best chicken at mexican spots?

i'm personally not a fan of dark meat, so people who like dark meat might not feel me on this but even some of the best mexican spots seem to have horrible chicken.

stringy, dark almost cartiledge-y. blech. it is tough to find a mom and pop mexican spot with good chicken.

la pasada (not to be confused with the pasaditas) on ashland is decent. its juicy white meat but my stomach feels weird after i eat it.

the best i have found is a place (i never remember the name) on damen a half a block or so north of cermak on the east side of the street. their chicken is heavenly.


what other mexican spots am i missing that have glorious chicken??

Taqueria Oaxaquena on Miolwaukee near Addison makes a terrific Chicken in mole.

I've long given praise to the chicken offerings at Ino's Tacos, although, I have no aversion to dark meat so my opinion might not be for you - in that I'm not sure how much dark meat is in their mixture. Their chicken is the best I've found. I do, however, think that some dark meat might be included in their mixture, but not enough for me to say for sure. Is all white meat what you are looking for? If so, then two spots might be up your alley:
Zacatacos (various locations)
Las Asadas (Various locations as well)
In my experience with these two, both use only white meat, and do not boil it to death in some oversalty red sauce (huge pet peeve of mine.) Las asadas uses bigger chunks of chicken, while zacatacos is more smaller bite size chunks. Neither "sing" like Ino's does, but both are pretty competent - more so than the average joint. I have also heard that El Asadero up on Montrose is competent as well, but I haven't tried their chicken offerings.

Ino's Tacos (there is another one on one of the 40ish streets somewhere?)
7100 Roosevelt Rd
Oak Park, IL 60304
(708) 763-9571

Zacatacos (various)

Las Asadas:
2072 N Western Ave (and other locations - Including La Palapita up north on Milwaukee)
Chicago, IL 60647
(773) 235-5538‎

Taqueria El Asadero
2213 W Montrose Ave
Chicago, IL 60618
(773) 583-5563

I love Asadero, but steak tacos/burritos/tortas is the way to go there. From my trials, the chicken tacos are pretty standard griddled, normally fairly dry chicken.

La Oaxaquena on Milwaukee near Addison makes a terrific Chicken in mole.

I have never tried the chicken in mole at La Oaxaquena, but the cornish hen in mole is incredible. And incredibly cheap!

Our Great Neighborhood Restaurant Xni-Pec is a good place to try chicken, both as a leg/thigh in mole, and shredded in the panuchos, fried corn cakes with an excellent little bowl of chicken broth.

I like pollo al carbon, the coal-fired crispy skin rotisserie (or grill rack) chicken at many spots around the city. Just look for that phrase on your prowls through the city and drop us a report when you've checked a spot out. I found a good one in Berwyn last month; other dishes there have not been as impressive to me or to others, but if you're looking for moist chicken, they have it in spades: La Paisita.

The bone-in chicken breasts in mole at Don Juan's, the Concannon's spot in Edison Park has been my go to dish there. Terrific, moist, nicely charred,with a great spicy mole.That's an underrated spot.
And I have been consistently impressed by the chicken offerings at Mixteco. The first time I went there it was a Sunday afternoon and I had chilaquiles and Raul suggested I have the chicken with it. It was a display of succulent grilled slices of chicken breast seared on the wood grill but so moist I couldn't believe it. Even though I generally don't order chicken, when I go for lunch at Mixteco I usually get the grilled chicken tacos. Same wonderfully wood grilled chicken breast that's smokily scrumptious. I've had the steak tacos which are wonderful but somehow I come back to the chicken.

Don Juan's
6730 N. Northwest Hwy.
Chicago, IL 60631
773-775-6438

Mixteco Grill
1601 W.Montrose
Chicago,IL 60613
773-868-1602

Worth noting that upon a recent visit I discovered La Paisita does not do chicken tacos - only 1/2 or whole birds - which looked great despite my opting for a couple of steak tacos, which were excellent with the noticeably freshly chopped onions and cilantro. The place is a pleasant neighborhood spot - I hope they can get enough traffic to make it work.

cool thanks for the suggestions.

try El Pollo Regio. you get a whole bird, cooked over charcoal, with this delicious green sauce, hand made tortillas, a grilled onion, a bean stew and rice. you may not like dark meat but the white meat is decent and the delicious taste of the chicken may make you change your mind on dark meat. tacos made with the hand made tortillas, delicious chicken, green sauce and grilled onion are so delicious. ask for extra green sauce:

El Pollo Regio
1918 W Lake St
Melrose Park IL
708-345-5011
http://www.elpolloregio.net/
Sun-Thu 10am-10pm, Fri-Sat 10am-11pm

http://www.lthforum.com/bb/viewtopic.php?f=14&t=20451

ReneG's pic:

I, too, am very adverse to dark meat due to a traumatic childhood of being forcefed drumsticks. Sometimes just the sight of dark meat makes me wretch. I can't even eat thighmeat or a wing! I'd love to hear about more places, particularly on the north side, that use only white meat only in their tacos, burritos, tortas, etc. Thanks!