Tacos Maria, Home of Dagwood Mega Tortas - Aurora, IL

Tacos Maria, Home of Dagwood Mega Tortas - Aurora, IL

Last week I was in Aurora with LAZ to see the Music Man at the Paramont Theater, which was terrific.

To get to the afternoon performance, I managed to miss both breakfast and lunch. When the play was over, I was ready to eat something. I had no ideas on where we might eat, though I knew LAZ might have suggestions.

While we were driving through town, LAZ was fanning through her smart phone. Wurst World was considered, though we had the impression it was a meat market rather than a place to eat.

I mused maybe we should do what just about everyone else does, stop someplace and take our chances. As I said this, a former 50's or 60's drive-in now Tacos Maria came into view. It was so retro, we decided to eat there without any idea what we might experience.


Tacos Maria exterior by cal222, on Flickr

Since sunset was fast approaching, we took an exterior picture first, which amused customers inside waiting for their food.

I started to scan the menu, my eyes stopped at the tacos tripas. Whatever I did order, I had to have beef tripe taco.

They had a rather extensive section of Mega Tortas all priced at $7.99. Most of the tortas at other places, they recite the meat offerings and how it is dressed. Mega Tortas had many ingredients approaching Dagwood proportions. I settled on

La Toquena
Carne Asada, Tocino, Jamon, Pierna Blaca, Salchicha, Queso Blanco, Queso Amarillo, Chorizo y Pina.
Steak, Bacon, Ham, Pork Leg, Hot Dogs, White & Yellow Cheese, Mexican Sausage & Pineapple.


La Toluquena front view by cal222, on Flickr

This side view shows the skinless hot dog with some griddle marks. I admit I ordered this sandwich just to see the hot dog.


La Toluquena by cal222, on Flickr

A peak inside reveals a few ingredients not mentioned previously: lettuce, jalapenos, beans, avocado, tomato


La Toluquena inside by cal222, on Flickr

While LAZ took a nibble, I did eat it all plus the taco tripas. The toothpicks in this sandwich were absolutely necessary to keep the contents from sliding out while biting into it.


Finished plate by cal222, on Flickr


Mega Tortas Menu by cal222, on Flickr

I could easily envision Tacos Maria as a location for an LTHforum get together. How else can you try so many mega tortas in a short time?

I thanked my lucky stars to randomly stop at Tacos Marias, because their Mega Tortas made my day.

Tacos Maria
733 Aurora Ave
Aurora, IL 60505
(630) 844-9050

Regards,

I will have to try this soon. Must go with somebody as I would only be able to eat half of one if that.

Great news - that building has changed hands many times over the past several years. At one point recently, it was a Taco Movil, which had a nice pastor trompo. I was sad to see them close this location and had not stopped in since turning into Tacos Marias.

Will have to stop in soon and try a mega!

Cathy2 wrote:
I could easily envision Tacos Maria as a location for an LTHforum get together. How else can you try so many mega tortas in a short time?

Perhaps we can discuss this matter at tomorrow's LTH North Staff Meeting.

It would be nice to have a LTH "crawl" of the hole in the wall mexican places in Aurora. I think there are some gems there but I never know which one to stop at. There is a lively Mexican community there.

That location has been so many different kinds of restaurants over the years! It's located in the part of Aurora that was know as Pigeon Hill and I think one restaurant 20+ years ago was called Pigeon Hill. The neighborhood was home to immigrant workers of the Burlington Railroad which is just a little south and now part of the Two Brothers complex. Aurora has a large number of Mexican places like this but many seem to change over frequently.

http://www.lthforum.com/bb/viewtopic.php?p=80226#p80226

We did an Aurora crawl several years ago when this place was called Taqueria Los Cabritos. You were just down the road from El Pollo Giro which is still open as far as I know and serves some great charcoal grilled chicken. Thanks for the recent intel on the torta place.

There was a place in Rogers Park that made an identical sandwich. It had a different name, but had the same over the top contents. Like the sandwich pictured it was made with copious amounts of mayo, which I could have done without.

d4v3 wrote:There was a place in Rogers Park that made an identical sandwich. It had a different name, but had the same over the top contents. Like the sandwich pictured it was made with copious amounts of mayo, which I could have done without.

I believe that is white melting cheese. If you look at the cheese surface, it has a thin skin from cooling.

Regards,

Cathy2 wrote:

d4v3 wrote:There was a place in Rogers Park that made an identical sandwich. It had a different name, but had the same over the top contents. Like the sandwich pictured it was made with copious amounts of mayo, which I could have done without.

I believe that is white melting cheese. If you look at the cheese surface, it has a thin skin from cooling.

Oh yeah,sorry. In the top picture it looked like mayo, but in the other pictures you can tell it is cheese. I guess I would like this version of that sandwich better. The sandwich I was thinking of was the Cubana Rey from El Rey del Taco. It was milanezo, jamon, salchicha, tocino, chorizo, huevos, queso amarillo, pina. No white cheese (which they put on other sandwiches), but it had an egg.

Hi,

Tacos Marias has a sandwich with an egg, too. It is the La Michoacana with Milanesa, Tocino, Jamon, Pierna Blanca, Huevo, Salchicha aka breaded steak, bacon, ham, pork leg, egg, sausage.

But if you want eggs, you want Mexico D.F. (?) with Milanesa de pollo, jamon, queso blanco, sachicha, chorizo y huevos aka breaded chicken, ham, white cheese, sausage, Mexican sausage & eggs.

Their Hawaiiana sounds downright naked: ham & pineapple with melted white cheese!

I was unaware of loaded tortas until this occasion.

Regards,

In the case of El Rey's tortas, and from the pictures, Tacos Maria's also, the sausage that salchicha refers to is a hot dog sliced into quarters vertically and horiztontally.

Super tortas have been a big thing in Chicago for years. Five or ten years ago the genre got a boost when Doña Torta Chilanga in Pilsen introduced their tortas guapachosas and tortas futboleras series of outrageous sandwiches.



Ever the innovators, they also have a series of sandwiches named after Mexican rock bands. The tortas futboleras idea has been widely copied and they can be found all over Chicago, from the far north side to the far south side. Here's a Memo Ochoa, named after the Mexican goalkeeper.





It's stuffed with milanesa, pollo, salchicha, jamón, queso, huevo, lomo, chorizo, pierna roja and piña. As you can see, they don't believe much in vegetables. This is the sandwich that inspired Scofflaw's guapichosa.

Doña Torta Chilanga
2152 W Cermak Rd
Chicago
773-927-3497

[Added to facilitate searching: Dona Torta Chilanga]

Rene G wrote:
It's stuffed with milanesa, pollo, salchicha, jamón, queso, huevo, lomo, chorizo, pierna roja and piña. As you can see, they don't believe much in vegetables. This is the sandwich that inspired Scofflaw's guapichosa.

That bread looks quite good. It appears to be a Bollilo, instead of the usual Torta roll.

Rene G wrote:As you can see, they don't believe much in vegetables.

Ah, I was fortunate to encounter a healthy variant with lettuce, tomato and avocado!

Regards,

Rocky's in Roger Park serves 78 varieties of Tortas, from the simple "La Tigres", which is plain Carne Al Pastor to "La Seleccion Femenil" which is Chuleta Ahumada, Tocino, Chorizo, Huevo, Milaneza, Queso Blanco y Queso Amarillo (pork chop, bacon, Mexican sausage, egg, breaded steak, white and yellow cheese). All of the Tortas and Huateques (whatever that is) have football related names (like the torta Beckham). My fave is a "Huateques Futboleros" called "F*ck You Referi". Despite the gimmicky names, the food is actually not that bad. Their cesina is pretty good.

Rocky's
La Casa de Super Tortas Futboleros
7043 N Clark St
Chicago, IL 60626
(773) 274-4555
http://rockystacos.com

Rene G wrote:The tortas futboleras idea has been widely copied and they can be found all over Chicago, from the far north side to the far south side.

d4v3 wrote:Rocky's in Roger Park serves 78 varieties of Tortas, from the simple "La Tigres", which is plain Carne Al Pastor to "La Seleccion Femenil" which is Chuleta Ahumada, Tocino, Chorizo, Huevo, Milaneza, Queso Blanco y Queso Amarillo (pork chop, bacon, Mexican sausage, egg, breaded steak, white and yellow cheese). All of the Tortas and Huateques (whatever that is) have football related names (like the torta Beckham).

Rocky's Tacos was the place I had in mind for far north.



They also have a location on Montrose near Kedzie.

Far south, I was thinking of Taqueria Sacramento.



They have both a tortas futboleras and a tortas mundialistas series.

Some locations of Panaderia La Baguette serve tortas futboleras, and even offer the Memo Ochoa (though it has different ingredients). Other places are sprouting up. It's definitely a trend in Chicago, but not one that's been noted by many local food writers.

Rocky's Tacos
7043 N Clark St
(also 3111 W Montrose)
Chicago
773-274-4555

Taqueria Sacramento
10148 S Ewing Av
Chicago
773-221-9440

Rocky's had been around for many years, and lays claim to having invented the "tortas futlboleros" genre. I wonder if that's true. Is this another entry in the long list of "Chicago" sandwiches? Since El Rey del Taco was just up the street from Rocky's, it makes sense that their "Cubana Rey" sandwiches were patterned after Rocky's Futboleros.

BTW, I found out that el Huateque is a dance done in Oaxaca. It has something to do with soccer celebrations. The Huateques at Rocky's appear to be similar to their tortas, but without the bread (at least from the pictures). It has been years since I have been to Rocky's, maybe it is time for a return trip.

Signage for Dona Torta Chilanga is the same as Dona Torta on Ashland, which has had these over the top combos for many, many years going back to pre-LTH discussions. In fact, I pretty much always associated Mexican tortas with excessive ingredient lists.

Upthread someone mentioned Dona Torta uses a bolillo as opposed to a "torta roll." In my experience, they are one in the same. Some sandwiches such as cemitas/semitas, use that self-same named anise and sesame focused roll, while pambazos/pambasos use the bread of the same name. And sometimes one sees the softer teleras used. I'm not sure I've seen a Mexican roll marked "torta" before, but who knows. Maybe it's a descriptive name like "hoagie roll."

JeffB wrote:Upthread someone mentioned Dona Torta uses a bolillo as opposed to a "torta roll." In my experience, they are one in the same. Some sandwiches such as cemitas/semitas, use that self-same named anise and sesame focused roll, while pambazos/pambasos use the bread of the same name. And sometimes one sees the softer teleras used. I'm not sure I've seen a Mexican roll marked "torta" before, but who knows. Maybe it's a descriptive name like "hoagie roll."

I just meant the rolls usually used for tortas AKA teleras (if you google "torta roll", you will see pictures) which are softer without pointed ends and a hard crust like a Bolillo. I have eaten tortas for many years and in my experience, Bolillos are NOT normally used. I know Dona Torta has been (or was) around for many years, as has Rocky's. As I recall, Dona Torta used to also use the teleras for their tortas (but it has been many years since I ate a torta there). I was referring specifically to Rocky's "Super Tortas Futboleros" as a trademark name for over-stuffed tortas.

edited spelling

Got it. I think the better places, or at least the more baroque places, use bolillos. If you order a torta at a crap taqueria with Burritos as Big as Your Head, you'll assuredly get a squishy telera. Not much of a torta man myself, but most of mine have been at Dona Torta, on bolillos. The OP does show what seems to be an oversized telera at Maria's.

Personally, I would much prefer Bolillos to Teleras. The one thing I never really liked about Tortas is the softer bread.

HI,

The sandwich bread in the OP was not much larger than what I expect for conventional torta. It was certainly not in the football sized category, though I have not see any of these football size tortas referenced above. However once loaded up, it was definitely a hefty sandwich and totally evoked a Dagwood sandwich from the Blondie comic strips.

I was completely unaware of the mega torta phenomena until last week.

Regards,

Hi,

In my original post, I made a passing comment to tripas taco. I used the word tripe, though I knew it was intestines. Apparently it is a common error, though most think they ordered tripe when they really ate intestines.

About five years ago, LTHforum had a brief association with SurfinSapo who posted 36 times and moved on. He has a website of the same name: http://www.surfinsapo.com/ . On youtube, there are a lot of his cooking videos under CookinwithSurfinSapo. His most recent effort was uploaded two weeks ago.

One of these videos was tripas I watched long ago:



Tripas = intestines and not tripe ... maybe this will help someone else keep it clear.

Regards,

d4v3 wrote:Rocky's in Roger Park serves 78 varieties of Tortas, from the simple "La Tigres", which is plain Carne Al Pastor to "La Seleccion Femenil" which is Chuleta Ahumada, Tocino, Chorizo, Huevo, Milaneza, Queso Blanco y Queso Amarillo (pork chop, bacon, Mexican sausage, egg, breaded steak, white and yellow cheese).

I ate a Seleccion Femenil. Report to follow in another thread.

d4v3 wrote:Rocky's had been around for many years, and lays claim to having invented the "tortas futlboleros" genre. I wonder if that's true.

Rocky's opened about 15 years ago. I'm curious where you heard or read that claim? I think it might well be true.

d4v3 wrote:Since El Rey del Taco was just up the street from Rocky's, it makes sense that their "Cubana Rey" sandwiches were patterned after Rocky's Futboleros.

Not necessarily, as JeffB explained a couple years ago:

In the Cuban Sandwiches thread, JeffB wrote:NB: Mexican sandwiches dubbed tortas cubanas are their own "thing" and, as best I can tell, have nothing to do with the classic sanguiche mixto born of the Cuban diaspora in Florida. In Mexican food jargon, "Cubano" tends to be shorthand for the florid, the baroque, the over-the-top. I've seen this applied to drinks (eg, micheladas Cubanas) as well as to other foods (pizza) in Mexico but also in other parts of Latin America (specifically, Argentina). Accordingly, tortas cubanas usually have the kitchen sink (stuff like hot dogs, bacon and milanesas) in addition to the standard beans and guac on a hollowed out bolillo or telera. I say this not to discredit the torta Cubana as inauthentic, because it is a real Mexican sandwich that doesn't appear even to reference the Cuban sandwich so much as use an adjective, "Cubana," that has specific connotations. But I wouldn't want a novice to think the Mexican torta Cubana is the same thing as the Cuban sandwich.

Tortas Cubanas are pretty common in Mexican restaurants in Chicago (as well as elsewhere).

JeffB wrote:Signage for Dona Torta Chilanga is the same as Dona Torta on Ashland, which has had these over the top combos for many, many years going back to pre-LTH discussions.

Doña Torta was one of the places I had in mind when I wrote, "Super tortas have been a big thing in Chicago for years." Yes, the logos of Doña Torta and Doña Torta Chilanga (on Cermak) are almost identical but the businesses have never had a common owner. Doña Torta on Ashland (and its two predecessors and one successor) was something of a Chicago torta pioneer. More to follow in another thread.

Rene G wrote:

d4v3 wrote:Rocky's in Roger Park serves 78 varieties of Tortas, from the simple "La Tigres", which is plain Carne Al Pastor to "La Seleccion Femenil" which is Chuleta Ahumada, Tocino, Chorizo, Huevo, Milaneza, Queso Blanco y Queso Amarillo (pork chop, bacon, Mexican sausage, egg, breaded steak, white and yellow cheese).

I ate a Seleccion Femenil. Report to follow in another thread.

d4v3 wrote:Rocky's had been around for many years, and lays claim to having invented the "tortas futlboleras" genre. I wonder if that's true.

Rocky's opened about 15 years ago. I'm curious where you heard or read that claim? I think it might well be true.

I have lived at my present address for 20 years and I seem to remember Rocky's opened just a couple of years after I moved there. As I recall,they once put "The Original" Tortas Futbolereas on their flyers. They now call themselves "The Home of Super Tortas Futboleras". I just assumed that meant they were the first to adopt the name. They are certainly the first (and only) all Futbol themed restaurant I know of, and with 78 varieties of futbol themed tortas, they are certainly the most fanatical. I haven't been there in many years, even though it is right around the corner from me. I would be interested in your take on the Smoked Pork Chop Torta with bacon,chorizo, egg, cheese and Milaneza (The selection Femenil).

I noticed that Rocky recenty added a Torta called "La Seleccion Antidoping". No doubt a tribute to Lance Armstrong.