Chilapan

Chilapan

The Wife and I traveled to Bucktown last night to eat at Chilapan (in the former Tamalli space).

About Mexican food, I’m jaded, and I’m more than weary of run-of-mill Mex. Glancing at the menu at Chilapan, I realized that this place might surprise.

I always like to find traditional dishes that I don’t immediately recognize. There used to be two types of “budins” on Chilapan’s menu: Azteca and vegetarian. Last night, the menu no longer listed the veggie option, so we got the Azteca.



The Wife informs me that when the kids were little, she made them something like budin all the time: it’s a textbook-perfect use for leftovers, basically just layers of tortilla interlaced with whatever you have on hand, bound together with a light sauce. At Chilapan last night, the budin was layered with chihuahua cheese and dark chicken meat in a poblano cream salsa.

The edges were crispy and there was a lot of textural variation throughout the quarter slab we received (they seem to use larger than average tortillas that they cut into four cake-like slices).

Our server told us that budin is a “higher class” of Mexican food that varies by region. I’d assume it would vary based on region, but it seems like a relatively classless creation because although it can be made fancy (see photo above), it’s a fine and simple strategy for reusing old tortillas and leftovers in a way that’s just delicious and, by nature, constantly changing.

The word “budin” can be translated as “pudding,” and there are apparently incarnations of budin all over Latin America: a kind of spice cake from Puerto Rico, a sweet bread from Argentina, an actual pudding-type coconut dessert from Bolivia, and so on.

I am not a big fan of salad, and even from my garden I tend to harvest my obscure, heritage leaves and ram them quickly down my pie hole just as I would medicine. I know I need the stuff but it’s just so drab. I felt differently about the chayote and tomato salad last night:



Carved into little shells or ears, the eponymous veggies in this salad “looked” more interesting than I’d expected, and the chef splashed them with a guajillo salad dressing that was quite good.

Chilapan is worthy. It’s BYOB (no corkage): we brought a 2006 Montecillo Crianza, which had the right kind of youthful roughness to stand up to some of the more piquant platters, though Chef Jorge Miranda has a deft hand with the chili pods, and he balances flavors so that you get a lot of flavor and dimension from the chilies without tongue-numbing burn.

People sometimes ask me about my favorite Mexican places, and now I have a new one to recommend.

Chilapan
2459 W. Armitage
Chicago IL 60647
773.697.4597

The word “budin” can be translated as “pudding,” and there are apparently incarnations of budin all over Latin America: a kind of spice cake from Puerto Rico, a sweet bread from Argentina, an actual pudding-type coconut dessert from Bolivia, and so on.

Like so much of our foodstuff, this term could also have a French derivation. From Wikipedia:

"The word pudding is believed to come from the French boudin, originally from the Latin botellus, meaning "small sausage," referring to encased meats used in Medieval European puddings"

Of course, the French were spending some quality time in Mexico while we were fighting our Civil War. They didn't stay for long, tho.

jbw wrote:

Of course, the French were spending some quality time in Mexico while we were fighting our Civil War. They didn't stay for long, tho.

No kidding. Maximilian to Carlotta: "A Hapsburg never abdicates!" Bang, bang! That was the end of them.

Hello, first post on LTH after reading for awhile. Thanks everyone for this amazing resource.

Anyway, I went here the other night, and I concur with David that this is an excellent restaurant. I had the Rollito De Espinaca, skirt steak stuffed with cheese and spinach. Both of my companions ordered the Molcajete combo, with chicken, steak and shrimp. Both dishes were very good, everything was very flavorful. I didn't have my camera on me so I couldn't take any photos. The guacamole was good, too, we ordered it spicy and you can see them make it for you right by the counter. Combined with BYOB, I'm sure I'll be back again in the future.

Was heading to Arturo's to grab some enchiladas to go, stopped in to Chilapan instead.
Went for stewed chicken with mole sauce.
Came with rice but no beans, the rice was cooked perfectly and colored green - I guess it was finely chopped cilantro.
The enchiladas were excellent. Pricey enough at $15 but I'll definitely be back.

We had dinner there last week with some friends and very much enjoyed the bodin, the skirt steak and the pork tenderloin w/pumpkin seed mole. One of our group was vegetarian and after a brief consult, a stuffed poblano emerged from the kitchen that was nicely plated and most excellent.

It was warm inside the restaurant. Memories of Doto come to mine so we opted to sit outside (on Campbell I believe). That was very nice as well until just as we were finishing (around 10 pm) we heard the peeling of tires and yelling of gang slogans. Our suburban table mates were oblivious to the danger, but Theresa and I knew exactly what was going on and made haste to leave (besides which, Mario's was calling- a perfect excuse).

Based on our last moments there, I feel the need to caution. I'd go again, although maybe not eat outside. And yes, it can happen most anywhere in the city. But it happened here in Humbolt Park (not Bucktown as mentioned) right in front of us, which is a pity to report because the food really was very good.

I went with a group to Chilapan last night. It was fine-ish.

First of all, on a hot summer night, the room was, well, hot and stuffy despite an air conditioner. This wasn't too distracting, but I think sitting outside (despite comments above) is a much better option during nice weather for those who might be bothered by this. Also, it seems there are as many (if not more) seats outside than there are inside.

The restaurant was doing a brisk business with all the outside tables full and nearly all of those inside as well. I arrived and we already had guacamole ordered. The chips seemed to have been fresh fried and were good. The guacamole was also enjoyable. Standard, but fresh.

My side of the table shared 3 dishes. The Rollito de Espinaca, the Budin Azteca, and Pock Chuck along with a side of the cilantro rice along with a corn, cheese, and pepper cake.

The cake came first and was a nice bite or two. I thought the skirt steak was the most successful of the entrees. I ordered it medium rare, not quite sure how it would come out. It was on the rare side of medium rare, which was fine. The steak combined with the spinach, cheese, and arbol salsa was flavorful. Less successful was the budin. I wanted to like this for being different, but it was underseasoned and tasted flat. The poblano cream sauce lacked heat and any vegetal poblano flavor. Just a kind of one note dish. I have mixed feelings about the Poc Chuck. I almost didn't order it because it was pork tenderloin, but was persuaded by the server that this was a popular item that people enjoyed. Sure enough, the pork was dry and really lacked much citrus or achiote flavor. I really enjoyed the cilantro potatoes. When I combined everything on the plate, it was tasty enough, but it didn't taste like poc chuc and I was disappointed. And I think this dish requires a pork chop or blade steak or the like.

A friend across the table really enjoyed his camarones dish. I don't remember the details. It's not the Camarones Enchipotlados listed on the online menus I can find. There were a few more items on the in-restaurant menu than what was posted online.

Service was friendly. They were quite busy on a Friday night so they seem to be doing well. I'm sure this is a nice Mexican restaurant for the neighborhood, and I suppose I'd dine in again if I were in those parts. But nothing about my meal inspired me to make return plans anytime soon.

We had dinner here last night, and ate outside. I never felt uncomfortable, though the El passing by made us pause our conversation at times, and the weather was a bit cool.

DH had a tilapia dish from the menu, we shared the guacamole and an appetizer special of garlicky clams, and I had a pork chop special - the sauce (mole?) was flavorful and spicy but not too spicy for me. Everything we had was very good. The clams were a little salty, but not so much that we couldn't eat them. Service was friendly and efficient. We never felt neglected. They have nice glasses for wine.

They do take reservations, both for inside and outside. They were setting up for several big groups inside, but the people hadn't arrived yet, so we weren't able to appreciate the noise level inside.

We will go back again.

I dined at Chilapan on Montrose last night and came away underwhelmed. The evening started with just the perfect guacamole. What seems like a simple dish can become so much more when the ingredients are at their peak of freshness and in just the right proportions, as was Chilapan's last night (and I appreciated the hot pepper heat).

But my love of Chilapan began and ended with the guacamole. The empanadas filled with cochinita pibil featured the hot, crispy shell to lure me in further, yet the sweet and not-so-complex filling left me less satisfied. The Budin Azteca screamed comfort to the extreme on the menu, but what was delivered was a dry heap that the somewhat tasty poblano sauce could not possibly rescue.

The worst of the evening however was the steak (ordered medium rare) that was delivered medium well at best, and without so much as a speck of fat. Perhaps I'm at fault for not sending the steak back, but that just is not typically my style - I usually avoid what might become the scene and simply choose not to return to the restaurant (so don't expect further reviews on Chilapan from me). The three mole sauces upon which the steak was served certainly made for attractive plating, but really did not elevate the hockey puck they called steak. In fact, the moles might have left me a little disappointed on their own. The rioja was adequate, and so was the verde (not really strong endorsements as you can tell), but I found the poblano particularly sweet and not desirable. And while the garlic mashed potatoes were actually quite nicely done, the wilted spinach atop the potatoes had probably been well-enough wilted five minutes before they were done cooking.

Service was friendly, guacamole just right, and thanks to being with good friends, the evening was far from a loss.

We went with friends to the Montrose location last night. None of us had been before. We enjoyed the the freshness of the guacamole, made medium-spicy. Our entrees included a pan-seared salmon stuffed with crabmeat served with wilted spinach and cilantro-rice, the puerco bomba and both chicken preparations. The sauce with the salmon had a nice kick to it. I had tastes of the pork and both chicken dishes -- I enjoyed them, but since I didn't order them I don't remember the details. For dessert, we shared the flan, the chocolate tamale and a scoop each of mango and pomegranate sorbets. The group enjoyed the flan -- I thought the flavor was good, but was kind of lumpy. The chocolate tamale I've had at Sol de Mexico was much better than Chilapan's. The latter was dry and each bite really needed the ice cream or sauce.

Overall, we were pleased with the food. Most of us had been to Mixteco Grill, its nearby neighbor, so comparisons were inevitable. The consensus was a preference towards Mixteco and their excellent moles. Chilapan did not disappoint though. $220 for seven people, BYO and no corkage is fair. We had made reservations, but certainly didn't need them, at least on a Tuesday night. Only one other table was occupied during our time there.