Maxwell St on Easter

Hey all.

Does anyone know if Maxwell St Market stay open during the Easter Sunday. Given that a high percentage of Chicago Mexicans are Catholic, just wanted to make sure before I woke up extra early to get there.

Also, someone mentioned that there might not be as many of the food vendors around, is that still the case?

Thanks!
-cb

cb,

I'd guess that there would be fewer vendors at the market because of the holiday and the disruptive construction work, but to the best of my knowledge, it's open every given Sunday.

Hammond

Cool.

That's what I figured...

Thanks-
cb

as an update.

Happy to say that Maxwell St was, indeed in full swing. The place was packed with people and wares and food.

Had chicken Oaxacan tamale, Mexican hot chocolate and squash blossom quesadilla. And, as usual, the food was incredible.

-cb

Same question for 2012 - is there any reason to believe this has changed?

tsg20 wrote:Same question for 2012 - is there any reason to believe this has changed?

According to the website, still open every Sunday, April 8 included:

http://www.explorechicago.org/city/en/t ... arket.html

What time do you have to go to Maxwell st. to get the good food? (not necessarily on easter) Is there an optimum recommended time? What are the best things to eat that are not organ meat? or do they have vegetarian options?

I arrive about 8am.
As to vegetarian, I suppose a quesedelli with pablano pepper strips would qualify.
Just ask at one of the venders and enjoy.-Dick

Thanks!

There are loads of good things for vegetarians - my wife particularly liked the "corn fungus" tacos.

I tended to go around 7:30am in the past, but have been any time up to 3pm - it just gets busier as the day goes on.

tsg20 wrote:Thanks!

There are loads of good things for vegetarians - my wife particularly liked the "corn fungus" tacos.

I tended to go around 7:30am in the past, but have been any time up to 3pm - it just gets busier as the day goes on.

Better if you're a "don't ask-don't tell" vegetarian. While there are certainly meat-free ingredients around there's plenty of meat contact in the prep/serving.

Not to mention lard in some of the masa-based things.

Is cow eyeball vegetarian? Anyhow, the best vegetarian tacos I've ever had (maybe the only one's I've ever liked) were at Maxwell street market. Manalo's and/or Rubi's (can't remember which, or if it's both) serve Huitlacoche (the corn mushroom spoken about up-thread), as well as flor de calabaza (pumpkin blossom). They also have regular mushroom tacos, though i don't recall what I thought of those. Their hand made tortillas with cheese, coupled with one of those fillings will not disappoint you. They are huge, and filling. Some days when I eat there, 2 is almost too much for me, and I'm typically a 3 to 4 taco kind of guy. There will be numerous other options. Part of the fun of the market is doing some of your own exploring, splitting a taco or two at a number of places to try to fit in more than just a couple stops along the way.

Thanks all.

laikom wrote:Is cow eyeball vegetarian?

I've never seen cows, let alone their eyeballs, eat meat. They're not vegan, though, since they may drink milk, at least when young.

toria wrote:What time do you have to go to Maxwell st. to get the good food? (not necessarily on easter) Is there an optimum recommended time?

It's possible to go too early, before some items are heated or grilled completely, and it's certainly possble to go too late when all the good stuff is gone. Me, I find that 10:00AM is a good time: every thing is usually ready to go by then, the sun's not too hot in the sky, and most importantly, I don't have to wake up too early on Sunday.