La Oaxaqueña (with hot salsa photos)

I suppose I should write up a big long "Essentials" thing on La Oaxaqueña (aka Taqueria la Oaxaqueña, though it's nicer than that name would imply), since it was one of the more talked about places on a previous food board. But I don't have a literary/sociological hook to hang a review on at the moment, so I'll just post some basic info and pics about a place which, to bring in the content ofanother thread, has helped redeem my chowist habit in the eyes of my fairly non-obsessive wife, since it's probably her favorite of all the obscure spots I've been turned on to and dragged her to in the process.

This is a very pleasant family-run Mexican place on Milwaukee (they have another location as well, out west somewhere). There has been some debate as to whether it is really that Oaxacan, I think the name is more a reflection of their origin and the restaurant itself covers a broader range of the typical Mexican restaurant dishes. But as family run places go, it's both much nicer than average and a bit more ambitious. Homemade salsas--



--including a great charred-tasting one with bits of charred peppers in it are excellent. My favorite dishes are the dishes made with a rich, chocolatey mole including the pollo en mole--



--but many other dishes have been praised as well, including the rabbit adobado, the Huachinango (red snapper) Veracruz, and the tortas including a very good milanesa and one, I think called Cubano or something, which has a hot-dog like sausage tossed in with the milanesa steak (a bit too much like a turducken for me, I've never tried that).

As I say, La Oaxaqueña was talked up a lot on that other board by LTHers a year or so back, which one can reasonably conclude played a role in its being discovered by Cheap Eats in the Trib, who gave it four forks. But perhaps because of its semi-obscure location, it wasn't that busy the other night when we went with some friends to eat there before the Silent Film Society showing of Steamboat Bill Jr. with Buster Keaton. So if you haven't been, or especially if you have but not in a while, it's well worth revisiting again. If you look at the city's multitude of Mexican places and wonder how you tell which are the good ones, well, this is one of them right here.

(Taqueria) La Oaxaqueña
3382 N. Milwaukee
773-545-8585

photos relinked 7/13/09

I particularly like that "charred" salsa, too. I suppose I could go there and ask them, but I'm inherently lazy and I'm seated at the computer, so I'll ask if anybody here knows what that salsa is called and what the active ingredients may be.

Well, for starters I assume they actually do char peppers over a hot flame for it, as you probably know (but it wasn't entirely clear and anyway, someone else might not).

one of the 7 moles of Oaxaca is called Mole Negro where they char the dried chilis, as well as the seeds until they are black. But the "charred salsa" is probably a salsa made with 2 or 3 types of dried chilis including chilpolte. tomatillos are roasted until skins chared lightly, saute garlic in a little olive oil, The chilis are stemmed, seeded, then toasted in hot dry saute pan till just begin to smoke. Blend garlic, chilpoltes and a quarter of the tomatillos until smooth, blend rest to coarse puree, add together. Stir in salt and water. A mixture of cascabel, gaujillo, and chilpoltes can be used as well.

Here's a link to an old post that discusses the chiles used in the salsas at Taqueria Oaxaquena. I was told by the owner the "charred salsa" contains costeno rojo and arbol chiles as well as roasted tomato and onion.

Old Post on Taqueria Oaxaquena
http://www.chowhound.com/midwest/boards ... 11716.html

Taqueria La Oaxaquena on Milwaukee is now part of the Rewards Network, formerly iDine, the company that gives you automatic restaurant discounts when you use a credit card.

I'm a bit conflicted about this because this usually means that a places is struggling to get business and that they're willing to pay a little to get some customers. I don't know what the RN business model is, but I'm betting that TLO pays for a portion, if not all, of this discount. I love a discount, but I'd go there without it, and I don't want to take the money out of their pockets.

Anyhow, thought you'd all like to know.

The new restaurants also include
La Oaxaquena at 6113 Diversey
Las Tablas 2965 N Lincoln Ave
Narcisse 710 N Clark Street
Reserve 858 W Lake St
Grazie Ristorante 1050 E Oakton, Des Plaines
Noodles Etc 1460 East 53rd St

Best,
Michael / EC

I'm pretty sure this is how it works (as explained to me by a restaurateur friend who participated in the program for awhile):

The restaurant "borrows" a chunk of money from RN/Idine (henceforward referred to as Idine so as not to confuse myself), and pays it back by handing over ALL of the price of Idiner's meals (not including tip) to Idine. There is obviously some interest rate involved, too--can't remember what it is!

For example, if restaurant A has borrowed $5000 from Idine, when an Idine member comes in and pays for a 50$ meal with their Idine connected credit card, all of the $50 goes to Idine, who then refund a stated percentage to the Idine member. If the restaurant is offering 10 percent off, Idine therefore keeps $45, gives $5 back to the customer, and the restaurant is $45 closer to paying off the $5000 (plus interest). I think it's up to the restaurant when it offers it's discounts, how much the discount is, etc. The smaller the discount is, the closer the restaurant gets towards repayment. Obviously there is some economic analysis that has to go on: If your restaurant offers 40% off rather than 10% or 20%, you are hoping that the increased traffic will offset the large discount.

The benefit to the restaurant is that not only are you getting a loan that you essentially pay off with meals rather than cash--a meal that sells for $50 obviously should only cost the restaurant a fraction of that amount--but also that you (theoretically) are tapping into Idine's network of customers and attracting people that otherwise wouldn't have come to the restaurant, and who continue to come after the debt is paid off and you get to keep their money!

It might also be a way for restaurateurs with bad or no credit to get a much needed chunk of cash to make improvements, expand, or simply open, if it's a new place.

From what my friend said, as long as people tip, they would rather have people come in and use the Idine cards as much as possible so that they can repay the loan sooner rather than later. Plus people tend to bring friends who are not Idine members who then come back and spend non-Idine money. (That is, if they like the food!) So don't feel bad about using your Idine membership--they've got to pay it back eventually anyway; it might as well be through people who appreciate good food.


I hope this makes sense.

This makes absolute sense, thanks geli. I've always wondered how that worked.

This now explains why Friendship Chinese offered 40% off every meal for about a year and a half. Ms. EC and I really started to feel guilty after we'd feast there for $12. We thought we were putting them in the poor-house. Actually, we were helping them quickly pay off the loan they must have used to put up all the improvements around us. Then, Friendship abruptly cancelled their iDine membership. Loan must have been paid off.

Anyway, this means more frequent trips to TLO.

Thanks again,
Michael / EC

eatchicago wrote:This now explains why Friendship Chinese offered 40% off every meal for about a year and a half. Ms. EC and I really started to feel guilty after we'd feast there for $12. We thought we were putting them in the poor-house. Actually, we were helping them quickly pay off the loan they must have used to put up all the improvements around us.

Actually the higher the discount the longer it will take the pay off the loan, since only 60% of the tab goes towards the debt. They were probably desperate for business...

gleam wrote:

eatchicago wrote:This now explains why Friendship Chinese offered 40% off every meal for about a year and a half. Ms. EC and I really started to feel guilty after we'd feast there for $12. We thought we were putting them in the poor-house. Actually, we were helping them quickly pay off the loan they must have used to put up all the improvements around us.

Actually the higher the discount the longer it will take the pay off the loan, since only 60% of the tab goes towards the debt. They were probably desperate for business...

Yes. You're right. And I'm an engineer and I was on the Math Team in high school.

eatchicago wrote:Yes. You're right. And I'm an engineer and I was on the Math Team in high school.

Hey, me too! The math team part, that is. Systems and Network Engineering isn't really engineering

we went to La Oaxaqueña last night. delicious!! the three salsas to start were each quite good - the orange-y colored one (pumpkin seeds, i thought i read?) was surprisingly the favorite. and the chips were really good as well - a bit thicker with a good crunch and lots of flavor on their own. i had the cesina oaxaqueña - a grilled tenderloin steak served with a terrific, chunky guacamole, beans, and salad. mr. shyne had the torta oaxaqueña - with cesina and chorizo.

as an aside, the first time mr. shyne had a torta, we had stopped in at arturo's on western - definitely not impressed and mr. shyne hoped it was just arturo's and not tortas generally. La Oaxaqueña confirmed that for sure. the sandwich was stuffed with cesina, chorizo, cheese, avocado, a thin schmear of beans, a bit of red onion and tomato.

my steak was a bit on the salty side, but rather tender and quite good when eaten together with the guac and the beans and a squeeze of lime.

i can't believe i forgot to mention the best part of our meal - the pulpo al ajo (octopus sautéed with red onions and garlic). wow! the octopus was perfectly tender and the sweet red onions played off them nicely. there was definitely some citrus in there along with the garlic. an absolutely wonderful find (but one we owe thanks for to eatchicago's enthusiastic description on his website)!

we'll definitely be back to try the many other items on their menu.

FWIW, your steak was on the salty side (and, maybe on the mineral and funky side too?) because cesina is aged, dried beef. Technique (outside in the sun, eg) and dryness varies. I really like Oaxaquena's cesina. And no cheap cut of beef grills up better, IMO. My favorite is at El Guero's meat counter in Pilsen.

shyne wrote:i can't believe i forgot to mention the best part of our meal - the pulpo al ajo (octopus sautéed with red onions and garlic). wow! the octopus was perfectly tender and the sweet red onions played off them nicely. there was definitely some citrus in there along with the garlic. an absolutely wonderful find (but one we owe thanks for to eatchicago's enthusiastic description on his website)!

we'll definitely be back to try the many other items on their menu.

One aspect of the menu at Oaxaqueña that doesn't get enough mention, IMHO, is the seafood.

My favorite is the Camarones y Pulpo en Salsa Oaxaqueña - Shrimp & Octopus in a spicy Oaxacan sauce - the sauce is obviously made with the same care that they use in their salsas, and carries quite a bit of heat.... and, as shyne said - the Octopus is always perfectly tender. These folks sure know how to cook Octopus.

I brought some friends from New Orleans there specifically so that they could try this dish & they both though that it was the best shrimp dish they had ever had outside of Louisiana, which I consider to be high praise indeed.

The snapper stuffed with shellfish and steamed in foil is a feast as well. Can't remember if it is a special or a regular item.

I'm really glad that there has been more talk about the seafood. I'm consistently impressed with the pulpo preparations. They're always fresh-tasting, tender, and perfectly cooked.

Between the previously mentioned cecina, the tamales, the conejo, and the pulpo, it has become very tough for me to choose what to eat at TLO.

I also recently tasted the camarones diablo. Beautifully fresh shrimp in a hot and smoky chipotle sauce.

I don't think the snapper stuffed with shellfish is a regualr item, but I'm going to keep my eyes open for it. I've never done a whole fish at TLO---that may be next.

Best,
Michael / EC

eatchicago wrote:I've never done a whole fish at TLO---that may be next.

I've done the whole deep fried red snapper several times, with different preps (usually pico de gallo) & it is the one thing that I can say is somewhat inconsistent at TLO. When the fish is really fresh it's awesome, but I've had it when it's not.

Never tried the steamed whole fish, but I'm going to skip the fried whole fish until I work my way through the rest of the seafood offerings there. Too much other amazing stuff left to try....

Re: Steamed whole snapper - now that I have the menu in front of me, I wonder if that is the Huachinango con mariscos, described as "Whole red snapper served with a mix of seafood"....

Here's another cool thing about TLO - there are several different versions of many of the dishes available. For example, I think ReneG referred to Camarones a la Huatulco, which is available four ways: Con cebolla, queso, y brandy (sauteed with onions, cheese, and brandy), Revoluccion - con cebollitas, tozin, queso, y jalapeños (with onions, bacon, cheese, and jalapeños), Mixtecos - con chiles jalapeños, tomate, y cebolla (with chiles jalapeños, tomato, and onions), and Gratinados - con salsa verde y queso (with green salsa and melted cheese).

So much awesome TLO seafood left to try, so little time....

Ate at TLO last night. Confirmed w/ them that the steamed whole snapper is not a regular menu item.

We tried the Camarones a la Revoluccion (shrimp w/onions, bacon, cheese, and jalapeños). Not their best effort. The bacon was obviously cooked at the same time as all the other ingredients, resulting in steamed, soggy bacon. It should have been cooked separately first & then added back in. On the other hand, the aforementioned Camarones al diablo with the chipotle sauce was outstanding. Excellent balance between the smoky heat of the chipotles & the sweetnes of red onion. I also thought the Pulpo al ajo was excellent. The octopus was perfectly tender as per usual.

"Not their best effort. The bacon was obviously cooked at the same time as all the other ingredients, resulting in steamed, soggy bacon."

Maybe you didn't mean this, but your statement suggest that the cook at La Oax is either unskilled or cutting corners. I don't think that's the case at all, even with regard to the bacon. I mean, this person is a genius with octopus and mole, I think she can handle bacon.

It's not so unusual in Mexican cooking for bacon to be used such that it is not crispy. In fact, the dish described sounds like alambres, which often comes to the table with limp tocino. I don't mind it. In fact I really like steamed bacon, which some might call pork belly, especially from Andy's Deli. I'd like to know about favorite Korean sources for steamed bacon also.

Rubbery, limp bacon, yum. I enjoy it almost as much as deep fried pork rinds that have been softened up whether by salsa verde or a Thai curry.

PS, the menu item you described (snapper w/ seafood) is the dish I was describing earlier. Is it no longer on the permanent menu? I really enjoyed it, but it is a lot of food and pricey (with good reason). Also, ironically I'm not a big fan of steamed fish when I can get it fried. I skeeve that steamed fish skin. I got over that for this dish, because the mariscos were so good and the whole effect of steaming everything together resulted in sort of a re-constructed siete mares or other fisherman's stew.

JeffB wrote:"Not their best effort. The bacon was obviously cooked at the same time as all the other ingredients, resulting in steamed, soggy bacon."

Maybe you didn't mean this, but your statement suggest that the cook at La Oax is either unskilled or cutting corners. I don't think that's the case at all, even with regard to the bacon. I mean, this person is a genius with octopus and mole, I think she can handle bacon.

Sorry, didn't mean to imply incompetence on the cook's part. I should have said "Not being a fan of limp bacon, I would have liked the dish better had the bacon been cooked separately first."

JeffB wrote:PS, the menu item you described (snapper w/ seafood) is the dish I was describing earlier. Is it no longer on the permanent menu? I really enjoyed it, but it is a lot of food and pricey (with good reason). Also, ironically I'm not a big fan of steamed fish when I can get it fried. I skeeve that steamed fish skin. I got over that for this dish, because the mariscos were so good and the whole effect of steaming everything together resulted in sort of a re-constructed siete mares or other fisherman's stew.

Oh, it's on the menu - first thing listed under the "Mariscos" section. I asked the server if this was the "Steamed whole snapper" as opposed to the deep fried preparation used in the other snapper dishes. She seemed quite clear that it was not steamed, but there could have been a language barrier problem. I didn't order it, as I was primed for the shrimp dishes already....

On one of our (too infrequent) meals out, we ate there this week also. I was in need of red meat (a rarity for me, and probably one of the reasons we ate out), so I looked to the beef preps. Opted not for the cecina, which I quite like, but wanted more substance to my beef. Considered their chilaquiles with the beef. I LOVE their chilaquiles, but I prefer them with an egg. And then I saw that an item I would not usually consider, and can't recall the name of right now (thin cut T-bone, they don't ask how you want it done because it's that thin) came with frijoles de olla, and that hooked me.

When it came, the beans were brilliant. Each bean intact and perfectly cooked in a gorgeous broth and some green stuff. When the waitress came back, I said, with a big grin on my face, epazote, and she said yes. And this was obviously beautifully fresh epazote, there's some tired-looking epazote out there for sale and while it works, you don't want to eat it when it shows up in your beans.

No rice served with these beans, the other side was the nopales, cebollitas, jalapenos. Right away that saved us $4.75 and instead we got the guacamole, which was good and we really enjoyed it with the three salsas.

Hot, hot, hot jalapenos, great cebollitas. I ate some of the steak (it was perfectly good and made a very serviceable breakfast the next morning), most of the veggies (saving a few for breakfast) and about half the beans but all the broth (thus making sure none would be lost from the container on the way home). Great breakfast next day.

A nice touch was that when they packaged up the food, they put the beans in a coffee cup with a nice tight lid rather than just in the clamshell.

All in all, even though I chose what might be a more pedestrian entree, I did think the cooking was up a notch over the last couple visits, in the past six months or so.

We had lunch in the 6113 West Diversey location today. The menu is identical to the Milwaukee location, which was no surprise as they list both addresses in the printed copy. The dining room is slightly smaller and parallels the kitchen. From the layout we wondered whether this might have been a pizza parlor at one time. The notable difference is the presence of a large banquet room in the rear. It looks as large as the kitchen and main dining room combined.

My wife had the Sopa Azteca, which is a huge bowl of good chicken broth with layers of chicken breast, cheese and rice topped with shredded tortillas. The chicken was quite succulent.

I had the chicken Enchiladas Oaxaquenos (en mole). The chicken was pretty dry by comparison and tasted as though it had been roasted. The enchiladas were filled with straight chicken. The mole was dark with a rich flavor and light heat. I used both the orangish salsa, which was more orange than the same salsa in the Milwaukee Avenue location, and the roasted pepper salsa to add some zing. The enchiladas were topped with a crumbly cheese, red onions and mixture of parsley and cilantro.

We had lunch at the Milwaukee location last week. Both of us had tortas, so there is no direct comparison.

This was a great mom and pop Mexican restaurant. I'm disappointed that no one (at least as far as I read) mentioned that the entire restaurant is non-smoking. It is something I complimented our server about. She replied that the restaurant is so small that a smoking or non-smoking section would have been pointless. Now the food. We had Botanas Huatulco (spelling is probably wrong). It was a warm salad of shrimp, squid and octopus. Excellent. I had enchilladas mole. I had to have their mole since Oaxaqa, Mexico is the home of mole. Excellent. My husband had Cesina. He said it was fair. We would definetely return. There were many other things we would like to try.

As if I needed another reason to visit TLO, I noticed in my latest United Mileage Plus Dining statement that TLO is now a member of their program, which means that you can earn up to 10 miles for every dollar spent there, if you charge the meal on your registered credit card (signup is free, but required via United's web site Here.)

Now if United can just stay in business, I'll actually be able to USE all the miles I earn by pigging out at TLO.

All this talk about TLO got me all primed to go and eat there again this evening, which I did (resolving to try an appetizer and an entree that I had not had before).

Went with the Botana Huatulco appetizer (shrimp, squid, and octopus sauteed with garlic, green pepper, and onions). I felt that the addition of the squid actually detracted somewhat from the near-perfect balance of shrimp and octopus prevalent in many of their other dishes, at least in terms of texture. The squid, while similar to the octopus in flavor, was noticeably tougher than the octopus and seemed to me to throw the balance off somewhat.

For the entree, I went with the JeffB Recommended Huachinango con mariscos, which in this case, was a deep fried whole red snapper, served in foil, wrapped up with mussels, squid, octopus, shrimp, red onion, and cilantro. I peeked into the kitchen while they were preparing this dish, and the other seafood was prepared in a sautee pan and on the grill while the snapper was in the fryer. Not sure if they finished the dish in the oven or not, but I can say that it was very, very good - easily the best of their Huachinango preps that I have tried.

I was a first-timer at La Oaxaqueña yesterday afternoon - the Milwaukee Ave. location. When trying a Mexican restaurant for the first time, I reserve Sunday afternoons because Sunday gets the biggest crowds (and, oftentimes the freshest ingredients/food).

When I arrived there wasn't a seat to be found, except for an empty table for 8 in the window. Reluctant to occupy such a large table by myself (I was dining solo yesterday) I waited for a smaller table to vacate. After 15-minutes one of the waitstaff told me to go ahead and sit at the large table.

The decor/ambiance struck me as more Mexican in feel than most Mexican restaurants I've visited, outside of Mexico. I had the feeling I was sitting down in someone's dining room in Mexico. The appearance is clean and orderly and the staff knew the menu and was attentive.

The complimentary/traditional totopos with three salsas was disappointing. The totopos had a stale "store bought" quality - thin and tasteless. I didn't particularly like the runny consistency of the salsas - I prefer salsas with a bit more body, that'll stick a bit to what you put them on and not immediately run off. The salsas were, however flavorful (but one needed a spoon to taste them).

For a starter I ordered the Camarones Oaxaqueñas (or is the proper pronunciation "Camarones Oaxaqueños" - I get confused at times). The dish ($6. 95) might be ordered by someone looking for a light meal - 6 large butterflied shrimp sauteed with large pieces of onion, green pepper and I think cabbage (not certain) with a queso blanco mixed in (I assumed it was a Oaxacan white cheese, but don't know for certain). It was a tasty appetizer that I enjoyed.

I liked the menu - it offers a nice balance between meat, chicken and seafood, not to mention the huge torta's. For my entree I chose the Mole Oaxaqueño - a large-portion ($9.50) half-chicken nicely smothered in "black" mole (actually, brown). I was disappointed that black mole was the only of the typical Oaxaca mole's offered. Chocolaty, but not overwhelmingly so - the mole had a nice consistency and I enjoyed it. The only mistake I made was not ordering additional mole on the side. The chicken was a meaty one and it was moist.

Good corn tortillas are important to me when eating chicken and mole and the tortillas de maiz were a disappointment. The apparently store-bought (plastic bag packaged, no doubt) tortillas were almost flavorless and did not hold together well - they were shredding as I rolled them to eat. They weren't much use when I attempted to place the chicken/mole in them, but they were satisfactory when used to sop-up excess mole from the plate.

The chicken was accompanied by a large portion of Mexican/Spanish rice on the same platter. The rice was typical for this kind of meal, nothing special.

Since I had stuffed myself, I didn't try any of the desserts.

The restaurant offers a good selection of beers (and, surprisingly to me, an offering of canned pulque). During the course of my meal I went through three bottles of beer - Pacifico (from Mazatlan - $3 ea.).

During the course of the meal people came and went, there wasn't a time when I saw an empty table. At one point three women were standing at the door waiting to be seated and I motioned to the waitress to seat them at my table - after all, one person at a table for 8 is a bit wasteful.

As can be expected at a Mexican restaurant, Sunday is "family day" and children were present, but not a distraction. I knew I was in a "Mexican" restaurant (as if I were in a restaurant or home in Mexico) when the woman at a table in front of me lifted her blouse and breast fed her baby. Music from a CD or radio station played in the background, but not very loud, sufficient to set the mood.

One meal isn't sufficient for me to reach a firm opinion, but my reaction to the meal and observing the goings-on in the restaurant is that La Oaxaqueña offers food/service at levels above the norm for such restaurants in Chicago. I've spent time in Oaxaca and think the restaurant is more than sufficiently, authentically, "Oaxaqueño" for the palates of most Mexicans and non-Mexicans.

What appears to set this restaurant apart from so many others is the personal touch of the owner(s). A woman I assume is the owner was busily preparing food in the kitchen, attending to guests at the front door, and keeping her eye on everything. The waitstaff was "family-like" also. The food served appears to be more of the "home cooking" variety served in Mexico than one finds in most Mexican restaurants in Chicago. I'll be going back to try other offerings on the menu (maybe I'll bring my own tortillas next time!).

With all the praise being heaped on La Oaxaqueña, I feel like a bit of a heretic saying I just "like" it, not "love" it. I agree with Bill that their chips and salsas are unexceptional and the tortillas are not good at all. I do love their tamales, which are large, moist and obviously homemade. Mine were filled with big pieces of chicken, bones included! Most recently, I ordered the pollo en mole and found it disappointing; the mole sauce was delicious, but the bird itself tasted more stewed than baked. Oh well, only 2,754 more Mexican restaurants to try...

Wow, first LTH, now this?

I still love the place. Not to be a pill, but chicken (or turkey) bones belong in Oaxacan, Central and South American tamales (humitas, hallacas, etc), no? And also, boiling (or simmering) the fowl for mole is just the way it's often done.

Bahena recipe

Last, but not least, I love the salsas. The chips ain't so great, granted.

After the Make Mine Oaxaca event was cancelled I decide to make the trip on my own and I found it a mixed bag.

As an entree I ordered the chicken mole tamales which I didn't like at all. I really should read everyone's posts a little more thoughly because someone did mention that they leave the bone in which I found a little bizarre. The masa was tough, the chicken stringy and overcooked and the mole was a little pasty and didn't have much flavor. I think they might have been old. The banana leaf wrapper was new to me and I liked the flavor it imparted. It reminded me of those wonderful Chinese sticky rice things with the bean paste in the middle. I'm not sure if my problem was that I'm used to norteño style tamales in the corn husk or if they just had an off night.

I had a completely opposite experience with my carne asada sopes which were wonderful. I'd never had a sope before and I thought it was a fantastic variation on a taco. I would return just for them.

Also on the plus side is the very friendly service and the parking which is very easy to come by around there.

I got the order to go so next time I'll actually eat in the restaurant and have one of the more highly recommended mole dishes which I didn't think would travel well.