Don Pedro's Carnitas: A Swell Lunch on the Near South Side

Don Pedro's Carnitas: A Swell Lunch on the Near South Side


Recently, comrade Daane sought to lure out some lurkers with an invitation to them to post on 'lagniappes' that they have received. Unfortunately, the lurkers have so far left the bait unbitten. In the meanwhile, let me happily report that today was a lagniappe-filled day for Amata, Lucantonius and me.

Around nine o'clock this morning, we headed down the elevator and across the street to visit our local (Printers' Row) farmers' market where, for some twelve dollars or so, we stocked up on vegetables and herbs for the coming week. While I was picking over the squashes, the farmer who runs the largest of the stands came over and stuffed into one of our bags four of the smallest and nicest ears of his sweet corn as a little token of appreciation for our business. Among the offerings that attracted my attention today were nice bunches of cilantro and also some very beautiful radishes. Now, these days, when I see nice, fresh radishes, one of the first things I think of is tacos and I very quickly decided that a quick trip to Pilsen was in order.

We fetched the car and took off for a quick run to a couple of stores. The last two stops were to Casa del Pueblo, where we went primarily to get fresh tortillas but while there, we were tempted to buy a few other items, including some very fresh and extremely pungent papalo, some limes and some Mexican coke. During our visit to this very friendly grocery store, we were offered free coffee and tastes of queso fresco. From there, it was off to Don Pedro's to buy some fresh carnitas.

Don Pedro's was, as always on the weekends, hopping, but even so, the efficiency of the place is such that we were in and out in a pretty short time. We bought a pound of the meat and, before chopping off hunks for our order, the gentleman wielding the knife gathered up several nice small chunks, put them on a piece of wrapping paper and gave them to us as a little snack; they were still so hot that it was a little painful to hold them, even with the paper wrapper doubled over -- still hot and absolutely succulent. Then, after he had weighed out our pound of flesh, he went back to the still steaming heaps of pork and gathered up a bunch -- perhaps another third of a pound or more -- of meat, including some beautiful extra crispy bits and a nice slab of that part of the pig's digestive track that always stands out for the deep, regular scoring that's been cut into it. Along with the pound of flesh we ordered and the very large extra gratis portion came three little containers of salsa, two of the red salsa and one of the green.

Once home, we quickly put together a little plate of raw garnishes (shredded lettuce, tomato, onion, lime, cilantro, papalo and, of course, radish) and dug in. Don Pedro's carnitas are absolutely delicious, salty but by no means excessively so, and mostly quite moist but also with some nice crisp, dark bits. The salsas are both delicious, especially to my taste the red one. While Amata and I were eating, we often had to put down our tacos to assist Master Lucantonius, who repeatedly declared with delight in his voice: "More pork!" And by the way, the radishes are really good.

Don Pedro's Carnitas is on the south side of 18th street, about a block east of Racine. There are tables there and one can have the minimalist carnitas-meal in the shop (with tortillas, salad, soft drinks). If you haven't been, go; their carnitas are outstanding.

The gestures of friendship we received from our farmer friend and the fellow at Don Pedro's made delicious food taste even better.

Antonius

It's mentioned in lots of threads, but there isn't one dedicated to it...until now. I've only been there once and it was amazing. I'm sure someone else can be more eloquent than I can be about why they're amazing, but right now, I'm wondering what their hours are. Some friends and I are interested in going there tomorrow before a Windy City Rollers game, so it would be around 4 or 5. Some of the stuff I read on other sites said they usually run out of meat at earlier in the day....is it worth trying at that time?

Carnitas Don Pedro
1113 W 18th Street
Chicago, IL 60608
(312) 829-4757

Carnitas Don Pedro closes around 3:00pm.

Love having this place (somewhat) nearby. The closest one to me is the location that actually shares a lot with a gas station, and while I felt a bit weirded out, I must admit I didn't notice a giant drop off in quality compared to the other locations. Great prices, great food.

Doh! Thanks for the info, though, ronnie!

Took the family here on Wednesday afternoon and luckily we got there just in time. 3 o'clock! Asked if they were closing up and they said they make everything fresh and they were out of food. I guess we got the last plate of pork in the joint! The carnita's came with a bowl of chopped onion ,cilantro and lime for you to make your own porky taco's! Served with a great red and green salsa, some Del Rey corn tortilla's and some chicharone.The grandmother got a kick out of our 1 and a half year old daughter walking around enjoying her first huge pork rind! We loved this place and will go earlier next time! Grabbed a couple of tamales from the guy outside the door for the ride home which were great as well.

We ended up going to La Cebollita, a few blocks away. It was really good- I had tacos- steak, chorizo and al pastor. Their guacamole was very good, too. I guess they're famous for their tamales, but they were sold out by the time we got there (so they must be good!)

La Cebollita
1807 S Ashland Ave
Chicago 60608
(312) 492-8443

(Ha, I just realized I was thinking of someplace else!)

Does anybody know what kind of chiles they use in their salsa roja?

After spending the afternoon walking (and eating) around Pilsen we came here based on a recommendation from my BF's (Mexican) boss. I'll now go anywhere that man tells us to. It's a very friendly, family atmosphere here. We were told, "if you need anything, just holler". After being served a giant plate of pork one of the cooks came over to us with a bowl of piping hot & delicious slow cooked, shredded, tender, amazingly sliced beef. Told us they only made it on the weekends & they were quite proud of it. As they should be. It was mouthwateringly amazing & we ate entirely more than we should have based on how full we are now. Wrapped up & took home the leftovers, along with another 1/2lb. of the beef. He came back over with our bags, gave us re-heating instructions & also gave us a piece of the cake that the staff was eating. I took a few pictures, I'll post them later. I'm slightly shocked there's only 8 posts about this place; you guys need to get there & check it out. Right now I need to sleep off this meat coma.

Recently, three of us had lunch at Carnitas Don Pedro in Pilsen.
Awesome food and very friendly servers (we were all Asians with little clue about what to order/ eat).
We made our own tacos with the carnitas, meat and cactus stew, sauces, cilantro & onions, and pickled jalapenos.

Due to my lack of knowledge about rustic Mexican cuisine, I was hoping to learn more from LTH about this place and the style of food they make. Their Carnitas were very different from what I have eaten at other Mexican restaurants. Is this a regional variant or just how its supposed to be?
What do you suggest ordering from there? Any specials that are not advertised?

Any other similar places you would recommend?

I did a search in the forum for this restaurant and found one posting from 2009 with only 3-4 comments. Hopefully more people have discovered this place in the last 4 years.

Carnitas Don Pedro
1113 W 18th St, Chicago, IL 60608

I stumbled upon this place this morning, and as a lover of carnitas had to stop in. I ordered two carnitas tacos, and they were pretty substantial. The meat was succulent porky goodness. Easily the best carnitas I've had in Chicago (though admittedly I don't seem to see them often). These are a must try, and I am definitely going back to get some meat by the pound.

Highly recommend if you like tacos.

mdpilam wrote:I stumbled upon this place this morning, and as a lover of carnitas had to stop in. I ordered two carnitas tacos, and they were pretty substantial. The meat was succulent porky goodness. Easily the best carnitas I've had in Chicago (though admittedly I don't seem to see them often). These are a must try, and I am definitely going back to get some meat by the pound.

Highly recommend if you like tacos.

As a lover of carnitas, you have lots of pleasant exploration ahead. Plenty of places make carnitas every day but it's often a weekend thing. You could go out every weekend for a year and be far from having to repeat. In addition to the specialists (two more good ones in Pilsen—Sabas Vega [new management?] and Carnitas Uruapan) and regular taquerias, many Mexican markets—both supermercados and neighborhood corner stores—cook up the pig either daily or on weekends. Did you poke your head in the kitchen at Don Pedro? This gives me an excuse to link to G Wiv's photo, still one of my favorites ever posted here.

In another thread G Wiv wrote:Caldron of Carnitas at Carnitas Don Pedro.

I was at Carnitas Uruapan a couple weeks ago. Since it was a weekday afternoon things were relatively quiet in the kitchen.



Not a very good photo but the guy's arm at the right gives a sense of scale.

Carnitas Uruapan
1725 W 18th St
Chicago
312-226-2654