2nd Annual Buen Provecho! Pilsen - September 16, 2009

While wandering about the May 2nd Mole de Mayo festival I picked-up a flier for the 2nd Annual Buen Provecho! Pilsen event which is billed as a restaurant tour including more than 20 restaurants in the Pilsen community. The event should be particularly festive because it occurs during the Mexican Fiestas Patrias celebration and, specifically, on Día de Independencia. For further information:

Buen Provecho! Pilsen
Eighteenth Street Development Corp.
http://www.eighteenthstreet.org
312.733.2287

We had a really great time last year. I can't imagine they'll have as much food this time around. Just doesn't seem possible. Regardless, we'll be back.

Ronna

I can't imagine they'll have as much food this time around

I think you'll be surprised. Although some of the restaurants may have slightly smaller portions, there are even more restaurants participating this year including Nightwood, Ciao Amore (brand new Italian spot that I've heard is really good) and us.

For a limited time, they're offering 2 tickets for $40! I'm sure this offer will go fast, but even the regular price of $25 each is pretty amazing for the quantity, variety, and quality of food you'll get to sample.

Can't wait to see everyone out again this year!

I'm still hoping to be able to make this event. And here's a reminder:

Buen Provecho! Pilsen! - A neighborhood restaurant tour

Wednesday, September 16th (Mexican Independence Day)
5:30pm - 9:30pm
From Halsted St. on the East to Wood St. on the West
Tickets are $25 in advance (or $30 the day of the event)

For more information, including a listing of most of the restaurants participating, and the portions they will be serving: http://www.eighteenthstreet.org/event.html

I picked up my tickets tonight and am very excited about this event! To get myself psyched, I enjoyed a quick bite at Nightwood at the kitchen bar. Looking forward to seeing other LTHers tomorrow!

Spent a wonderful evening last night schlepping around Buen Provecho with The GP last night. The highlight for me was the birria taco from GNR Birrieria Reyes de Ocatlán, which was tender, balanced and went down perfectly with the cinnamon-spiked horchata offered. Otherwise, some of my favorites were the char-grilled chicken at Pollo Express, which was fresh off the charcoal grill and came with fresh and spicy guacamole as well as served with the Mexican equivalent of a relish tray (pickled onions, two types of salsa and Mexican key limes). Despite the wait for food, I also enjoyed the offering by Perez (the enchilada and guisado) as well. The award-winning mole from Fogata Village was a little too sweet and syrupy in texture for me, but it was still good. I also enjoyed the non-Mexican offerings, such as the smoked trout BLT from Nightwood, the cute little Mexican-style slider from Simone's and Honky Tonk's pulled pork (which was a huge serving).

In all, we tried about 18-20 places, and were really dragging at the end. I thought we kept a good pace, eating-wise. For me, one of the highlights was checking out places I've never been; such as the beautiful space at Nightwood and the funky bar decor at Simone's, which seems like a fun place. Also, Honky Tonk was serving their portions in their new bar (next door), which is equipped with a gorgeous dark wood bar and a stage for live music. It isn't open yet, but it looks like it will be a great place to hang after grabbing your BBQ from the shack next door.

Some thoughts:

• Beware of who you are trailing. For awhile, we were stuck behind a group of 5, which meant that we had to "suffer" a wait while the restaurant scrambled to get 5 plates together. Best to skip over to somewhere else and then come back.


• Eat rice and beans in moderation; they take up precious tummy room.


• Do start or end the evening in the gorgeous bar at Nightwood, which anchors the East side of the Buen Provecho route. The seasonally inspired cocktails are refreshing and the restaurant provides a nice respite.

I was also at Buen Provecho! last night and it was a splendid event. We managed to get to only 12 out of the 28 restaurants, and we started right at 5:30 and went till 8:30. Other than Pollo Express, which I was bummed to miss, we went to all the restaurants we wanted to go to. The highlights for me included:

- freshly made, warm tamales from La Cebollita with the cornmeal appropriately sticky but not dense and the meat with red and green peppers perfectly savory
- the delicious mole in Nuevo Leon which I could have swam in
- the rich, buttery Chicken Volcan from Cuernavaca
- the chocolate-filled churros from Don Churro
- the wonderfully cooked Pilsen burger with high-kicking jalapenos from Simone.

We ended our night at Nightwood (I've had the trout BLT before and the tasting portion they served last night was still as lovely) with a cocktail.

I also attended Buen Provecho! with two friends (remind me next time to go with LTHers)! Overcoming our slightly divergent interests in places to hit, we managed to stop at 14/28, starting around 5:45 and going until 8:45.

I agree with fusionfan regarding the deliciousness of the mole at Nuevo Leon. I wish we'd hit that up closer to the beginning, when I wasn't soooo full. The chicken volcan at Cuernavaca was also excellent, with a nice hint of heat. The 1/2 price margarita there was HUGE (and probably an error to order, given the stomach room it filled).

Pollo Express would be worth a return trip, as the chicken and accompaniments were all well-seasoned and delicious. Other favorites included the guisado at Perez, the pulled pork at Honky Tonk, and the churros from Don Churro dipped in the Mexican hot chocolate from Jumping Bean.

Lower on my list were the burger from Simone's (to be fair, I'm not a burger person), and I did love the atmosphere of that bar, the horchata that I had been greatly anticipating from Birreria Reyes (it tasted oddly flowery), and the amaretto gelato from Teatro (the other flavors were much better).

We missed out on Take Me Out (Chinese food) - did anyone try the wings? I've heard some good reports.