La Lupita - a nice touch in Berwyn

La Lupita is one of those calm, straightforward, promising little spots that makes you think about going back to try things you didn't have the first time around, and it seems like several of us are on the same wavelength on this one. I hadn't noticed it before the Cermak Carbonathon, but it may have been around for a little while. In a nutshell (which is about the size of the place), La Lupita is about a pleasant, outgoing family with Guerrero roots, confidently making both street and festival foods in a bright, clean storefront in Berwyn (with a tin ceiling I covet, have to get a better picture next time!)


photo: Panther in the Den

Their steak taco tied for winner status in our highly scientific poll, with nice char and a hint of good acidic marinade even before dressed with the fresh lime. It got high merits from me just for the carefully cleaned and immaculately diced onions and cilantro (which many places can't get right, serving up browning gritty leaves and carelessly chopped outer husks or inner sprouting cores). I was even more impressed by their banana leaf tamal with pork and salsa, which was recommended in lieu of the neat chalkboard's tamale de elote, which was currently out of season, but which I can taste already from a future late summer.



This Oaxaca-style tamale was rustically made, fragrant, and perfectly moist, and compelled me to return soon after for both pork and queso con rajas cornhusk tamales, which were equally competent, if missing just a little of the delightful hand-formed unevenness of the larger banana leaf example. Tamale pricepoints are similar to Tamale Hut Cafe at the other end of Cermak (about $2 per), which I don't mind - I look at the $1 tamale places as amazingly throwbacky deals and feel like I'm getting away with something (Gene and Jude's is charging the same for something half the size made at a factory!)*. I sampled a champurrado my second visit and it was as close to the Holy Grail of Atole de Chocolate I once had in Taxco as I've had in Chicago.

I have not yet tried the pozole, CESJ, or cecina, which make the list for the next visit. They promise me they'll also make carne a la tampiquena over coals anytime with a little advance notice or patience. Thanks to the thon-ers for putting this place on the list and allowing for the extra time there on our adventure!

La Lupita
6539 Cermak Rd, Berwyn
(708) 788-8226‎

* yeah, I know not apples:apples, and I love a Chicago cornroll / handful of bunch tamales now and then.

Just got finished with my first take out order from La Lupita after the taco-thon. Would really love to hear about all this place has to offer when others go. Our list from this evening:

Huarache de pollo.
The chicken here is fire grilled, then finely chopped. No "boiled in red sauce syndrome" happening here. Flavorful, yes, only complaint was the fine dice on it. Bigger chunks would work better for me. Less fallout. The huarache as a whole was decent. Masa kind of struck me as nothing great. It was late-ish, around 8:30. I'd bet it the masa boat was made much earlier in the day. Would I get another one? Sure.

1 steak taco.
I ordered one of these just to recall the a thon taste. The taco I got from Zacatacos down the street on the day of the thon would have sent the taco I got from Lupita today running with it's tail between its legs. This carne asada was definitely leftovers. I'm sure that during peak times, however, it would be worlds better.

1 Barbacoa taco.
Oddly enough, this tasted like birria to me. I was not a huge fan of it. I like a cleaner tasting barbacoa. More like straight slow cooked beef in beef broth. This was that PLUS some stronger spicing. I'm sure plenty of ppl would like it more than me - just a preference thing.

Cheese enchiladas in red sauce.
I give this an A. High A. I loved these. A LOT. Almost reminded me of a New Mexico Red Chile sauce in flavor. The sauce was thickish, very stick to your ribs kinda thing. The refrieds on the side were really nothing special, but the rice was stellar. Had a nice buttery, chicken brothy thing going on, but it wasn't dense - nice and fluffy.

Tamales on wknds only

Next up for me:
Some of their guisado type things, and I too, will have to try their carne en su jugo. It seems like they have a light hand with the salt which has me extremely intrigued. I find that a lot of Mexican joints are really heavy handed with the salt when they really do not need to be which kinda turns me off of their stew type dishes. I think there's some potential for this to be a neat little (and Santander ain't kidding about little!) spot for me.

Diner tonight at La Lupita was a real let down. They were out of jamica and orange juice for starters. Out of their banana leaf tamale. I had steak tacos with wilted cilantro and a bonus piece of plastic. My wife had encheladas which were pedestrian at best. My daughter tried the tamale dulce - tasted like a corn fed now and later. I was very excited to try this place, as I live about 4 blocks away. I think I'll stick to Zacatacos.

My daughter tried the tamale dulce - tasted like a corn fed now and later

Sorry to hear about the Valetine's Day letdown (never have been there on a Saturday night m'self), but this line is pretty funny for the image it conjures. I actually kind of know what you mean, not being a personal fan of tamales dulces.

mrefjl wrote:Diner tonight at La Lupita was a real let down. They were out of jamica and orange juice for starters. Out of their banana leaf tamale. I had steak tacos with wilted cilantro and a bonus piece of plastic. My wife had encheladas which were pedestrian at best. My daughter tried the tamale dulce - tasted like a corn fed now and later. I was very excited to try this place, as I live about 4 blocks away. I think I'll stick to Zacatacos.

Sounds pretty bad. For steak tacos, I'd probably stick with zaca's as a better chance for great tacos at any time of day. Which enchiladas did the wife have?

seebee wrote:

mrefjl wrote: Which enchiladas did the wife have?

Chicken - dry chicken.

Which sauce?

Red. I want to thank the both of you for responding to my post. Nothing works me up more than a bad meal when I'm ready for a great one. I'm sure I'll go back again. Maybe the beef foot tacos next time. So many great choices around here.

Hey - no problem at all. Actually, it's a two way street. I can thank you for helping me cross off "chicken enchiladas."

I'm very curious to know - was the big issue with the enchiladas the chicken being dry?
I LOVED the sauce. Absolutely loved it. Might have been a different sauce prep as well, or we might just have different tastes. I do like the zacataco's red enchiladas as well, but the Lupita version (the night I had them) floated my boat. Sauce was very earthy. Mostly a toasted red chile flavor - a back to basics kinda rich chile flavor - the stuff that makes me remember why dried, toasted, and rehydrated chiles are so wonderfully complex when you don't go overboard on adding other spices. I could TOTALLY see, however, a "dried chicken syndrome" ruining that (if that is in fact what happened.) Sol De Mexico is another culprit in the dried chicken enchilada world.

Anyway, even after my so-so trial at Lupita, I think they have a good amt of upside, especially for "home-style" foods. I plan on trying a few more of their offerings, but the cheese enchiladas in red sauce was a big winner for me.

O.K. I have made a mistake. I had a chicken Hurache(?) where the chicken was very dry and one third cartilage. My wife's chicken enchilada apparantly had nice moist chicken. She says that here problem with it was that the sauce lacked flavor. She was happy that there was plenty of sauce. My wife's benchmark for enchiladas is La Quebrada on Roosevelt if that helps put things in perspective.

Santander wrote:Tamale pricepoints are similar to Tamale Hut Cafe at the other end of Cermak (about $2 per), which I don't mind - I look at the $1 tamale places as amazingly throwbacky deals and feel like I'm getting away with something (Gene and Jude's is charging the same for something half the size made at a factory!)*. I sampled a champurrado my second visit and it was as close to the Holy Grail of Atole de Chocolate I once had in Taxco as I've had in Chicago.

I had the tamale special (2 tamales (red/green) and champurrado) for $2.89 yesterday at Don Alfredo's (25th Ave and Lake St., strip mall). Quite a good deal. They seem to have taken the sign down, but it is still available upon request.

mrefjl wrote:O.K. I have made a mistake. I had a chicken Hurache(?) where the chicken was very dry and one third cartilage. My wife's chicken enchilada apparantly had nice moist chicken. She says that here problem with it was that the sauce lacked flavor. She was happy that there was plenty of sauce. My wife's benchmark for enchiladas is La Quebrada on Roosevelt if that helps put things in perspective.

I'm a recent fan of La Quebrada, which is consistent enough across its locations to have maintained Great Neighborhood Restaurant status. The Roosevelt location seems to do great business and has always been taking its food right off the griddle or spit when I'm in there.

mrefjl wrote:O.K. I have made a mistake. I had a chicken Hurache(?) where the chicken was very dry and one third cartilage. My wife's chicken enchilada apparantly had nice moist chicken. She says that here problem with it was that the sauce lacked flavor. She was happy that there was plenty of sauce. My wife's benchmark for enchiladas is La Quebrada on Roosevelt if that helps put things in perspective.

Ok, so maybe, I really might like the chix enchiladas at Lupita. I liked the sauce because of its lack of spicing that sometimes detracts from the chile flavor. It was very straightforward. Heavy chile, garlic, salt, and not much else. A very "Mexico: one plate at a time" toasted and rehydrated chile sauce for any Bayless fans out there. I'm a big fan of La Q as well, although I've never had their rojas before. I usually get a tampiqeuna, or enchiladas en mole there.

Hmmmm....dare I say it?
Cermak Enchilad - A - ........THON?

seebee wrote:Hmmmm....dare I say it?
Cermak Enchilad - A - ........THON?

Heh, I'd probably make it for that. Though I've been busy hitting places on Cermak like THC, and Taqueria El Milagro in the North Riverside Mall, trying different tamales in the area lately. All of this sampling lately has had me really considering a tamale-a-thon

That and also realizing that while tamales dulce can be enjoyable at times, they are destined to be a once in a while dish only for me.

Make sure you give Los Tamales a try.
It's over by dere in Cicero - not far from Freddie's. I'm a fan. Not always as good as THC, but when they are good, they are REALLY good. I'm mostly partial to their chicken in green sauce. Tamale thon has crossed my lips several times. I think it would be a great idea to try and crown a top tamal. Perhaps Panther will be avail for the logistics? lol.

seebee wrote:Make sure you give Los Tamales a try.
It's over by dere in Cicero - not far from Freddie's. I'm a fan. Not always as good as THC, but when they are good, they are REALLY good. I'm mostly partial to their chicken in green sauce. Tamale thon has crossed my lips several times. I think it would be a great idea to try and crown a top tamal. Perhaps Panther will be avail for the logistics? lol.

Already on the job!

Map so far for the Tamale-a-thon

PM me your Gmail email address and I can put you on to add places to the map.

Returned tonight. The Mrs and I were Starvin like Marvin. Ordered a whole mess of food. We ordered:

Chicken Enchiladas Rojas:
Gotta say, mrefjl, I, and the Mrs agreed with your assessment here. Zacatacos were better than these. I was really bummed out. I was hoping really hard for the sauce I had on those cheese enchiladas. It was not the same. I think that the recipe here came up a little lame for whatever reason. It was not nearly as full flavored as the stuff I got before. The wife and I both thought this way. She even said - Zacatacos was better, but she also agreed that sauce on the cheese enchiladas we had before from Lupita was waaaay better than Zacatacos. Oh how I wish they could be consistent. On the plus side, we both agreed again that Lupitas rice is absolutely delicious. She said it's the best rice around by a mile. Near the end of the meal, I was absolutely stuffed, but still scooping up the remaining rice into my pie hole. You'd never see me doing this anywhere else normally.The rice is really good here. Back to the enchiladas - I really don't see the purpose in them making different sauces (one for cheese, one for chicken) so I'll just assume either I got REALLY lucky the first time, or maybe I, and mrejfil were both unlucky. The enchiladas tonight were not BAD, the sauce was just nowhere near as good as it was when I had them before.

1 Pork in red sauce tamale:
This thing was sitting around for a while. kinda dried out. Lotta meat, lotta masa. Probably would have been much better 6 hrs earlier.

1 Tamale elote:
This was just a tamale of masa with a hint of sweetness to it. I was expecting pieces of corn, but no, just a plain masa tamale. Wouldn't get one from here again.

1 Tostada de Tinga:
Good, not great. Tamale Hut Cafe and La Casa Del Pueblo offer much better tinga.

1 Taco de Birria.
Decent. Gamey. Spectacular? not really.

1 Chicken Burrito
This place might supplant Ino's as my favorite chicken spot. They grill it over flame, and then reheat on the griddle. It's not boiled in salty red sauce (which I really despise Mexican restaurants for doing.) The mrs and I ate the whole thing, and neither of us came across any funny parts (bones, cartilage, etc.) The funny parts don't bother me at all, but the mrs doesn't really care for them.

Next up for me here will be pozole or carne en su jugo. I'll try the enchiladas again in hopes of getting that good sauce again, but if they don't come through, I can stick with a chicken burrito and a side of rice as a VERY good standard order.

The owners son contacted me via email in regards to my posting here. He's was really great and I was impressed that he went out of his way to do that. Next time I'll try chicken burrito and have the Mrs. get cheese encheladas.

seebee wrote:Next up for me here will be pozole or carne en su jugo. I'll try the enchiladas again in hopes of getting that good sauce again, but if they don't come through, I can stick with a chicken burrito and a side of rice as a VERY good standard order.

I'll have a picture uploaded soon, but wanter to offer the quick bite that the CESJ is generous, rich, and very filling, with a stack of tortillas and really nice plate of garnishes, including toasted chilis that get a quick perk-up on the griddle with some salt. The one unusual (but not unheard of) element along with the lovely charred steak, bacon, beans, onions, and broth is... hot dogs. Lots and lots of very thinly sliced hot dogs. While these folks could probably make a homemade sausage for the same purpose, it does work.

Let me plug their horchata, a particularly smooth and creamy version with zero grit, and those table salsas again, a really complex avocado green and a smoky red that could be close to Puebla jam with some piloncillo and time on the stove.

Well, went back tonight. Those enchiladas we had the first time were so good, I keep hoping for them again. Looking for a quick bite, we ordered chix enchiladas and a chicken burrito. There was a really young guy manning the grill. I'd guess maybe 20 yrs old or so. Never seen him before.

The good:
Well, the enchiladas rojas were better than last time. Kinda in between the goodness of the first time, and the so-so-ness of the last time. So, I guess there is hope that we might get that really good sauce again.

The bad:
The rice wasn't the same. It had a reddish tint to it. All other times, the rice was plain white, and fluffy, with a brothy, buttery taste. Tonight it was a little better than standard taqueria spanish rice.

The ugly:
I asked for four red salsas and four greens salsas. That smokey chipotle, roasted chile de arbol salsa was nowhere to be found. What we got was some standard, run of the mill, blender salsa fresca. It was pretty much the same garbage that something like Lalo's would put out. No heat, just salt. Major, MAJOR step down in that dept.

They will probably get one more chance, although, they can do grilled chicken pretty well. If that salsa is the new norm, however, sorry, that'll be a deal breaker.

We were really looking forward to that good smoky stuff. Potential is written all over this place. Consistency is something that needs to be looked into here.


<slight rant>You can't offer salsa so good one day, and then the next day just sling out garbage and hope for the best. At least let the customer know that the regular stuff is not avail or something. Maybe I like good salsa more than the regular person. </slight rant>

I made a trip over there with some friends and for the most part the visit was great. I do agree with some of seebee's assessments...

seebee wrote:The good:
Well, the enchiladas rojas were better than last time. Kinda in between the goodness of the first time, and the so-so-ness of the last time. So, I guess there is hope that we might get that really good sauce again.

Chicken Enchiladas Rojas

I have had this dish twice and both times it was very good. The chicken was soft and tasty, almost as if it was lightly stewed. The cheese was good and nicely melted and lightly browned.

seebee wrote:The ugly:
I asked for four red salsas and four greens salsas. That smokey chipotle, roasted chile de arbol salsa was nowhere to be found. What we got was some standard, run of the mill, blender salsa fresca. It was pretty much the same garbage that something like Lalo's would put out. No heat, just salt. Major, MAJOR step down in that dept.

Chips and Salsa

The smokey chipotle salsa from the first few visits was sorely missed ever since. By far one of my favorite new salsa I have had in a long time. You can see from the photo it is now a bright red. Chips are homemade and very good.


The Lunch Group

We had stopped by on a Sunday and all of the tables were filled. The staff enlightened us to the fact the there were stools on both sides of the counter and it was just right for our group. We had a nice mix of young and older.

The oldest teen (19) is a big fan (and expert) of steak burritos...



He enjoyed it very much proclaiming it the best he ever had.



The vegetarian burrito was filled with lettuce and not as good.



The Avocado Huarache satisfied her much more. With layer of bean in between the tortillas.

My Bride had the Cheese Quesadilla Deep fried and puffy.




A Chorizo Taco made with homemade sausage.

All in all a pretty good place so close to home. The missing red salsa might be a deal breaker though.



Nicely decorated with a beautiful tin ceiling.

Pic's of the menu boards.


Weekend Specials


Other Specials


Daily Specials

I have had the Caldo De Albondigas (Meatball Soup) twice now and it is great. A nice savory beef an tomato broth and in the center of the meatball is a hard boiled egg. Once the included vegetable was green beans and the next some carrots and celery. Comes with the full array of accompaniments and a side of rice.

Love it!

On a few other visits a few other things were tried...





Chicken Tamale with Green Salsa
Soft and lacking flavor. Maybe steamed a bit too long?



Tampiquena (Steak)
Griddled too long and tough. There was a good flavor buried in there somewhere.

There's that white rice!!!!!
Also, the salsa we got tonight was this thin, pale, stuff. Seriously watery, gringo salsa you'd get at any standard tex-mex joint.

Anyone else still going here? I kinda wrote it off after getting subpar food a few visits in a row. For some reason, I gave them another try tonight after not being there for at least a year. They floored us. Wife 1.0 even commented that the refrieds were even excellent tonight.

Enchiladas rojas de queso.
That sauce was back with a vengance. I asked for extra sauce on the enchiladas just in case it was either flavorless or flavorful. It was near perfect. Deep, deep, smokey, bitter, guajillo flavor. Earthy and robust. Even had a little bit of a surprising kick to it like some extra chile with a few more Scoville units added. I need to learn how to make this stuff. Absolutely delicious. I wish I could know when / who makes this stuff so I could go buy a quart for home enchilada use. Too bad when I was trying to be a fan of this place in the past, their consistency was atrocious to the point that I simply wrote them off.

Torta de Pollo.
I was a little put off by the fact that their tortas are a buck more than their burritos, usually the burrito carries the higher price tag in the taquerias around town. This thing was a monster. It was a foot long oval, and probably 7 inches across at the widest part. Mix of finely chopped char grilled white and dark meat with quite a few bits of heavily charred meat. LOVED IT.

Posole Blanco.
Tad salty, not a big depth of flavor, just kinda porky broth. Came with two flautas, and a host of add ins - lime, cabbage, radish, some green dried herb, and some atomic ground red pepper mixture. It'll be lunch tomorrow maybe.

Steak tacos
Totally respectable. Char grilled, and held, but still, totally respectable.

Guacamole
Made while I waited. Heavily onioned - chunky- better than avg.

We gorged. After coming up for air, I realized that we hadn't even cracked the guac. I gave it a try only to do a flavor check. Chips were fresh fried, and next thing you know, we were doggin them down while complaining of the chances we were taking of exploding before each bite.

And that rice was back. It was a light orange tint this time, but it had that buttery, brothy thing going on.

The bad: The salsas. Green was colored water. The red was, by default, better.

What sucks is that, if the past trials are any indicator, if I go back and order the same stuff, it will all be crap. Someone in the kitchen here is a star, you just gotta figure out what day they make the stuff because other days, this place is just barely average, imo.

I had a hankering for a steak torta in the Spring and hit La Lupita; I also took a few tamales to go for packed lunches. Both were perfectly fine, but I too was disappointed by the salsas, which I thought had been remarkable the first few times I was there after the 'thon.

Another REALLY good takeout meal from La Lupita last night. The enchilada sauce not as intensely chilefied as last visit, but, still extremely delicious, I would bet the same cook made the sauce, but the chiles were not as deeply flavored, that's all. Starting to think Lupita's has found its stride in the enchilada realm. If any in the area are interested,their specials board listed "huilotas en salsa roja." When I inquired what they were, nobody in the joint had an english translation for me. The closest I got was "kind of like a cornish hen, but not really the same." Translating web tool says it's a turtledove??? Is that a common Mexican dish? I'm kinda thinkin I might go back today for a turtledove lunch. Or should I should wait for the second day of xmas?

seebee wrote:Another REALLY good takeout meal from La Lupita last night. The enchilada sauce not as intensely chilefied as last visit, but, still extremely delicious, I would bet the same cook made the sauce, but the chiles were not as deeply flavored, that's all. Starting to think Lupita's has found its stride in the enchilada realm. If any in the area are interested,their specials board listed "huilotas en salsa roja." When I inquired what they were, nobody in the joint had an english translation for me. The closest I got was "kind of like a cornish hen, but not really the same." Translating web tool says it's a turtledove??? Is that a common Mexican dish? I'm kinda thinkin I might go back today for a turtledove lunch. Or should I should wait for the second day of xmas?

I think quail; also guilotas, which might be easier to see as a cognate. Codorniz in many other places. Will have to try soon!

After a hard day of apple pickin way out west, I had a real hankerin for some rib stickin, home cookin, and enchiladas came to mind. In a hope for greatness, I dialed up La Lupita.

Chicken enchiladas rojas -
Another mid grade version from here. When they are fantastic, they are REALLY fantastic. It's all in the sauce. There is someone here who knows how to rock the salsa roja like nobody's business. Tonight, I think they took the night off. The sauce was running about 70% of the flavor of the good stuff, which puts in on par or a little better than most of the standard Mexican joints in the area.

Off of the specials board:
Special of chicken in red mole-
A drum and a half of a thigh (grrr) in doctored up storebought paste. Decent enough. They added some heat. I liked it enough.

Taco de Chile Guerro -
Cheese stuffed chile guerro. WAY spicier than I thought it would be. Like a chile relleno for chileheads. Nice.

Tacos Al Vapor (Cachete, and Barbacoa)
The tortillas simply looked like they were nuked or something. There was nothing really different about them at ALL. The cachete was nothing special in the least. Cubes of cheek, a few nice gelatinous cubes, but nothing really stood out in the flavor dept. The lack of care in their salsas (which is a nice way of me saying they really shouldn't even bother making salsa - it's pretty much a joke) made the cachete taco a waste of time, completely. The BARBACOA, however, was just plain out delicious. Not birria, but beef, and the beef wasn't the most flavorful, but the stewing liquid tasted like it came straight from Zaragoza. Light, but just enough...I wish I had a plate full of the stuff. What stinks is that the next time I go back, it will be nowhere even remotely similar.

And oh yeah, the steak taco dinner I got for jr - the two leftover tacos are going straight into the garbage. It was reheated chopped leather. Shameful. I wouldn't put that in front of Jr as leftovers. Luckily, he was as enamored with the barbacoa as I was, so he didn't have to soldier through an entire steak taco since I shared the barbacoa with him.
This place has so much potential. If they could have their A grade enchilada sauce, and that buttery, brothy, rice available every day, then I'd easily be here once a week. As it stands, it's such a gamble on what you're gonna get, it's hard to keep trying for fear of the letdown.

Expanded!

Revamped Restaurant Is An Oasis of Southern Mexico in Berwyn

One of my favorites and a favorite from the taco crawl, oh, so, long ago...

La Lupita
6539 Cermak Rd, Berwyn
(708) 788-8226

Looking forward to their new space!