Xni-Pec moved?

The people who own Xni-Pec have opened a new restaurant just north of the Brookfield train station in the triangle shaped building with the clock on it. It opened yesterday. I am not clear yet if they moved from Cicero or just opened a second location or even what it will be called.

Also in Brookfield, I am told that a local bar, name escapes me now, across from the Hollywood train stop, has a smoker out back and is serving good barbecue.

I'll try to run down these leads this week.

Remember, No rules in the bedroom or the kitchen
Craig "Meathead" Goldwyn
http://amazingribs.com - The Zen of Barbecue

Xni-Pec opened for dinner Friday night. We ate an early evening meal Saturday. They have their liquor license and I don't know how extensive the alcohol menu is but we were told pretty much everything is available except Sol which should be available shortly. The menu is much the same, if not entirely the same, as it was in Cicero and the food was spot on. I did not previously realize it but the habenero hot sauce they sreve with the pico de gallo is made from peppers they brought from Cazumel and grow themselves. Fantastically hot and flavorful, much better than the typical scotch bonnet I find in the stores.

We started with the Guacamole which I like for it's citrus notes and difference from the standard Mexican version we have in Chicago and the tamales which are good but very hard to justify at 3 dollars each. In fact both aps should probably be skipped in lieu of the more distinctive offerings. For mains we had the Platillo de Cochinita which is a hearty amount of very savory pork with the wonderful grilled vegetables and pickled onions that are worth the price of admission. Also the evening special which was a poblano stuffed with ground meat and dressed with a pomegranate sauce, the Pollo Pibil, and a chef special tilapia with tomato sauce and coconut sauce made from fresh coconut meat. The coconut sauce was probably the highpoint for me along with the fresh corn tortillias and the habenero hot sauce.

The space is smaller and much nicer than in Cicero and parking should be pretty easy. I am very happy to have Xni-Pec in my neighborhood and can't wait to get back.

Xni Pec
3755 Grand Boulevard
Brookfield IL

Made it to the new Xni-Pec last night for my first Xni experience - food was terrific, I was able to have the chile en nogada which will only be available for another week or so while pomegranates are still in season. Also tried the app sampler and the mole rojo, washed down with a Pacifico, and now I can't wait to get back for some cochinita pibil. Service was excellent and very enthusiastic with detailed descriptions of everything. They seem to be doing a great business on both of their weekends so far, though they reported during the week it was a little slow - they've done zero advertising so far.

They told us that the original location is now just open Friday nights for karaoke, so I guess they'll be closing it soon. The new location is small, but we just had to wait 5 minutes for a table at 8:15pm. There is a wine bar across the street, and they reported that a couple of people left cellphone #s so they could wait across the street until getting a call that their table was ready. Hope they have great success, I'll be back very soon.

I have learned that they closed their Cicero location and Brookfield is it for now.

The salsas are top notch. I can't handle a lot of heat, but their hot sauce had such a rich pepper flavor that I gladly went past my heat limit repeatedly.

Had the chile en nogada. Wonderful poblano stuffed with ground beef and pine nuts, almonds, other nuts, swimming in a creamy nutty sauce crowned with pomegranate seeds. Really lovely.

Wife had a fish dish, but the fish was not as fresh as it should be.

Place is empty. Everybody come down and give them a boost.