Las Cemitas Poblanas - Aurora, IL.

Heard there was a spot in Aurora doing some good cemitas and tacos arabes, turned out to be legit info.

East side spot off Route 25, low key, nice folks. Cat selling tacos outside, full menu inside. A really fine version of a Cemita, ours had a cutlet, crumbled chorizo & ham., Bread was really damn good, one beef would be it could have used more avocado. But a great cemita. Interesting combos(headcheese, hot dogs, etc. )

Tacos Arabes were really good as well, nice hot sauce, some pineapple mixed. Great tacos. Interestingly creamy green slasa with avocado in it with some crisp, fresh chips.

this place made my day.



green salsa:



tacos arabes:





Cemita Cuba:





menu shots:





Las Cemitas Poblanas
715 High Street
Aurora, IL.

thanks for posting, I've got a friend out near this place I was going to visit in a couple weeks, do you know if this place is BYOB?

Sorry, no idea on the byob, it was nice they accepted visa.

Looks great. Will have to hit this and Totopos in Naperville for suburban cemita comparison and enjoyment! I was back there earlier this summer and had some fine tamales with their peanut sauce in addition to the sandwich (ordered without torta toppings this time).

made a return trip a few days ago, chicken cutlet cemita was good(hard to distinguish from the pic, the chicken on the sandwich was 4-5 smalll tasty cutlets, not just a fried breast.):



tacos arabes were wrong, at least compared to the last visit when they were awesome, perhaps a communication issue, perhaps another cat in the kitchen.

jimswside wrote:Sorry, no idea on the byob, it was nice they accepted visa.

verified during our Friday night visit that this place does not allow BYOB.

Our al pastor cemita was good, just lacking the savory smack of what I've had at Cemitas Puebla, so I personally won't go out of my way to go back. But seeing as I've got a friend in the area, for sure will visit again as I do want to try the Tacos Arabes.

While we had wanted to try the Tacos Arabes, they were not 'on sale' this past Friday night unlike most every other taco which were $1 apiece so we had cabeza, lengua, asada. All quite good.

We both found the peanut/chipotle sauce to be strange but good at the same time, prefered the rojo & verde salsas much more.

Had lunch on Saturday and it was great. The Tacos Arabes were great. Had a couple of Cemitas and they were very good.

Sweet Willie wrote:Our al pastor cemita was good, just lacking the savory smack of what I've had at Cemitas Puebla, so I personally won't go out of my way to go back. But seeing as I've got a friend in the area, for sure will visit again as I do want to try the Tacos Arabes.

went last night w/a bud who lives local.

We split a different cemita this time, the Cubana (chicken milanesa, chorizo, jamon were the protiens along with the usual other ingredients), this cemita was delicious and had that savory smack that the al pastor cemita was lacking last time I was there.

We also were able to try the tacos arabes which were delicous, as they were loaded w/lots of pork & the arabes sauce.

I move Cemitas Poblanas much higher up on my list due to our recent excellent meal.

I was excited to see this post as I love cemitas and tacos arabes! Headed over a few days ago and my expectations continued to go up as I walked past the crowded outdoor grill station and trompo to order indoors.

Menu on the wall is very hard to follow. Some of it consists only of pictures and then there's a whole separate hand-written section a couple feet over on the wall. Not deterred (for we had studied the menu shots posted above), I ordered the Mexican and the Cuban, along with a couple tacos arabes.

When I got home, I discovered the "sausage" on the Mexican was a hot dog. While I know they serve hot dogs on tortas in Mexico, it had no place on my torta! I mistakenly assumed chorizo when I read "sausage". The menu also states that it has breaded steak and beef tenderloin. While, that was clearly not correct. It did have breaded chicken and no tenderloin. On its own, the sandwich was OK, but very disappointing.

On to the Cuban - once again, there was breaded chicken, and not steak, as the menu states. This one did have ham and chorizo, as it was supposed to and overall, was somewhere between fair and good. I would probably order this one again.

Next, a bite of taco arabe nearly had me choked up. I don't know what the herbs are that were loaded onto this, but it had a very strong herb almost soap-like taste to it. It overpowered the whole thing. I've had tacos arabes from several places, including Cemitas Puebla and I've never tasted anything this odd/bad. Would not consider ordering this again.

The good: the salsas were very good. The red and green both had a nice kick to them and were very nice renditions.

I really want to like this place and may try it one more time, but I'll have to be 100% sure of what I'm ordering next time. I hope this was just a weird/bad night for them.

ldub wrote: I don't know what the herbs are that were loaded onto this, but it had a very strong herb almost soap-like taste to it.

Many people find cilantro to have a soapy aftertaste, so that was probably the herb in question.

ldub wrote:I was excited to see this post as I love cemitas and tacos arabes! Headed over a few days ago and my expectations continued to go up as I walked past the crowded outdoor grill station and trompo to order indoors.

Menu on the wall is very hard to follow. Some of it consists only of pictures and then there's a whole separate hand-written section a couple feet over on the wall. Not deterred (for we had studied the menu shots posted above), I ordered the Mexican and the Cuban, along with a couple tacos arabes.

When I got home, I discovered the "sausage" on the Mexican was a hot dog. While I know they serve hot dogs on tortas in Mexico, it had no place on my torta! I mistakenly assumed chorizo when I read "sausage". The menu also states that it has breaded steak and beef tenderloin. While, that was clearly not correct. It did have breaded chicken and no tenderloin. On its own, the sandwich was OK, but very disappointing.

On to the Cuban - once again, there was breaded chicken, and not steak, as the menu states. This one did have ham and chorizo, as it was supposed to and overall, was somewhere between fair and good. I would probably order this one again.

Next, a bite of taco arabe nearly had me choked up. I don't know what the herbs are that were loaded onto this, but it had a very strong herb almost soap-like taste to it. It overpowered the whole thing. I've had tacos arabes from several places, including Cemitas Puebla and I've never tasted anything this odd/bad. Would not consider ordering this again.

The good: the salsas were very good. The red and green both had a nice kick to them and were very nice renditions.

I really want to like this place and may try it one more time, but I'll have to be 100% sure of what I'm ordering next time. I hope this was just a weird/bad night for them.

place has been kind of hit or miss the handfull of times I have gone. Tacos arabes a real disappointment after the really nice version I had originally.

I still like those cemitas, especially the bread.

TomInSkokie wrote:

ldub wrote: I don't know what the herbs are that were loaded onto this, but it had a very strong herb almost soap-like taste to it.

Many people find cilantro to have a soapy aftertaste, so that was probably the herb in question.

and I believe near 20% of people have that soapy taste with cilantro. Thank God I don't !!!!

TomInSkokie wrote:

ldub wrote: I don't know what the herbs are that were loaded onto this, but it had a very strong herb almost soap-like taste to it.

Many people find cilantro to have a soapy aftertaste, so that was probably the herb in question.

Probaly papalo, in Pueblan cuisine. The elder Anteliz at Cemitas Puebla told me they stopped serving it as a default (in season) since people had the same reaction. It's grown on me to the point I crave it (have always liked cilantro, though).

Santander wrote:

TomInSkokie wrote:

ldub wrote: I don't know what the herbs are that were loaded onto this, but it had a very strong herb almost soap-like taste to it.

Many people find cilantro to have a soapy aftertaste, so that was probably the herb in question.

Probaly papalo, in Pueblan cuisine. The elder Anteliz at Cemitas Puebla told me they stopped serving it as a default (in season) since people had the same reaction. It's grown on me to the point I crave it (have always liked cilantro, though).

Must be papalo. It was definitely not cilantro, as I love it and cook with it often. I'll still have to give them one more try and just stay clear of the tacos arabes for the time being.

A friend of mine calls it "devil-spinach."