Zacatacos Berwyn (and general Cermak update)

Pretty damn tasty carne asada al carbon on standard corn tortillas, served with two good table salsas and plentiful lime slices. I appreciated the fine dice of the sweet white onion and the well-washed cilantro, two things that, done poorly, can kill a taqueria for me. Al pastor tasted homey but was cut a bit large and could have been moister. I meant to ask if it's cone or griddle for Hammond, but didn't get the chance since they were busy. Licuado de platano was a perfect respite for a 90 degree day - ripe banana, clean ice, milk, cane sugar, and canela. Textbook.

6224 Cermak Road
(between Harvey Ave & Lombard Ave)
Berwyn, IL 60402
(708) 484-8443

Across the street, Sevilla Tapas has had a revamp and is now La Espanola:

http://www.laespanolatapasbar.com/home.html

A brief survey of other sites reveals significantly better reviews in this incarnation.

I noticed a new taqueria a block east of Zacatacos with a large gecko on the sign, and stumbled into a new Pollo al Carbon place ("Paisa," I believe) on 16th and Oak Park Ave, which smelled heavenly; I'll visit and report back.

Lastly, Czech Plaza is still open, with a large party of Eastern Europeans smokin' on the sidewalk in the heat. Any recent visits?

Sadly, let me lament again that the Spindle is now a gaping hole in the ground, waiting for a 24-hour Walgreens. Boo.

There is another Zacatacos in Berwyn, in the old Cathy's Hacienda space at 38th and Harlem. Conventional wisdom has it that the steak tacos are better than the Cermak location, I'd agree. The new place is doing a land office business, I frequently see lines out the door.

Santander wrote:I noticed a new taqueria a block east of Zacatacos with a large gecko on the sign, and stumbled into a new Pollo al Carbon place ("Paisa," I believe) on 16th and Oak Park Ave, which smelled heavenly; I'll visit and report back...
Sadly, let me lament again that the Spindle is now a gaping hole in the ground, waiting for a 24-hour Walgreens. Boo.

Although I haven't been back to the 22nd st location in quite a while (after noticing a steady decline in quality) I can seriously vouch for the new Harlem location. Not the greatest ever, but if you can get there for some fresh stuff (which I have yet to) I'd imagine it's quite good. Sorry if I meandered a little, but I'm saying that I know I prolly haven't even had their a grade stuff, but it's still been pretty darned good. I can also vouch for their chicken which is pretty high praise from me for a taqueria. I've been eyeing that Paisa place for quite some time now. Think I'll have to try to beat you to the punch. Maybe I'll try to hit it up during a tamale run to Los Tamales. Been a while...

P.s. I bought a nice amount of Walgreens stock at 32.00 about a week ago.
So PLBTHTHTHT.
Yay WAG!

There are also two locations on Pulaski. One at 71st and one at 59th. The one at 59th has pretty good al pastor cut from the spit, however it can turn nasty if you try to take a picture.

stevez wrote:There are also two locations on Pulaski. One at 71st and one at 59th. The one at 59th has pretty good al pastor cut from the spit, however it can turn nasty if you try to take a picture.

L F'ng O L!!

I've mean meaning to check out the newest Berwyn Zacatacos, since its closer to home than the Cermak Road location, but the long lines kept me from stopping. On my way home last night I finally dropped in and ordered 2 tacos: al pastor - from a spit!! - and carne asada. They were quite tasty (better than I recall from the Cermak spot), but I spaced out and forgot to watch to see if the al pastor was shaved from the cone or had been sliced and re-grilled. At any rate, I'll be back.

P.S. There's a BP station next door, and a Shell station across the intersection of Harlem and Pershing, both competing for the "lowest" gas price (currently $4.17). While waiting in line for my turn to fill 'er up about 7:30 am, I noticed lots of smoke coming from the rooftop exhaust at Zacatacos. I seem to recall this being a "good sign" for BBQ places; wonder if this translates to tacquerias as well?

stevez wrote:There are also two locations on Pulaski. One at 71st and one at 59th. The one at 59th has pretty good al pastor cut from the spit, however it can turn nasty if you try to take a picture.

It's the Zacatacos on 71st that has the spit. The one at 59th uses precut meat. I haven't been to the one on "Cermax en Berwing" as they say on their website but for years Zacatacos has been one of the better basic taquerias, serving reliably good carne asada. Gary got in trouble for taking a picture at the one on 71st but I've been yelled at for the same thing at the original one.

Carne Asada from Zacatacos, 59th & Pulaski


Do I remember correctly that there's a Zacatacos in that miserable food court at 17 S Wabash? Has anyone tried it?

Zacatacos
5925 S Pulaski Rd
Chicago
773-581-9481

Zacatacos
3949 W 71st St
Chicago
773-582-9701

Rene G wrote: Gary got in trouble for taking a picture at the one on 71st

You are correct. I noticed that I made a typo right after I posted, but I thought I would let it slide. Now that you have called me on it, I'll own up to the mistake.

ok, for those who have eaten from the harlem ave location:
What is the strong flavor from the salsa verde here? Is it Mexican oregano? The only other ZT I've been to is the one on Cermak, and whatever that strong flavor is, it's never been in the salsa at the Cermak location, but it's always been in the Harlem location. I don't like it at all. They really do char up those chiles in their salsa roja, and it's really earthy. Love that stuff. I now tell them to keep the green stuff though. Any intel? No, it's not cilantro. May be epazote or that other herb that I can't think of right now. Not sure why I'm thinking it's Mex oregano, but whatever. Anyone?

The Harlem Ave location keeps chugging along churning out some really decent steak. It's my hood go to joint for tacos. As far as overall consistency of the steak, I prefer Las Asadas, but for overall consistency of salsa, I give the edge to Zaca. After some gnarly dental work yesterday, me and my new fang headed over.

Steak burrito no beans, no cheese, with avocado, and a steak taco with onion/cilantro only:

The salsa verde today was SCREAMING hot. Like in your face sizzlin, right up front. LOVED it. When they first opened this location, their salsa verde had some kind of funky herb or spice going on. they've done away with it. It's all good now. Their roja is one of my favorite examples of the stuff. Extremely earthy, bitter undertones, charred arbol (I'm pretty sure) flavor. Today's wasn't as spicy hot as it normally is, but I could eat it non stop with some chips if given the chance. It might not have seemed as hot as it normally is because the verde was so blazin.

Their steak is nicely done. Not as much full on char as I prefer, but I can count on Zaca for pretty decent steak most of the time. In the past, at times, they would ruin the meat by being too heavy handed with the salt, but lately, no big complaints from me. Today's stuff was nice and tangy, a tad on the dry side, but delicious nonetheless, and my new fang didn't ache too much from the chewing.




The burrito had a "pocket of sour cream and nothing else" issue with the last few bites, but by then, I was nicely sated. It was no gut bomb, just a light conglomeration of steak, lettuce, tomato, avocado, and sour cream. I personally think beans and cheese would ruin the flavor of the steak (not to mention turn the whole thing into a heavy, gloppy mess.)


I wish they were more consistent with their chicken, but as it stands, it's a roll of the dice. Sometimes it's really nice, other times, it's a salty mess. They can also make some mean enchiladas rojas pretty consistently. I should probably try a lot more of their offerings, but it's hard to get past that steak. They have a site under construction now. Multiple locations, I can't vouch for all of them flame grilling their steak, but the Harlem, and Cermak locales do.
http://www.zacatacos.net/

There's a Zacatacos in the Loop, on Wabash in this trippy kind of bleak indoor food court. Is this part of the same local "chain"?

bjt

No clue about the Wabash location. It isn't listed on their website, but the site is still under construction. I also remember a "Zacatacos" on Diversey W of California somewhere.

So I set my jaw and went into the musty living room of a restaurant called Overseas Chinese Restaurant last week, and came out with some pretty wonderful fat-saturated barbecue pork fried rice, and a just-passable appetizer combination (plain wonton, crab rangoon, and salty teriyaki jerky skewers, and then some nice eggrolls and tempura shrimp). I enjoyed the bilingue menu and clientele.

Is anything else worth trying here? Is there any other reasonable Chinese-American fare in the Berwyn area? Even with Katy's open in Oak Park, the Mongolian Beef and Sweet and Sour Chicken craving continues to strike. Only two notable things on this menu seemed to be the Chinese Bread appetizer (love this in Chinatown) and the fact that they continue the lunch special into the dinner hours, making an entree + eggroll option possible without too high of a premium.

http://www.overseaschinamenu.com/
6846 Cermak Rd, Berwyn, IL 60402
(708) 484-5447

You must be well Katied out if you're hitting up OSC for a fix. Chinese food is something I try not to compromise on, so I haven't been back to that place in about 8 years.

For the area, the only thing I can remotely recommend is the Chow Fun at Wok N Roll Express on Ogden. Tasty House makes a decent Egg Roll on Roosevelt, and Wanda's Chinese Kitchen on Cermak makes a decent General Tso's Chicken, but please beware of and avoid their chicken fried rice like the plague. The last two times I ordered it, it came with diced pieces of some ersatz chicken substance, like Carl Buddig brand diced chicken. I shit you not.

This area is pretty much dead to me for Chinese food. Katy's is all I need here. Imo, hopping on 55 and getting to the Chinatwon exit is easier than plodding through almost any Chinese dish in this area unless it's at Katy's. A friend of mine swears by some Chinese joint in Brookfield, haven't hit it up yet, and forgot the name. I'll report back, but since Katy's has arrived to the hood, I'm not expecting too much.

Overseas China scratches the same itch that I used to scratch with Orange Garden when I lived in that neck of the woods. My wife hates Overseas, so I only hit it solo. Whole different itch than wanting to go to Chinatown (or now Katy's).

Wing Wah on Harlem in Riverside can dish up some really serviceable food. The Brookfield place is probably Golden Wok on Maple (it's actually LaGrange Park). I've been hit or miss there (just like Chef Shangri La on 26th) - and pretty much stay away because of too many misses.

Fine Thai is really the only Asian place in Brookfield worth eating at.

The one thing that I don't like at Katy's is the hot and sour soup - it's too sweet. Can anyone vouch for a solid rendition at any of these spots? I haven't yet dared to visit Luo's Peking House - I'm not encouraged by its absence in this thread.

Still need to find a reason to visit Chef Shangri-La at 26th and Des Plaines.

Luo's lost me on some frozen lunch specials and insipid soups in the past few years; Szechwan Beijing not an improvement. I will def check out some of the spots upthread.

ndgbucktown wrote:Still need to find a reason to visit Chef Shangri-La at 26th and Des Plaines.

I haven't been since the ownership change, but they are always on Groupon if that gives you a nudge. The last time I went there, which was, again, pre current ownership, has me literally frightened to go back. It was comically bad. (Again, this was before the current regime was in place.) For the record, I've heard some pretty decent reports about the place these days.

ndgbucktown-The Mai Tai's alone are the reason I go to Chef Shangra La!

stoutisgoodfood wrote:Wing Wah on Harlem in Riverside can dish up some really serviceable food. The Brookfield place is probably Golden Wok on Maple (it's actually LaGrange Park). I've been hit or miss there (just like Chef Shangri La on 26th) - and pretty much stay away because of too many misses.

Any examples of what to try out from Wing Wah? I work pretty close a few days a week, and I think I've only been there once or thrice a few years ago. What I recall was that it was the same ol' same ol' glop for the area. I'd love to try some recommended stuff, Chinese lunch specials are one of my favoritest things ever, and I'm pretty close. I usually wind up at Tonini's for a (real) turkey sub with smoked mozzarella and a stripe of prosciutto, Las Asadas, or Zacatacos. One thing I think I've been missing out on is that Riverside Restaurant's daily specials. Only been there once, but most of what we had was crazy good for the price. Some of it was ass, but someone in the kitchen there cares about the product they are slingin.

Um,ok, off topic completely, but my 4 year old son is playing in his kitchen. He said he is making coffee. When he said it was finished, he asked me if I wanted an "Americano Misto." I cannot make this stuff up.

Grub1 wrote:Fine Thai is really the only Asian place in Brookfield worth eating at.

So far, I agree with you wholeheartedly, their Red Curry is possibly my favorite anywhere. Closer to Berwyn, is D. Thai on Ogden just west of Harlem - same owners as Fine Thai, but you can definitely tell when the "new" cooks are working.

Datapoint: really excellent charred salsas bringing the heat, practically drinkable. Middling horchata. Flavorless cecina, standard griddle pastor, better-than-average steak taco, reasonable rice and beans, plentiful limes, fresh cilantro. Most amusing is that these tacos were probably 2x stuffed verses previous (carryout) visits, and in the dine-in platillo this time, all three tacos were wrapped in paper and then stuck into the middle of the rice and the melted cheese of the beans, which made the meal a complete mess to unpack and enough food for at least two. The salsas and the steak taco remain worthy of stopthroughs for me now and then.