Had a very nice meal here last night with some friends. Particularly memorable items included the dayboat catch, which happened to be trout, served with a creamy tomatillo-poblano sauce. The trout had a nice crust but was still moist and the sauce delivered the nice upfront zing you'd expect. Smoked veal sweetbreads, purple potato salad and pasilla-borracha. The sweetbreads really delivered on the smoky heat, not blazing, but certainly not muted or restrained. The menu listed pasilla, but when combined with the smoke the dish tasted of morita or chipotle. On the desert front, the empanadas mentioned by jesteinf upthread really were great.

This place wholly disappointed me on my first visit last winter, but it won me over last night. I might not have gone back except that, trying to decide with friends on a place to eat before a show at the Vic, I had to act fast or otherwise suffer the mediocre Thai that had been proposed. So, I suggested Chilam Balam.

We got to the restaurant as staff were literally pasting the new menus into the books. With an inkling that we would want a lot of dessert, we went light with savory courses. (We were also dining vegetarian.) The guacamole was fine but unexceptional except for the pickles. I love guacamole with pickled anything.



The foraged mushroom salad with Hen of the Wood tasted just as our server said, "like chicken." But I thought this was better than chicken--denser and carried char beautifully. With fennel, chipotle, corn oil, fresh cheese and pomegranate, this dish may make my Top 10 2010 list.



We also had the goat cheese enchilada with red chile and roasted carrots and parsnips. I loved the wild mess of this dish, but I found the bitterness of the parsnips and the tang of the goat cheese discordant.



Desserts were more hit and miss. The chocolate chile mousse with spiced goat cheese center, orange toasted marshmallow sauce and sweet plantains would have been well-served by a much darker mousse with less gelatin and much less orange goo on the plate.



No one at my table cared for the empanadas with their undercooked, over-sugared crust and generic peanut butter filling.



The cajeta cheesecake with chocolate-Maria cookie crust, pumpkin ice cream and hazelnuts was received much more warmly. The ice cream was on the icy side, but cinnamon from the crust drew out the tang of the cajeta very nicely.



Top prize went to the hibiscus flan with vanilla-lime swirl ice cream and candied pepitas. As Kennyz has said, the texture is full and wonderful. I liked the brightness imparted by the berries.



I want to eat more food here.

Chicago Magazine has named Chilam Bilam one of Chicago's 12 best Mexican restaurants.

Well deserved IMO. Here's the rest of the list:

Xoco
Frontera Grill
Topolobampo
Mexique
Amelia's Mestizo Grill
La Casa de Samuel
La Fonda del Gusto
Mom's Old Recipe Mexican Restaurant
Nuevo Leon
Salpicon
Xni-Pec de Yucatan

jesteinf wrote:Chicago Magazine has named Chilam Bilam one of Chicago's 12 best Mexican restaurants.

Well deserved IMO. Here's the rest of the list:

Xoco
Frontera Grill
Topolobampo
Mexique
Amelia's Mestizo Grill
La Casa de Samuel
La Fonda del Gusto
Mom's Old Recipe Mexican Restaurant
Nuevo Leon
Salpicon
Xni-Pec de Yucatan

How in the world did Mixteco Grill not make the list?

Dlongs wrote:How in the world did Mixteco Grill not make the list?

Chicago Mag's online readership has the answer for you:

"Vote for your favorite among the list—or list your own in the comments below."

Comments:

- La Mesa, Barrington, IL
- Mexican Inn, 95th and Ewing Ave, Chicago
- Taco Real East Chicago, Indiana
- Las Palmas, North Ave, Chicago.
- Moe's Cantina in Wrigleyville! Great food, great drinks!
- New Rebozo in Oak Park is my favorite
- Where's El Nuevo Mexicano...for sure the best Mexican in the city..
- El Jardin Cafe 3335 North Clark Street
- De Cero on Randolph! Their big eye tuna tacos are the best!

...

At the end of the world, there will only be lists left to tell our tale.

Dlongs wrote:

jesteinf wrote:Chicago Magazine has named Chilam Bilam one of Chicago's 12 best Mexican restaurants.

Well deserved IMO. Here's the rest of the list:

Xoco
Frontera Grill
Topolobampo
Mexique
Amelia's Mestizo Grill
La Casa de Samuel
La Fonda del Gusto
Mom's Old Recipe Mexican Restaurant
Nuevo Leon
Salpicon
Xni-Pec de Yucatan

How in the world did Mixteco Grill not make the list?

My thought exactly.

how did birrieria zaragoza not make this list?

Has anyone tried Amelia's, Mom's, or La Fonda del Gusto?

BTW, apologies for posting the list here as I fear we are about to embark on a massive threadjack. Perhaps a new thread mods?

Mom's was previously unknown to me, but it's right in my neighborhood. Despite a pretty strict adherence to the "never eat at a place named Mom's" axiom, I'll be visiting in the very near future. Maybe even tonight.

jesteinf wrote:Has anyone tried Amelia's, Mom's, or La Fonda del Gusto?

I ate at Amelia's a few months ago. I liked it a lot. It's owned/run by a former partner of Mundial Cocina Mestiza, another restaurant that seems overlooked by that Chicago magazine list. The menu (check it out on Menupages) and food (as served) resemble Mundial very closely, which is to say that the menu is very creative and the food is delicious. My favorite dish was an appetizer of artichoke fritters with a spicy green sauce (I don't remember what kind - tomatillo, maybe?). I also had the soup of the day, a silky smooth corn poblano chowder. My entree was an excellent potato-encrusted trout. My companion had a tasty shrimp in pipian mole (a nutty green sauce). For dessert I had a chocolate tres leches cake.

Amelia's is in the Back of the Yards neighborhood, in a commercial/industrial area (all the street parking you could ever need, right in front of the restaurant!). It's BYOB; if you're a wine/beer aficionado, make sure to bring whatever you want. If you forget, there's a Fairplay supermarket right across the street, where they sell an okay assortment of wine and beer (albeit not that much higher-end stuff). One thing to be aware of is that they don't have any of their decent white wines in the refrigerator case.

I was back at Chilam Balam tonight, thinking I'd get to enjoy again a few of the dishes I had on the visit I wrote about last month. But the menu is new again and just as great.

Enchiladas potosinas, goat cheese requeson, tomatillo avocado salsa, valentina and crema



Grilled pork ribs basted with Oaxacan pasilla glaze, shaved radishes, sweet plaintains and crema



Meatless "chili" with smoked wild mushrooms, roasted turnips, sweet potatoes and whole beans, pasilla-negra modelo sauce and queso fresco



Seared cobia, hoja santa-scented mole verde, kohlrabi and garlicky mashed potatoes



The standouts were the last three dishes. A mess to eat (bring wet wipes and dental floss), but the Jenga tower of pork ribs was deeply satisfying, the sweetness of the glaze offset by a nice char, the pickled radishes and crema. The meatless chili deserved its quotation marks because there was nothing mundane or expected about this dish. Reminiscent of a mole, the smokiness was complex and formidable. My friend could not believe there was no meat in this chili. Finally, the star of the meal, the cobia was perfectly seared. The mole verde was forgettable, but coils of crunchy, acidic kohlrabi and tangy whipped potatoes served as delightful counterpoints to the flakiness of the fish. We skipped dessert for more wine. I'm growing more fond of Chilam Balam with every visit; it's a special place.

We finally made it here! Not with mom, I was nervous about it being too spicy for her. I think she might think it too highly spiced, in general, even if not too hot peppery.

Anyway, we arrived around 5:30 or so Saturday, and sat outside, perhaps the last night we can do that this year. There were still tables available had we wanted to sit inside, too. I think in winter, though, if the tables outside aren't there, there would not be any empty tables at all at that time.

We enjoyed it. Servings were small, but in many cases the dishes were very rich, making up for their small size. We had plenty of time, the pacing didn't feel rushed or slow (we had tickets for a play nearby at 8 pm, but wanted to get to the theater by 7:30 since it's general admission). We especially enjoyed the blue marlin ceviche, but I didn't think the guacamole was particularly exciting, though it was certainly good.

This article from the Redeye indicates that Chuy Valencia is no longer with Chilam Balam.

This is a real shame, and a waste of a very good chef's talents. From the Redeye article:

The spot will fresh-roast coffee up front, operate a two-kettle brewery in back, and serve up old-school dishes like buttered noodles, lasagna, patty melts and meatball sandwiches, cafeteria-style (and undoubtedly updated).

Buttered noodles...awesome.

jesteinf wrote:This is a real shame, and a waste of a very good chef's talents. From the Redeye article:

The spot will fresh-roast coffee up front, operate a two-kettle brewery in back, and serve up old-school dishes like buttered noodles, lasagna, patty melts and meatball sandwiches, cafeteria-style (and undoubtedly updated).

Buttered noodles...awesome.

Yeah but what if it's from a heritage line virgin cow that is so locally sourced, it lives in the kitchen? And after it produces enough milk to create butter for one dish, the cow retires, never to produce again. People would buy tickets for that.

Anyone been to Chilam Balam recently? I'm going to be in that area on Sunday evening for an event and am wondering if it's a solid dinner spot. Thanks!

Was there over the summer. Still great as ever! I recall a chilled squash soup that was a surprise stand out