confidence I needed to become familiar with it quickly. Now my 4 year old twins want to know if we can go to the market every weekend. I almost credit you, rather than Rubi's or Manolo's for introducing me to the fresh tortilla.

Thanks you for the update. Now that I am in the 'burbs I don't get down as often as I should. Once it is finalized, I will use it to lead a tour for my 'burban friends.

BTW, It looks good to me. Only one typo - you refer to strawberry "sweet tacos", when I know you mean "tamales" at Tamales Oaxaquenos.

Very kind of you to say, thanks.

I appreciate your spotting the typo -- it's corrected. I also got an email from Joseph Weintraub, suggesting that I include mention of the pupusa place, which is an excellent idea and I'm revising right now to include that kid-pleasing stop.

David,

I look forward to reading the update more closely. I've shared the old guide with dozens of non-LTH civilian friends, and I really think it is (or was) the most helpful concentrated resource for navigating the beast that is MSM. Thank you.

Feel free to disregard this, but I'm always on the lookout for cyclists, and I think MSM makes for a great Sunday-morning bike ride destination. Therefore, I'd propose adding at least one sentence after your transit directions about getting to the market by bike. The Kozy's at Des Plaines and Polk is also a great meeting spot for folks gathering at the market, and there are several bicycle racks outside the store (on Polk) that in the past 6 months or so I've seen occupied only by Fork and the Road bikes (and usually just my bike, doing breakfast "research" at the market circa 8am on Sunday mornings ). Roosevelt, Taylor, Halsted, Clinton and Canal are the streets with designated bike lanes that more or less feed into the market, but there are some non-laned quiet options as well. I'm happy to share routing specifics if you feel that's appropriate though adding just a line about bike parking would be super.

happy_stomach wrote:David,

I look forward to reading the update more closely. I've shared the old guide with dozens of non-LTH civilian friends, and I really think it is (or was) the most helpful concentrated resource for navigating the beast that is MSM. Thank you.

Feel free to disregard this, but I'm always on the lookout for cyclists, and I think MSM makes for a great Sunday-morning bike ride destination. Therefore, I'd propose adding at least one sentence after your transit directions about getting to the market by bike. The Kozy's at Des Plaines and Polk is also a great meeting spot for folks gathering at the market, and there are several bicycle racks outside the store (on Polk) that in the past 6 months or so I've seen occupied only by Fork and the Road bikes (and usually just my bike, doing breakfast "research" at the market circa 8am on Sunday mornings ). Roosevelt, Taylor, Halsted, Clinton and Canal are the streets with designated bike lanes that more or less feed into the market, but there are some non-laned quiet options as well. I'm happy to share routing specifics if you feel that's appropriate though adding just a line about bike parking would be super.

Excellent idea. I'm adding info re: biking to the market and parking bikes at Kozy's.

Fabulous! I, too, really enjoyed your previous guide. This inspired me to check the details and my calendar about the event on the 25th...

David,

On a rather hot Sunday in June at the MSM, the family and I grew very thirsty, and instead of the standard American soft drinks or Mexican Cokes, we decided to try the different fruit drinks served out of the large clear tubs. We were expecting a Kool-Aid type drink, but were surprised at the rich flavors of real fruit that made up these drinks. We had pineapple with a very pulpy consistency, watermelon that had a great depth of flavor, and a lemon/lime mix with a extreme tart - sweet range. We were getting 24-32 oz. servings for a buck-fifty, and due to the strong flavors small sips were only needed to make these drinks last the whole tour. So, I would recommend these drinks as part of your MSM guide.

Tim

Brat64 wrote:David,

On a rather hot Sunday in June at the MSM, the family and I grew very thirsty, and instead of the standard American soft drinks or Mexican Cokes, we decided to try the different fruit drinks served out of the large clear tubs. We were expecting a Kool-Aid type drink, but were surprised at the rich flavors of real fruit that made up these drinks. We had pineapple with a very pulpy consistency, watermelon that had a great depth of flavor, and a lemon/lime mix with a extreme tart - sweet range. We were getting 24-32 oz. servings for a buck-fifty, and due to the strong flavors small sips were only needed to make these drinks last the whole tour. So, I would recommend these drinks as part of your MSM guide.

Tim

I have had the magenta-colored Agua Jamaica from the tubs, but I'm not remembering if I had any of the other brightly colored beverages. Thanks for the rec; I'll try some next Sunday and will probably include.

David Hammond wrote:

Brat64 wrote:David,

On a rather hot Sunday in June at the MSM, the family and I grew very thirsty, and instead of the standard American soft drinks or Mexican Cokes, we decided to try the different fruit drinks served out of the large clear tubs. We were expecting a Kool-Aid type drink, but were surprised at the rich flavors of real fruit that made up these drinks. We had pineapple with a very pulpy consistency, watermelon that had a great depth of flavor, and a lemon/lime mix with a extreme tart - sweet range. We were getting 24-32 oz. servings for a buck-fifty, and due to the strong flavors small sips were only needed to make these drinks last the whole tour. So, I would recommend these drinks as part of your MSM guide.

Tim

I have had the magenta-colored Agua Jamaica from the tubs, but I'm not remembering if I had any of the other brightly colored beverages. Thanks for the rec; I'll try some next Sunday and will probably include.

I'm a huge fan of the aguas frescas, especially jamaica, horchata, and, in the summer, sandia. Unlike Tim, on a hot summer day, I can go through nearly two large drinks by myself. Some are certainly better than others and I've never taken any notes on who sells the best drinks. But, the aguas frescas are definitely a highlight of Maxwell Street for me. And, for someone new to the market, a fun, inexpensive beverage.

Thanks for the updated guide, David. Much appreciated.

Ronna

The Chow Poodle and I had a lovely visit to the Maxwell Street Market this morning. I have two itmes for Mr. Hammond's consideration:

1. There is a second churro truck (a white one) that makes fresh churros just like the blue truck. This white churro truck was located at the corner of Canal and Taylor on the West side of the center of the street. On this day, I much preferred the churros from this white truck (offered only in vanilla and plain) to those from the blue truck (which also has strawberry, but NO CHOCOLATE, according to the sign). I sampled them nearly back to back and there really was no comparison. The white truck churros were tastier by far. You should at least make mention of the dualing fresh churro trucks in your guide.

2. Although you mention that there are some bargains to be had, I found most of the prices for non-food items to actually be the same as or even slightly higher than one can find at brick and morter stores and, surprisingly, none of the vendors seemed to be willing to bargain. That took the fun out of the experience for me. Maxwell Street used to be just about the only place in town where I liked to get my Jew on...but no more. To be sure there are some bargains to be had, but unlike the old days you've really got to search for them.

stevez wrote:The Chow Poodle and I had a lovely visit to the Maxwell Street Market this morning. I have two itmes for Mr. Hammond's consideration:

1. There is a second churro truck (a white one) that makes fresh churros just like the blue truck. This white churro truck was located at the corner of Canal and Taylor on the West side of the center of the street. On this day, I much preferred the churros from this white truck (offered only in vanilla and plain) to those from the blue truck (which also has strawberry, but NO CHOCOLATE, according to the sign). I sampled them nearly back to back and there really was no comparison. The white truck churros were tastier by far. You should at least make mention of the dualing fresh churro trucks in your guide.

2. Although you mention that there are some bargains to be had, I found most of the prices for non-food items to actually be the same as or even slightly higher than one can find at brick and morter stores and, surprisingly, none of the vendors seemed to be willing to bargain. That took the fun out of the experience for me. Maxwell Street used to be just about the only place in town where I liked to get my Jew on...but no more. To be sure there are some bargains to be had, but unlike the old days you've really got to search for them.

Stevez, sorry I missed you today (I ran into Vital Info and Brat64 and they told me they saw you).

We tried the white truck churros a few weeks, and they were not fresh made, but today they were pulling them right out of the fryer...and good point about the chocolate apparently not being available (at least today) at the blue van. Appreciate the data point and will reflect it in the guide.

I did check prices on Mexican candy today and would agree that prices on that stuff did not seem low, but I did buy some toiletries a few weeks ago that were in perfect shape and less than one-third regular price. Caveat emptor.

Bargains or no, a beautiful at the market.

David Hammond wrote:We tried the white truck churros a few weeks, and they were not fresh made, but today they were pulling them right out of the fryer...and good point about the chocolate apparently not being available (at least today) at the blue van. Appreciate the data point and will reflect it in the guide.

More importantly, I felt the product coming out of the white truck had vastly superior flavor. Blue-truck churros were bland in comparison.

I haven't gotten out there in a couple of months, but a few thoughts:
1) The gym sock vendors may not offer a better value than the sock store just around the corner on Roosevelt. Also, they seldom carry the larger-than-human sizes required by the menfolk of my family (but the sock store does).
2) Ask to test power tools and any electronics. I haven't been bitten by this, but it's a good idea.
3) Any comments on the guy I've seen there selling queso fresco? It looks awfully good, the samples are great, but I haven't gotten around to buying any.

JoelF wrote:3) Any comments on the guy I've seen there selling queso fresco? It looks awfully good, the samples are great, but I haven't gotten around to buying any.

I was ready to buy some today but the place was unmanned when I was there. Next week.

Around the corner from the cheese vendor is a Thermos Tamale joint. It is one of my favorites, because I like the people, there's a place to sit, the tamale is only a buck, and it is quite tasty.



About the sox, I'm guessing that pairs I've bought at MSM have probably seen me through over 100 wearings, which seems like a good deal to me. YMMV.

The revised draft; still way open to input. Thanks.

Maxwell Street Market Guide, 2009-10

Today’s Maxwell Street Market is located on Desplaines, between Roosevelt on the south side and around Harrison on the north side. It’s open for business every Sunday, in any kind of weather, from around 7AM until around 3PM. You can get there by train, car or bike.

Train. Pink or Green Lines to Clinton and walk about two streets west to Desplaines and then about a mile south. If you’re walking, you will pass:

• Haymarket memorial, just south of Lake, commemorating the “riot” or “massacre” of 1886 when a bomb was thrown at a meeting of striking workers, killing police and civilians.
• St. Patrick’s Church, 711 W. Monroe, Chicago’s oldest church (go ahead, walk in); as you pass the church headed south, glance around to your right and you’ll see Greektown across the expressway.
• The Chicago Fire Academy, 558 W. DeKoven, between Jefferson and Clinto, built at location where O’Leary’s cow is said to have kicked over a lantern, starting the Great Chicago Fire of 1871.

Car. If you’re Mapquesting, use the intersection of Roosevelt/Desplaines as your destination. We usually park in a metered spot on Clinton or Jefferson, but there are several lots, including one that’s seems decently priced on Clinton around 14th Street and one that’s much closer at Polk and Jefferson and that charges $8.00 for pretty much the whole day.

Bike. There are designated bike lanes on Roosevelt, Taylor, Halsted, Clinton and Canal. Kozy's at Desplaines and Polk is a good meeting spot; there are several bicycle racks outside the store on Polk.


Meeting at the MSM Marker – Headed north from Roosevelt/Desplaines


If you’re meeting friends at the market, a good place to convene is at the MSM marker at the northwest corner of Roosevelt and Desplaines.



The MSM is divided into two aisles, one on the east side and one on the west side, running the length of the market. The following guide assumes you’ll move with the unwritten law of MSM flow, which is counter-clockwise. From the MSM Marker, walk across Desplaines to the east aisle and start walking north, toward The Loop. We’ll move along the east aisle and then take a U turn around Harrison (or wherever the north end of the market seems to end on that day) and then start back south along the west aisle.

Although my main interest at the market is gustatory, I have found a lot of “deals” here, and if you can avoid being as fixated upon food as me and most of my friends are, you may very well find some stuff you need at low prices…especially if what you need are socks or power tools or slightly off-center notions.





Tamales Oaxaqueños

First stop is about a block or so north of our starting point, on the west side of the east aisle (your left): Tamales Oaxaqueños. At this stand, you’ll find tamales in the style of Oaxaca, a state in Mexico known for much deliciousness (e..g, Seven Moles of Oaxaca).



I deeply admire the rectangular Oaxacan tamales, filled with chicken, steamed in a banana leaf, splashed with salsa verde and crema. You can also get the more familiar cylindrical tamales filled with pork and red sauce, as well as sweet tamales, which are colored and flavored with strawberry. Recently, these good people have expanded their menu to include tacos dorados (fried) of potatoes and chicken, which I’m sure are fine, but you can get tacos at many places at the MSM, and the real allure at this stand is the eponymous tamale.

No one I’ve taken to the market to have these tamales has ever failed to rave about them. They are very simple and satisfying, and they lay an excellent foundation for further street grunting.






El Huarache Chilango

At their old Canal location, the stand with the sign “Ricos Huarachos” did a booming business – big place, always crowded, long lines.



At their Desplaines location, the newly dubbed El Huarache Chilango, run by the same people as were at the old location, is in significantly smaller quarters. “Chilango” is slang for a person who hails from Mexico City, D.F.



A huarache (literally, “slipper”) is a flat corn meal disk, with an inner layer of black beans, griddled and then topped with meat or cheese. I usually go with the steak “bandera,” so called because the green salsa, white cheese and red salsa reflects the Mexican flag. Priced around $4.50, these huaraches are best earlier in the day as they tend to sit in grease toward the end of the day.

If you’re not in the mood for fried stuff, consider some of the seafood options they have here. The seafood cocktail is a little pricey (around $7), but the shrimp consommé (prepared, no doubt, from all the shells left over from making the cocktails) is very tasty. Make sure to have them sprinkle the soup with cilantro and onion. Only $1.50 – a genuine MSM bargain.



To the left of the sign for the shrimp consommé, notice the sign for champurrado. This is a corn-based drink, lightly flavored with chocolate, sugar, cinnamon and vanilla. The traditional name for this drink is atole, and it has been enjoyed by indigenous people of lower North America for centuries. Champurrado is sold all over the market in big thermos containers. In this shot, from another stand, notice atole with pineapple, de avena (which is kind of a liquid rice pudding, served hot), and rice with milk.








Arroyo’s

This stand has been around for a while (first picture below is from their old Canal street location, but it looks the same now). I like Arroyo’s stand because it usually smells really good…and it offers a few items that you will have a hard time finding anywhere else in the city.



One menu selection I’ve not seen in other Chicago Mexican restaurants is buche, pig esophagus and/or stomach. The man behind the counter told me it was stomach, but the chunks of dark meat in there suggested it could have included esophagus and perhaps other organ meats (some pieces looked a little like pancreas). The meat is very mild, and the texture smooth and almost creamy. The chunks of onion and cilantro stem add a pleasant crunch, and the sauce (which could use a little more heat; add accordingly) had good flavor without a hint of the deep funk sometimes associated with gut meat.



Arroyo’s menu also lists montalayo (a sheep sausage, but they’ve never had it when I’ve been there) and consommé de chivo, goat broth, which is a good beverage to sip on a cold morning. This broth, which may have been created in the process of preparing birria, is traditionally made of goat, steamed so as to collect juices, covered with some kind of chili paste and then roasted. Note that some stands (see below) that advertise birria are not serving goat but rather beef, which can be tasty, too, though I prefer to eat the traditional animal in this dish.



Like a few other stands, Arroyo’s also offers tacos of tongue, head, barbacoa (a steamed and roasted meat, usually beef or goat), and chicharron (saucy pig skin, which is very tasty, though you might want to share one taco as this dish presents a lot of fatty meat for one person to eat…but it is way worth having).





Street Stands All Along the Way

Next to the food that’s prepared on the street, the produce at MSM offers some interesting and low-cost opportunities to buy and experiment with fruits and vegetables that you may not have seen or even thought to cook with in your kitchen.

You’ll see many vendors selling the bright magenta hibiscus leaf that can be used to make a tea or the traditional sweet drink, agua de Jamaica. In the photo below, right behind the hibiscus leaf are tamarind pods, which contain a sweet, sticky paste cushioning seeds: kids chew the paste because it’s candy-like.



The young lady in the following shot is selecting some nopales (cactus leaves), which are peeled and cooked (lightly steamed for a salad or sautéed and used to top meat or fish dishes). Right above the nopales are Mexican guavas; to the right of the guavas are mamey (a fruit of thick, dense meat) and peppers (you will find most varieties of chilies at the market, fresh and dried and usually quite inexpensive).



When you reach the end of the eastern aisle, take a left and head south along the western aisle.

If you need to use a restroom, the least frequented (and thus cleanest) porta-potty locations are at the south end of the market, on the southwest corner of Desplaines and Vernon.




Headed south from Harrison and Desplaines


Tacos D.F.



Tacos D.F. (Distrito Federal, Mexico City) is a small, friendly little tent, and I haven’t been able to quite determine in what ways these tacos are distinctively typical of those made in the style of Mexico City (the nice man behind the grill explained they’re served on tortillas, which doesn’t help). There are a few items here that are worth considering as we move into the final leg of the tour:

• Cecina: beef that’s been dried, which concentrates flavor and preserves it; then it’s rehydrated and griddled.
• Suadero: beef brisket, served in a taco.

Whatever you select here, make sure you pile on some of the cabbage/tomato/lime salsa that’s available in big containers on each table.



No Name Stand – Maybe My Favorite

I’m very fond of this little tamale stand.



It has no name to boast of on signage, it was located in a similarly out-of-the-way spot at the old MSM on Canal Street, and it is staffed by a friendly family selling tamales out of coolers, humble and delicious.

The tamales are modest, but flavorful, never failing to satisfy and only a buck.



Thermos tamales are usually pretty cheap – sometimes as low as two for a buck – though try to get them earlier in the day before the masa gelatinizes and gets all rubbery.





Manolo’s and Rubi’s

Manolo’s and Rubi’s (the first owned by a woman and the second by man) are two classic MSM stands. Manolo’s was first brought to my attention in an article Rick Bayless wrote for Saveur around the turn of the century. At the Canal St. incarnation of the MSM, these two stands were located side-by-side; now, they’re separated by a few other stands but they’re still within 20 yards of one another. Manolo’s is renowned for excellent pork in green or red mole, and the stand also features the legendary Masa Madonna, who is sometimes spotted, eyes downcast, focused, Olmec stern, committed to the corn paste pressed beneath her fingertips, turning out handcrafter tortillas that may make you weep.



A few steps further south is Rubi’s:



Don’t be fooled by the slick look of this menu, this place serves up some good stuff, much enhanced with fresh tortillas:



Once you have had fresh tortillas, you will have a hard time ever eating store-bought versions ever again. Fresh tortillas taste of corn, they’re moist and soft, and they absorb the sauces ladled upon them.

Rubi’s serves tacos with some ingredients you may not find at your standard brick and mortar taqueria:
• Nopales: cactus leaf, mentioned above.
• Huitlacoche: a blue-toned fungus that grows on corn; it has been enjoyed on this continent since the days of the Maya and Aztec (Midwestern farmers called it “corn smut” and tried to eradicate it before they realized there was a market for it). It is very mild, creamy, with an earthy, mushroom taste.
• Flor de calabasa: zucchini flower, usually griddled along with onions; cheese is frequently drizzled on top; the taco is very light and tasty and just might be vegetarian (hard to say what it was fried in).

In the spirit of always trying to sample foods I’ve never had before, I recently bought a taco de costilla salsa verde from Rubi’s.



Flavor was excellent – tangy sauce balancing fatty rib meat – but it was way harder to eat than a pork chop sandwich (and old school MSM favorite): there were three rib bones hidden beneath sauce, cilantro and onion, so basically one must chew tasty bones and eat saucy taco separately, which seems kind of crazy, but I’m really glad I tried it.

Next to Rubi’s, and throughout the market, are stands selling elotes, which is corn on the cob grilled over charcoal until the kernals get spotty here and there with caramelized goodness, then topped with a choice of condiments. I go “con todos,” and get parmesan-like cheese sprinkles, squirt of lime, chili and crema (or mayo, whatever they have). It’s a rich yet simple street grunt, usually pretty cheap, eaten on a stick all over MSM and Mexico City.



Notice on the grill with the elotes are tamales caseros (closed or “blind” tamales), which contain simply corn meal, are kind of sweet, and to my taste need a blast of salsa to perk them up. Of course, if you have kids in two, this is a safe bet for a non-aggressive, non-threatening snack.





 

Taqueria La Flor de Mexico



This stand, which I do not believe had a presence at the Canal Street MSM, offers a range of items, and their operation is tight so you can usually order and move on without a lengthy wait. Here’s you’ll find a few items worthy of note:

• Tinga: a stewed and shredded meat plate (usually chicken), sometimes quite mild.
• Al Pastor: marinated pork meat, cooked on a spit “shepherd-style” is quite tasty, as the fat percolates through the meat as it cooks resulting in a crispy pork deliciousness (before you order, make sure the meat on the spit is nice and toasty looking on the outside – if the fire is out around the spit, you’ll probably get re-griddled al pastor meat, which isn’t bad but is not optimal).





The Green House

The Green House is an old standby at the market, and it’s a fairly large place so it’s a good location to stop and sit (note tent behind roach coach, below) if you’re tired of walking and noshing. On many weekends, The Green House is big enough to straddle the center aisle, with access from either east or west sides aisles.



The Green House has a good selection of a lot of stuff, and here are some items you may find of note:

• Tortas ahogadas: literally, a “drowned sandwich,” a French-type roll (a holdover from France’s colonization of Mexico), filled with meat (usually pork, a gift of the Spanish) soaking in a tomato broth (indigenous America’s contribution), somewhat piquant, sprinkled with pickled onions, a delicious mess to eat. This sandwich is generally associated with Jalisco. At this stand, it may be listed on signs as “Pambazos.”
• Pozole: a hominy soup (usually of chicken or pork) that is traditionally sold on weekends at some Mexican restaurants. Menudo is a variant of this weekend soup, and it’s made with tripe (stomach) and is allegedly a good cure for hangovers (not for nothing this soup is big on Sunday mornings). A red version of this soup is associated with Jalisco, the green version with Guerrero.
• Platanos: these long, fried bananas are very starchy, only slightly sweet, and served with crema (like sour cream). I’d recommend giving yours a few splashes of salsa.

At The Green House and many other stands along the route, you will see horchata advertised: this cool, sweet, rice-based drink provides very good balance to spicy food. At many stands, you’ll also see big plastic containers of fruit flavored “aguas frescas,” and these are a very pleasant alternative to soft drinks and a great deal (about $1.50 for 20 ounces or so). However, if you go for the soft drinks, consider paying a little extra for a Mexican Coke. This version of America’s favorite drink, bottled in Mexico, contains real sugar rather than high fructose corn syrup (taste the difference: cleaner and lighter on the tongue). Caveat emptor: word on the street is that some Mexican coke is no longer using pure sugar, so check the label before you buy.






Eye Ball Taco Stand

There are foods that seem odd to Western eyes at many ethnic markets, and MSM’s contender for Oddest Damn Edible is the eye ball taco at this little stand that has no obvious name.



I had one once. It was terrible. But I did earn bragging rights, which gives me no pleasure at all to exercise. Here’s an LTHer eating an eyeball taco; please do not expect to look as pleased as she seems when you eat one of these.



Although it seems a bad idea to eat nerve tissue from the head (unless you’ve exhausted all other routes to Creutzfeld-Jakob), I do applaud a vendor that’s supports the consumption of animals from head to tail: note on the sign above:

• Machitos: in this case intestine, though this word sometimes refers to other styles of organ meat.
• Sesos: brains
• Cachete: cheeks

My support, however, seems not enough to fill the chairs at this place, which serves a discriminating and seemingly limited audience (though that can change at a flash: lines beget lines, and sometimes it seems people line up for a stand just because others are, so, hey, it must be good, right?)






Pupusas Salvadorenos

This stand seems to change locations more than most, and there’s not telling where it might be located, though it was recently spotted next to the blue van (description follows). If you have children along for this tour, and they haven’t eaten much yet, here is where you’ll find kid-friendly and authentic pupusas from El Salvador.

Pupusas are flat pancakes of finely ground cornmeal, stuffed with cheese (sausage, frijoles or what-have-you) and griddled. Condiments are a type of sauerkraut of cabbage and carrot and vinegar.

Tamal de elote are made from fresh ground corn kernals, not masa, and are also worthy of notice.

It sometimes takes a while for the nice ladies at the griddle to make your order, but as they’re being made fresh for you, they’re really good and well worth the wait.

Finding this stand is hit-or-miss – it has disappeared for weeks on end only to reappear before vanishing again.




Blue Van Churros

You’ve seen churros before – the long pastry tubes usually stored in plexiglass cases. As with tortillas, once you’ve had a fresh churro, it’s going to be hard to go back to the ones sitting sadly for hours in their plastic boxes. Wait until the end of your tour to buy your churros, as they’re rather dessert-like, plus no matter how full you are, you will be able to have few bites of a fresh-fried churro. You can have them filled with creams of vanilla or strawberry or other flavorings (may vary).



From this van we enjoyed churros pulled right from the hot grease and served to us, which is really the best way a fried pastry can be fully presented. There are other vendors selling churros at MSM – and the White Van Churros around the middle of the market carries chocolate, but my experience is that none are likely to be so fresh as these (some say, however, that when they are fresh, the flavor at the White Van Churros is better). Still, before buying anywhere, peek in, see if they’re making them fresh, and if they’re not, don’t buy.

Before you go home, consider some produce from the fruit vendors located onTaylor and Desplaines or right near the end/beginning of this tour, next to the Blue Van Churros. You can get flats of berries and other fruits for single digits, then pull your car up in front along Roosevelt and load up (actually, on second thought, though MSM is no longer called The Cheat You Fair, you can never be too careful: better to pick out what you want, pull up your car, THEN pay and load up).






Jim’s Original

Oddly, one thing you will find almost absent from the current MSM is the legendary Maxwell Street Polish (there’s sometimes a small stand selling them, but for the most part they’ve pretty much disappeared from the market). The absence of this signature sausage is symbolic of how this market has changed over the years.

Jim’s Original opened over 70 years ago, and it’s credited (on their website) with inventing the Maxwell Street Polish: griddled onions and kielbasa with mustard on a bun. The first location of Jim’s was at the corner of Maxwell and Halsted, but with the University of Illinois’s expansion and the gentrification of the area, Jim’s moved nearby to 1250 S. Union.



Jim’s is a short walk (under a quarter mile) from Roosevelt and Desplaines: just head west over the Dan Ryan expressway, and turn south (left) on Union; look for the bright yellow buildings (one of these yellow buildings is Jim’s and the other is Maxwell Street Express – these stands have been undergoing a Hatfield-McCoy type conflict for some time now, so if you want to get tight with the servers, just ask them if their sausage is as “good as they serve next door”).

If you do visit Jim’s Original, you might as well walk a little farther south and west to take a look at the corner where this historic operation began: go south about a block to Maxwell Street and take a right for another block or so; where once stood Jim’s is now a Jamba Juice.

The MSM moved to Canal in 1994, before moving to Desplaines in 2008. On old Maxwell Street, you can still see the pentimenti of old facades, though they’ve been razed or so totally renovated as to be unrecognizable by former denizens of this now upscale barrio. Although there are no longer bluesmen or many poor people evident in this area, bronze statues of these former denizens suggest in a rather sad and coldly non-ironic way the heritage of this historic neighborhood.






Help Keep This Guide Up to Date

I’m always interested in hearing about the new kinds of chow that periodically pop up along at the Maxwell Street Market. If you eat something there that you think is worthy of note, shot me an email: David@DCHammond.com.






 
Print Resources

Berkow, Ira, Maxwell Street, Survival in a Bazaar. Doubleday & Co., 1977,

Grove, Lori; and Kamedulski, Laura, Chicago's Maxwell Street. Arcadia Publishing, 2002,


Youtube clips

There are some incredible clips of old MaxwellStreet on Youtube; here are some of my favorites, but you can just search “Maxwell” and you’ll come up with loads more.

Robert Nighthawk and some of the dirtiest dancing ever: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oypAbJj-fEs

Vintage footage featuring the legendary Chicken Man: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d8RZkWYpxPU&feature=fvw

Carrie Robinson, singing and dancing: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SQP4Unmr ... re=related


Gorilla Gourmet

Years ago, Mike “Sky Full of Bacon” Gebert and I produced a video about a group of food enthusiasts (at the time, we were Chowhounds) who toured the MSM on Canal St in search of authentic deliciousness. You can still find the video online, and it’s free:

Part 1: http://www.vimeo.com/840503
Part 2: http://www.vimeo.com/855823

The eyeball taco place now has a name:

Awesome - I was quite concerned on my last trip that Maxwell seemed to be nearly gut-free. Apparently they just decided not to set up that day because the weather started out questionable; thank goodness.

I like that they didn't bother translating sesos, ojos, or cachete.

I mentioned earlier that years ago, Mike “Sky Full of Bacon” Gebert and I produced a video about a group of food enthusiasts (at the time, we were Chowhounds) who toured the MSM on Canal St in search of authentic deliciousness. It’s no online, it’s free, and if you watch it you will thrill to Vital Information demonstrating his immense chow expertise and knowledge, GWiv fearlessly downing an eyeball taco, justjoan giving her honest opinion, Seth Zurer doing improv, Cathy2 doing schtick, Melissa "MAG" Graham when she was still an attorney, ErikM just passing through:

Part 1: http://www.vimeo.com/840503
Part 2: http://www.vimeo.com/855823

Interesting also that birria is translated as lamb and consome (for the birria) as lamb soup. If it is lamb, and not goat, that could be confusing for non-English speakers (it's usually goat, though there are some lamb recipes depending on the region). Seems just as likely it's goat and the translation got screwed up. Anyone know if Tito's is really serving lamb birria?

JeffB wrote:Interesting also that birria is translated as lamb and consome (for the birria) as lamb soup. If it is lamb, and not goat, that could be confusing for non-English speakers (it's usually goat, though there are some lamb recipes depending on the region). Seems just as likely it's goat and the translation got screwed up. Anyone know if Tito's is really serving lamb birria?

That's a good question, and I don't know the answer, but to add to the confusion, El Guero (as noted above) serves birria that's made from beef.

I can confirm the birria, we were there Sunday and the sign said, birria, but he said lamb. So, either it was lamb, which it tasted like, although faint, or goat, and the guy got it mixed up. It was tasty, although salty nonetheless.

I've always assumed it's goat, and they say lamb because they think you'll be grossed out by goat, you gringo you.

I love birria, but I honestly don't think I'd be able to tell the difference between goat and lamb birria in a blind taste test.

"Birria" (accent on the first syllable) translates as neither goat nor lamb nor beef nor any other specific type of meat. It is a word used for a spicy meat-based stew, most commonly made with goat or lamb or mutton. It is not a translation of "stew" either; it is better described as a colloquialism used in Mexico for this type of stew, which, Google tells me, originated in Jalisco. It also tells me that birria (the stew) is a traditional dish for festive events such as Christmas, New Year's Eve, Mother's Day,and weddings.

"Birria" translates literally as "garbage, rubbish, monstrosity, something atrocious" and also as a mania, an obsessively held idea, and is used in these contexts both in Mexico and the Southern Cone. The garbage connotation isn't so farfetched though when you think of how stews and their various tossed-in ingredients are described in various cultures (jambalaya comes to mind). In an entirely different context, in some Central American countries, the word "birria" is also used for beer (not surprisingly given the similar pronunciations) or other mild alcoholic drinks.

I'd say LTH is at least Google's and Wikipedia's equal when it comes to birria searches. Birria is possibly the richest, meatiest topic on this board, other than BBQ. Tremendous scholarly threads below.

viewtopic.php?f=14&t=20252

viewtopic.php?t=3639

Sorry if my post suggested that somehow birria recipes are restricted to goat.

PS, eatchicago, I bet you could tell the difference. The "lamb" tends to be mutton and is much gamier than the goat. For whatever reason, the lamb recipes I've tasted have a pronounced cinnamon note. As I mentioned in a long-ago thread, lamb seems to be preferred in Durango, and a few city and suburban lamb birria specialists have come and gone over the years. The original, Jalisco style (goat) and it variants are by far the most common here (which I know you know, just sayin).

JeffB, in preparing my post I did not rely solely on Google, and I got nothing I said from Wikipedia. I do speak Spanish, fluently, I think I can say. But usage and connotation varies from one Latin American country to another, so what something means in the southern cone is not necessarily what it mean in Mexico or Central America. What's a neutral offhand comment in one Spanish-speaking country can be a terrible insult in another. Always best to check. I consulted a couple of Spanish dictionaries I have on hand as well.

I looked through again and might have missed something, but as far as I can see, there's nothing in the first thread you cited, the one mostly about Zaragosa, to suggest that they serve birria made from anything other than goat, nor that anyone who ate there and posted about it is aware that birria can be made from anything other than goat. The second thread is much the same in that respect except for Antonius's learned examination of the connotations of the words barbacoa and birria, which includes the observation that birria can be made not only from goat but also from mutton.

My post was prompted by someone's comment in this thread that the birria at a certain MSM stall was advertized as lamb, and Mike G's response that it probably only said lamb to keep from scaring gringos off the idea of eating goat. (Gringo, by the way, is one of those terms that is neutral in connotation to some people and in some environments, and pejorative to and in others.) Frankly that bothered me some. I've lived a large portion of my life in South America. A sister of mine lived a large portion of hers in Europe. A brother a large portion of his in Asia. I get tired of the "white people are ignorant of authenticity in other cuisines" stereotype.