ExtraMSG,

I was talking to the manager at Xni-Pec today, and he made basically the same point about Yucatecan food being somewhat less spicy than cuisines of other Mexican regions. I also find it somewhat more "sour" (in a good way, as in ceviches, escabeches, citris notes, etc.).

Haven't seen lomitos and longaniza at Xni-Pec nor Xel-Ha.

I emailed you a pdf of the Xni-Pec menu.

Hammond

gotta say, i'm loving this one, but i kind of figured i would after what's been written prior. it forced my move to make sure i got there today. could not wait.

the moment the first bite hit my mouth, my tastebuds sang. rellenos negro. great texture and flavor, thank you very nice. pibil w/pickled onions, asst. salsas, definite lard flakey crust pot pies of sorts called johnny b good or something like that 1 w/pork 1 w/chix, killer tamales (how did we forget the empenada's?) even the rice was excellent. jamaica to drink. and mole. good company of the usual suspects.

yes. big yes. go.

jazzfood wrote:... definite lard flakey crust pot pies of sorts called johnny b good or something like that ...

The dish is called mucbipollo (also pibpollo), a Yucatecan tamale-esque dish traditionally served for Hanal Pixan (feast for all souls) or the Day of the Dead.

jazzfood wrote:... definite lard flakey crust pot pies of sorts called johnny b good or something like that ...

PIGMON wrote:The dish is called mucbipollo (also pibpollo), a Yucatecan tamale-esque dish traditionally served for Hanal Pixan (feast for all souls) or the Day of the Dead.

Lardy flakey, as Jazzfood says, though I'd also add delicious. We were served two types of Mucbipollos, chicken and pork, not sure which was which, but both were quite good.

Mucbipollos



Chiles Relleno w/tuna was a new to me preparation and worked, not surprisingly for Xni-Pec, really well.

Chiles Relleno (Atun/tuna)



We also had a house made red mole, not very photogenic, but wonderful on the tongue.

Red Mole w/chicken



Smokey, deep flavored Relleno Negro, as has been discussed at length upthread, are a must-have.


Cochinita pibil, hand made tortillas wrapped around tender rich marinated slow cooked pork, offset by pickled red onions. I've had this dish at Xni-Pec three times now and enjoy it more each time.

Tacos de Cochinita Pibil


Even with cups of cups of soup, endless baskets of house-made chips, Papadzules, Calabaza en dulce, served with warm milk, rounds of Agua de Jamaica, pleasantly tart as opposed to the usual overly sweet, our bill for 5 came to a reasonable $70. Add into this friendly, highly informed and very efficient service by Maria Luisa, a co-owner, and I'm already itching to go back to Xni-Pec.

Enjoy,
Gary

Gary,

I had the chance to visit Xni-Pec a second time last week and was thoroughly impressed once again. When I was there, the stuffed chiles with tuna were not on offer but that is a dish that I look forward to having; especially during Lent, such options are most welcome.

The chicken soup they offer up to all patrons was really tasty, I thought. The broth was so flavourful and the noodles, which had been toasted, had real texture:

G Wiv wrote:Cochinita pibil, hand made tortillas wrapped around tender rich marinated slow cooked pork, offset by pickled red onions. I've had this dish at Xni-Pec three times now and enjoy it more each time.

Indeed. The first time I had their cochinita pibil I thought it was excellent; this time it was somehow better -- a deeper pork flavour -- and the contrast of the meat with the onions is just sublime:



Xni-Pec is simply a great little restaurant.

Antonius

Add my voice to the growing chorus of Xni Pec lovers. Stopped in last night for dinner on the way out to Fitzgerald's, and... just... WOW!

I don't have nearly the Mexican food expertise of others who have already posted upthread, but I know what I like, and I like Xni Pec. A lot. A WHOLE lot, in fact.

We basically let Antonio (the owner, I guess? Certainly part of the family) order for us. He seemed quite pleased to have newcomers to explain things to, and did an excellent job. We wound up getting the Panuchos, Tacos de Conchinita Pibil, Tacos de Camaron, Tamal Yucateco, and for dessert, the Sweet Potato / Pumpkin combo. I'd be hard pressed to pick a favorite. Everything was clearly handmade with extreme care (watch out for that Habenero salsa though - a little dab'll do ya...)

I think the best part, though, was the warm, freindly atmosphere of the place. Antonio told us that all the recipes they use in the restaurant come from his Grandmother, who is/was a street food vendor back home. I told him that his grandmother was one hell of a good cook & he gave me the old "tell me something I don't already know" look. The family vibe is very evident at Xni Pec, and we had a fantastic meal. I really can't recommend this place highly enough.

ChiNOLA wrote:We basically let Antonio (the owner, I guess? Certainly part of the family) order for us. He seemed quite pleased to have newcomers to explain things to, and did an excellent job.

Antonio is the manager of Xni-Pec, a very friendly guy, and like the rest of the staff, very proud to bring his hometown food to Chicago; his works in the kitchen.

I think the approach of simply asking Antonio to bring you some stuff is an excellent ordering strategy.

This place faces some challenges (location being primary among them), and I think it's great that many positive posts on LTH continue to draw people to Xni-Pec.

just came back from my second meal there. a late breakfast @ the crack of 5. antonio was holding court and the food was just great. in addition to everything that's been mentioned were two new standouts for me. one was the combo coctel w/camarones and pulpo, served w/a smokey hot sauce on the side.

the other was a dessert that antionio comped that was just fantastic called caballero pobre or poor man. i believe it's traditionally served @ lent. it was like a bread pudding caramelized w/a very dark mexican sugar but with thin sliced green tomatoes, fresh farmers cheese (i know, sounds weird but it works) orange zest, clove, cinnamon, tamarind and guayuba. really fantastic.

the only downside of anything i've had there so far was a empanada that had tuna and corn. bland and soggy for my taste.

i can't stress how much this place is worth supporting. i brought a friend so i could order as i like and nearly destroyed him. a real find. give these people some props. well worth a detour and from where i live in wicker pk, under 15 min.

jazzfood wrote:the other was a dessert that antionio comped that was just fantastic called caballero pobre or poor man. i believe it's traditionally served @ lent. it was like a bread pudding caramelized w/a very dark mexican sugar but with thin sliced green tomatoes, fresh farmers cheese (i know, sounds weird but it works) orange zest, clove, cinnamon, tamarind and guayuba. really fantastic.

We had this dessert on Friday. It sounded crazy from the description (Antonio mentioned that there were also regular tomatoes, onions, and mozzarella cheese in it, although he said sometimes its made with chihuahau or queso fresco) so we just had to try it. I definitely saw the onions, a little tomato, and bits of white cheese on it, but it tasted absolutely fantastic. I would never have guessed that those ingredients combined could produce such a sublimely flavored dessert.

Also on the menu Friday were gorditas de camaron (if I'm remembering correctly), which were patties of dried shrimp and dried fish pressed together, served with a light red sauce, nopales/cactus, black beans and rice. Basically, they were similar to crab cakes, except made with dried seafood. The taste was interesting--surprisingly moist, lightly textured, and very seaweed-like in flavor.

Antonio mentioned that next weekend he expects to have some deer specials on the menu. I did not know this, but deer are apparently plentiful in the Yucatan, so much so that the state crest/shield prominently features one in its design. I've never tasted any Mexican preparation of deer, so I will do my best to make it out there on Sunday.

Binko wrote:Antonio mentioned that next weekend he expects to have some deer specials on the menu. I did not know this, but deer are apparently plentiful in the Yucatan, so much so that the state crest/shield prominently features one in its design. I've never tasted any Mexican preparation of deer, so I will do my best to make it out there on Sunday.

I remember thinking it odd that deer once roamed through Yucatan, probably because we associate them more with cooler regions, but the critters were probably all over the hemisphere at one point.

From Wikipedia -- 3 day signs in the Aztec calendar: water, rabbit, deer.



Mazatlan -- 'deer place'. (And their professional baseball team is called los venados.)

Binko wrote:I've never tasted any Mexican preparation of deer, so I will do my best to make it out there on Sunday.

Binko,

Give the cecina de venado at Casa de Samuel a try as well:

http://lthforum.com/bb/viewtopic.php?p=19710#19710
http://lthforum.com/bb/viewtopic.php?p=80023#80023

Antonius

Yucatan White-Tailed Deer
Deer is native mammal in the peninsula, also was an important par of their food. Deer played an essential part of the Mesoamerican diet; most of the meat consumed by the ancient Maya was venison. Society depended on deer meat, and women played a large role in making sure there was an abundant supply of deer. Evidence shows that deer sometimes lived inside Maya households. There is also ample evidence that deer may have been nurtured in the household, much as children were. While it was the man’s responsibility to hunt and kill deer, it was necessary for the women to make sure there would be enough deer to kill. Women raised deer due to the dwindling area of graze-worthy savanna.
The Yucatan Flag show a deer jumping henequen plant

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yucatan

Unfortunately this weekend we are unable to cook it because some delays on our resources (deer meat) we apologize and we do our best to have it in our regular menu.


Antonio Contreras
XNI-PEC De Yucatan

This weeks Chicago Magazine's Dish newsletter gives a shout out to LTHforum re: Xni-Pec. Also has a brief phone interview with Antonio.

http://www.chicagomag.com/dish

Change working hours

First we want to thank every one in LTH Forum, we really appreciate because this forum and all those people who came to XNI-PEC restaurant to taste our food and type all comments back have brought costumers and some media attention and that’s been grate help for our business.
Second we want to post new working hours in our restaurant.
Monday: CLOSE
Tuesday to Friday: 02:00 PM to 10:00 PM
Saturday: 10:00 AM to 11:00 PM
Sunday: 10:00 AM to 08:00 PM

The menu will remain the same, weekend specials will continue, please check our webpage to se up coming weekend specials.

XNI-PEC
From Yucatan
Authentic Mayan Cuisine
http://www.xnipec.us/
(708) 652-8680
5135 W 25th ST
Cicero, IL 60806

Having recently come back from Playa del Carmen and not making the walk down to the food carts for Cochinita Pibil taco's, I may have to finally make it to Xni Pec this weekend.

Stumbled upon this website after learning from the Reader about Xni-Pec.

First, let me say that I have been on a mission to locate Huevos Moltuenos for about a year in the Chicagoland area, with no luck, let alone Cochinita Pebil.

My wife and I visited Xni-Pec Saturday, March 24th. We were the only ones in the restaurant at this time, so we were waited on by the owner, Antonio. I told him that we were very happy to learn that he was serving Yucatecan food, in particular, Huevos Moltuenos, which we had at Cabanas Copal in Tulum, in the Yucatan, about 2 hours south of Cancun on the 307. We told him about our trips to the Yucatan and Tulum, and he just lit up, and told us about himself. He absolutely HATES the winters here (jeez! ya think?)

He brought us a complimentary dish to try, the Cochinita Pibil tacos. Wow...I was now back in Playa Del Carmen!!! I told him of our side trip to Playa to visit Yaxche, an Mayan restaurant. He was VERY familiar with it. He also told us of a place in Cancun called Pacal (a Mayan king) that serves Mayan. Learning of our love for peppers particularly the Habanero, which is largely cultivated in the Yucatan, he brings out a complimentary "shot" of a roasted Habanero salsa. Basically, it was 4 Habaneros ground up. He warned us multiple times to be careful Holy Sh*T!!! He was right!!! But it was sooooo good. 1/2 hour later he notices that it is gone!!!! And also his regular table dish of the Xni-Pec is gone!! That's when I told him I grow them in my garden in the summer and make and jar my own Habanero salsa. I'm no Rick Bayless (but jokingly call myself Steve Payless when I make it) , but it is pretty hot, and very good --- in a punched-in-the-nose sort of way! So anyway, he said he now understood why the salsas were finished, because he said usually no one ever finishes Habanero salsa, (especially a big white guy!)

He also left us with a large pot of cinnamon cafe. I guess he got tired of running between the kitchen and our table, providing refills. We topped off this giant breakfast with the Lenten dessert called Capirotada, which is a Mexican bread pudding. His description of the ingredients was just so weird, but the flavors all came together correctly in the finished product. My wife makes the dish, and is in no way even similar in ingredients, although still very good. We've had it at Bayless' restaurant twice last year during Lent, and it is to-die-for (and I hate cliches). Antonios recipe is from his Grandmother, and we really enjoyed it.

So, we are looking forward to many more trips to Xni Pec. My wife and I are returning to Tulum in early May for 8 days and plan try more Mayan cuisine.

Looking forward to more tips from the LTH Forum.
Provecho!

I had the pleasure of eating twice at Xni-Pec last week, bringing two different groups of out of town visitors. Here are a few notes from those visits.

1. New (to me) dishes. I finally got to try the relleno negro, described and pictured above, which was one of the specials of the day. Since our group wanted to try a little bit of everything, Antonio helpfully served this as individual tacos, one each for our party.

We also asked Antonio for a fish recommendation, having already tried the pescado tikin xik on a previous visit. He said his favorite was pescado caribeño, tilapia in a coconut sauce. We ordered it and agreed that it was excellent. This is not one of the listings on the “Mayan Heritage” page of the menu – look under the seafood section instead. (By the way, has anyone tried the fish tacos at Xni-Pec?)

On my second visit of the week I ordered another of the specials of the day, pavo en escabeche. This was a generous serving of turkey (wing plus other chunks of meat), served with onions and green olives in a peppery broth. Black pepper, that is, not chile.



The flavor of this dish is really unusual, unlike anything from ‘mainland’ Mexican cooking that I know of. Antonio explained that this dish is made with a recado blanco, which includes toasted onion, garlic, basil, bay, and the juice of the sour orange. And lots and lots of black pepper!

By the way, the drink I had with my lunch was an agua fresca of cantaloupe, which was outstanding.

I was hoping that one of my companions would order another of the daily specials, pan de cazón, layers of baby shark, tortillas, and black beans, but instead my pescatarian friends stuck with my earlier recommendations of papadzules and the pescado caribeño, and they were very happy with their choices. Maybe I can get back there again soon to see if the shark is still on offer.

2. Miracle on W 25th St. Lucantonius, who has been reiterating his policy of “No green” since he reached the two-word stage of language development, for the first time enthusiastically scarfed down green stuff: the soup of the day, cream of zucchini and poblano chile. He followed that with a bright green tortilla. Perhaps there’s hope after all for our little contra-vegetarian…



3. Hungry Hound effect, let’s hope… As TheWindyCity reports in the events forum, Steve Dolinsky filmed a segment at Xni-Pec a week ago. I thought Antonio said it was scheduled to air on May 4, TheWindyCity says May 5, in any event it will be soon. I really, really hope that the publicity brings more people out to try Xni-Pec. On both of my visits last week there were very few other customers.

Amata, thanks for the update. It's excellent that Senor Contreras continues to experiment with new menu items. The baby shark preparation sounds very unusual; never heard of it.

Glad to hear the lad has gone green (at least for this one time).

OOPS!....Amata...thanks for the mention of Hungry Hound...It is MAY 4, 10:00PM, not May 5!

We were there April 13th during the dinner hour and sadly, it was pretty empty. Location is everthing in this case. Antonio's dishes are just excellent, as he brings these choice Mayan dishes to us, and also teaches us about the Yucatecan cuisine. We had the two specials, Pan de Cazón and the Potaje de lentejas. The most notable was the Pan de Cazon..it was a fish dish, constructed of multiple layers (about 3" high) of tortilla, mashed black beans, and chopped fish, with a tomatoe based sauce over the top. Sorry, no pic, but it was so delicious.

My wife and I will be returning to Tulum, Mexico, May 2nd for 8 days, and we have already sought out a few places that feature Mayan Cuisine.

That baby shark dish was, indeed, excellent.

I did want to point out one appetizer that hasn't been mentioned in this thread that I tried for the first time last week, on my brother's recommendation: the gorditas de villa. Deep-fried gorditas, split in half, stuffed with a well-spiced and juicy shreds of beef. I only wish I had my camera there, but--and this may be sacrilegious to say this--but I think I like it as much as the cochinita pibil. It's easily the tastiest appetizer I've eaten this year, and, if you order two, you can make a meal of it--they're pretty filling.

We were headed to Cicero last night to see a friend perform in a show at Morton College, so my husband asked me to check the boards and find a good restaurant in the vicinity. Finally, finally, we got to try Xni-Pec.

We were in somewhat of a hurry because traffic was backed up for a long time, so we chose our dinners rapidly. I don't think we ate anything that hasn't already been discussed on this board, but everything was excellent. Especially good was the carrot soup we started off with, and a couple of those oversized chicken tamales wrapped in banana leaves. We sort of ate our dinners and ran out the door, but the kids definitely want to go back soon. I guess we'll have to wait until the "Check, Please!" effect has worn off.

I was pleased to see the dining room over half full at 6:20 on a Saturday evening.

Suzy

sdritz wrote:I guess we'll have to wait until the "Check, Please!" effect has worn off.

Xni-Pec was on Check Please? How did I miss that?

stevez wrote:

sdritz wrote:I guess we'll have to wait until the "Check, Please!" effect has worn off.

Xni-Pec was on Check Please? How did I miss that?

I think that was a slip of the tongue, she probably was referring to the pending Hungry Hound review.

Regards,

Yes, sorry.

Suzy

Based on a glowing (4-fork) review in the Tribune's Cheap Eats column last week, as well as a positive LTH thread, my wife and I stopped at Xni-Pec yesterday for an early dinner. We couldn't have been more underwhelmed.
The place, which was about half-full, is cute and cheerful, and the staff very friendly and welcoming. Unfortunately, it was our waiter's first day on the job, so he couldn't be very helpful explaining the many unfamiliar items on the menu. Gamely, we ordered beverages and a couple of empanadas to start off. The mushroom and corn empanada arrived only partially cooked. The filling was cold and the dough on the inside was still mushy. The waiter took it back. The picadillo empanada was hot throughout, but the beef was oddly bland. No salt, pepper, spices. Nothing.
As we pondered this, our food arrived. The chicken on my wife's panuchos seemed more like dry, burnt crumbs of meat than chunks. The underlying tortillas, stuffed with black beans, were also tough and dry. The pork in my poc chuc was overcooked to knife-bending toughness, while the rice still contained many raw, crunchy grains. The hot tortillas served in a covered basket were dry and stale-tasting around the edges, almost as if they had been microwaved too long.
In light of all the praise it has received, I'm willing to consider that maybe Xni-Pec was just having a bad day. Still, so many things having been subpar, it's unlikely we'll be back any time soon.

*wink* *wink*

stevez wrote:

sdritz wrote:I guess we'll have to wait until the "Check, Please!" effect has worn off.

Xni-Pec was on Check Please? How did I miss that?

Paul SL wrote:Based on a glowing (4-fork) review in the Tribune's Cheap Eats column last week, as well as a positive LTH thread, my wife and I stopped at Xni-Pec yesterday for an early dinner. We couldn't have been more underwhelmed.
The place, which was about half-full, is cute and cheerful, and the staff very friendly and welcoming. Unfortunately, it was our waiter's first day on the job, so he couldn't be very helpful explaining the many unfamiliar items on the menu. Gamely, we ordered beverages and a couple of empanadas to start off. The mushroom and corn empanada arrived only partially cooked. The filling was cold and the dough on the inside was still mushy. The waiter took it back. The picadillo empanada was hot throughout, but the beef was oddly bland. No salt, pepper, spices. Nothing.
As we pondered this, our food arrived. The chicken on my wife's panuchos seemed more like dry, burnt crumbs of meat than chunks. The underlying tortillas, stuffed with black beans, were also tough and dry. The pork in my poc chuc was overcooked to knife-bending toughness, while the rice still contained many raw, crunchy grains. The hot tortillas served in a covered basket were dry and stale-tasting around the edges, almost as if they had been microwaved too long.
In light of all the praise it has received, I'm willing to consider that maybe Xni-Pec was just having a bad day. Still, so many things having been subpar, it's unlikely we'll be back any time soon.

.

You know, I was calling yesterday to make a dinner reservation for me and my wife. Someone finally picked up the phone and stated that they were closed b/c the were fixing some problem within the kitchen--sounded like a structural thing but I don't know for sure. I was, however, able to get an reservation for tonight but now I'm considering not going. The combination of Paul SL's experience and the "kitchen problems" makes me think that waiting might be a good idea. Any thoughts?

the sleeve wrote:

Paul SL wrote:Based on a glowing (4-fork) review in the Tribune's Cheap Eats column last week, as well as a positive LTH thread, my wife and I stopped at Xni-Pec yesterday for an early dinner. We couldn't have been more underwhelmed.
The place, which was about half-full, is cute and cheerful, and the staff very friendly and welcoming. Unfortunately, it was our waiter's first day on the job, so he couldn't be very helpful explaining the many unfamiliar items on the menu. Gamely, we ordered beverages and a couple of empanadas to start off. The mushroom and corn empanada arrived only partially cooked. The filling was cold and the dough on the inside was still mushy. The waiter took it back. The picadillo empanada was hot throughout, but the beef was oddly bland. No salt, pepper, spices. Nothing.
As we pondered this, our food arrived. The chicken on my wife's panuchos seemed more like dry, burnt crumbs of meat than chunks. The underlying tortillas, stuffed with black beans, were also tough and dry. The pork in my poc chuc was overcooked to knife-bending toughness, while the rice still contained many raw, crunchy grains. The hot tortillas served in a covered basket were dry and stale-tasting around the edges, almost as if they had been microwaved too long.
In light of all the praise it has received, I'm willing to consider that maybe Xni-Pec was just having a bad day. Still, so many things having been subpar, it's unlikely we'll be back any time soon.

.

You know, I was calling yesterday to make a dinner reservation for me and my wife. Someone finally picked up the phone and stated that they were closed b/c the were fixing some problem within the kitchen--sounded like a structural thing but I don't know for sure. I was, however, able to get an reservation for tonight but now I'm considering not going. The combination of Paul SL's experience and the "kitchen problems" makes me think that waiting might be a good idea. Any thoughts?

I tend to agree with PaulSL that the kitchen was probably having a bad day. These guys have turned out such consistently good stuff, it's hard to believe they just all of a sudden lost the touch.

I say go. It's a cheap date, and the odds (based on this thread) are very much in your favor.