Buen Provecho! Pilsen - - 9/16/08

Anyone know about this event? Here's the website:
http://www.eighteenthstreet.org/event.html

As far as I can tell, you pay your $20 and then go from restaurant to restaurant, enjoying small tastes. I have trouble visiting Pilsen and eating anywhere other than Nuevo Leon, so this looks like a good way to be forced into trying other options.

I haven't heard about it and I live right here! Maybe we'll participate or just keep our storefront open for all the LTHers to stop by...

This sounds simply wonderful. I'm not certain I'll be able to play hooky that day, but if it looks like I can, it certainly sounds like a perfect way to acquaint oneself with Pilsen.

Does anyone know if everything is confined to a specifc space of a couple of blocks or does it stretch among all the different addresses of these restauants?

Does anyone know if everything is confined to a specifc space of a couple of blocks or does it stretch among all the different addresses of these restauants?

It sounds like you walk from restaurant to restaurant rather than each location having a booth in a specific area.

figjustin and I will probably be participating and maybe hosting participants for drinks afterwards...

Okay, so we're not participating in the full walk because we had to schedule a client tasting at 6pm, but we're hosting everyone for after-walk drinks. We posted an invite on Yelp too and hopefully we'll snag a few people just walking by. Come visit us at 1850 S. Blue Island Ave. (it's just north of La Esperanza which is on the tour).

My two favorite blurbs from the event description:

Taste of Chinatown will be offering crab rangoon, singapore
noodles and combination satay at 1343 W. 18th Street.

None of which are Chinese.

Birrieria Reyes de Ocotlan is a restaurant where you will feel right at
home, serving birria, a unique food that you can't find anywhere else in
Chicago. Birrieria will be serving Birria tacos, consome, Jamaica and
horchata (rice water) at 1322 W. 18th Street.

Not true, and also totally uninsightful for newcomers. But thanks for translating horchata, obviously the most important part of this offering.

This event turned out to be a wonderful surprise. RAB and I had been slightly hesitant to attend as we'd read so little about the event and didn't know what to expect. Given the glorious weather, though, we decided to spend our Tuesday evening strolling through Pilsen.

RAB and I thoroughly enjoyed ourselves. It seems that everyone around us was also having a good time. Almost exclusively, the establishments were friendly and generous. We finished up the evening by enjoying great margaritas and conversation at FIG Catering with Molly and Justin who were nice enough to open their doors to the community.

I hope that this is only the first of many Pilsen Buen Provecho! evenings so that more people are able to attend.

There were over 20 establishments participating and the walk between them was generally less than a minute. In some places we sat at tables; at others, we stood. The food portions were so ample that we only made it to only half the spots. There was plenty of time to eat more - - we were simply full by the time we reached the 10th spot. As far as value goes, $20 is a true bargain for the quality and quantity of food we sampled.

For those who might be interested in attending next year or are curious about any of these restaurants, below is what we ate, from favorite to least favorite (perhaps RAB will be good enough to see if any of the camera phone photos are worthy of posting) . . .

1. Nuevo Leon - - Always a favorite. Basket of fresh chips, four salsas. Rice, refried beans. Quesadilla Raul appetizer and a fried cheese appetizer. We tasted everything but the rice. As usual, everything was super-fresh and tasty, and delivered with a smile.

2. Honky Tonk BBQ - - Award-winning mini pulled pork sandwiches. This was our first visit, and we hope to return. The pork was flavorful and had plenty of crispy charred bits. The owner was quite proud of his food and showed us the trophy he'd recently won for the pulled pork. The spicy BBQ sauce was a highlight. We hope to return to sample more. BYO, too, which is great. (fortunately or unfortunately, living so close to Honey 1 has meant we haven't tried much Chicago BBQ)

3. Birrieria Reyes de Octalan - - Goat meat taco, consume, and horchata. RAB found the consume to be fatty; I found it interesting, but could have done without. We were told to either sip the consume between bites or pour it on the taco. The taco itself was splendid and worthy of a repeat visit. This was my first goat taco and I am sure it won't be my last. The service could not have been friendlier.

4. Los Camales - - Any two tacos you want. I had the suadero and al pastor. These were full-sized double tortilla tacos. The suadero was great and at $1.50, worthy of a return visit. The al pastor was also good. RAB ordered the bistec and barbacoa, neither of which were as tasty as the two I ordered. (RAB and I shared, of course)

5. Fogata Village Restaurant - - Okay, so this might not have been the best restaurant of the evening, but they win major points for generosity. They had a buffet with a variety of dishes, salad, and dessert. The also had horchata and limeade. As much as you'd like. Help yourself. I bet you could've stayed an hour and no one would have said anything. The highlight was the spicy green salsa, followed closely by the refried beans. They also served a respectable tender pork chop chile ajo and a well-seasoned, surprisingly juicy chicken breast al cilantro. The guisado de res en guajillo was tasty, but not in the same league as Nuevo Leon's guisado de puerco. There was also rice and two pasta dishes we didn't sample. Did I mention that this was all at one restaurant and that you could help yourself to as much as you desired? Nuts!

6. Cuernavaca - - By the time we arrived here, we were plenty full. Arroz con leche, however, has a special place in RAB's heart, so we had to stop by. The arroz was unfortunately just okay. So was the horchata. The surprise, however, was the house specialty chicken volcan, which is kept hot in a stone mortar (the kind you often see Mexican restaurants make guacamole in). The chicken was tasty and the tortilla was respectably good. The vibe seemed more about drinking than food, though, so I don't know that we'll return.

7. Panaderia Tortilleria Nuevo Leon - - This was another surprise. Huge array of sweets on a table out on 18th St. Basically, ask for whatever you want. The tres leches cake was good, as were a few other selections. We didn't try everything as it was early on and we could already see we were going to be in trouble if we ate everything.

8. Mundial Cocina Mestiza - - Jewish tamale (which according to the restaurant has nothing to do with Jews?) made with masa neja, topped with chimpa verde and served with shredded chicken. Sangria, too. The sangria was quite good. The chimpa verde on the tamale was quite good; the rest of the dish was too dry, unfortunately.

9. Cafe Mestizo - - tamales oaxaquenos. They weren't ready for the small crowd. We were each served two bites of a cold, dense tamale. They may have been good while fresh, but this was really an embarrassment.

And, last, but not least, Panaderia y Pasteleria El Paraiso. This one I can't yet rate because they were nice enough to give us a bag for our sweets. So, we haven't enjoyed them yet. However, I will say that the service was extremely friendly, and that they have a far wider array of pastries than the typical panaderia. If I lived in Pilsen, this would likely be my go-to panaderia. RAB bought a few extra pastries, which should make for a nice breakfast this morning.

All-in-all, a fun filling evening. If they do it again next year, I strongly recommend that you attend even if you're just moderately interested.

REB wrote: (perhaps RAB will be good enough to see if any of the camera phone photos are worthy of posting) . . .

Nope. It was night, and camera phone pictures are too dark and blurry. Except for the tacos at Los Camales, but who needs to see another picture of two standard taqueria tacos?

We finished up the evening by enjoying great margaritas and conversation at FIG Catering with Molly and Justin who were nice enough to open their doors to the community.

My thanks as well to the figs for their hospitality. Very, very kind of you.

All-in-all, a fun filling evening. If they do it again next year, I strongly recommend that you attend even if you're just moderately interested.

I'll go a step further. For me, this is a can't miss event. A more-than-you-can-eat gluttonous stroll down 18th St. and a shocking bargain for the price. What a great way to spend a Tuesday night.
I hope they do it again. As much as I'd like to preserve the light attendance for myself, put this on your calendar for next year.

I attended this event last night with my wife and mother. I joined this forum today so that could second REB's observations as well as add a few of the stops we were able to make.

We were able to make it to 15 out of the 17 locations on 18th Street. We stayed on 18th Street exclusively and I feel bad about not getting those locations off of 18th. I'm really hoping they do this again so we can get to those places as well. The experience was more than worth the price of the ticket. I don't know the etiquette of this forum or of an event like last night, but I have to say I felt weird about not tipping at the places where sit down service was provided. At the locations that went buffet style, it didn't seem necessary or appropriate. I hope I didn't screw up at the sit down places. The list below isn't ranked. For the most part, I'll fill in places that weren't listed previously.

The chocolate Mexicano at Cafe Jumping Bean was whipped up nicely and tasted like the Abuelita brand.
It was tasty!

Cafe Mestizo was out of the dry tamale REB described when we went there.

There were 7 kinds of Italian Ice available at Dave's Ice. I had the mango, which had little chunks of fruit in it. The traditional lemon was really good too.

The last and unexpected stop we made was at Kristoffer's Cafe for some very sweet tres leches cake and coffee. It washed away the flavor of the Jewish tamale from Mundial Cocina. Unfortunately, the tamale was the only clinker in the wonderful evening.

Mi Cafetel gave us a buffet style taco/beans/rice with a chicken fajita filling that was excellent. We also had a great time conversing with the owner. This was one of our favorite stops.

Perez Restaurant was the most generous of a street full of generous portions. The green enchilada was really tasty, one of my favorites. It is a large restaurant, much larger than it appears on the outside, with Aztec art adorning the walls.

It sounds like it would be worth skipping, but the chicken at Pollo Express was mighty fine. What was even more impressive was the size of the bird portions we saw regulars ordering. Huge.

It wasn't Chinese, but the satay at Taste of Chinatown was enjoyed by me and my wife. She also thought the crab rangoon was the biggest she's ever seen.

We had a great time. No one could ask for a better evening for walking around. The temperature was perfect. A fun night of walking, talking, and eating. We would definitely attend this again. We would also love to see and do this in other neighborhoods throughout the city. This one was the first time I've ever seen the event listed ahead of time, but I am new to the forums and to reading the blog in the Tribune.

Hi, renhoek55. Welcome to LTH. I'm fairly new myself and must say it's been a great resource and a great way to meet other folks interested in good food.

I'm almost sad to see your post, I must admit. To learn that we missed so much good food!

We did leave tips at a handful of spots. Where we sat down and felt we received personal attention, we left a small tip. I don't know if others did; it just seemed like the right thing to do.