El Nuevo Kappy's, La Villita

El Nuevo Kappy's, La Villita

Back in the fall, when Amata and I were first visiting Casa de Samuel on Cermak near California, we noticed a Mexican fast food joint on the southeast corner of that intersection which advertised a number of interesting looking items: A sign for enchiladas Potosinas caught the eye of Amata and a sign for tlacoyos de requesón caught mine. To be honest, it was in particular the requesón part, that is, the Mexican ricotta, that intrigued me, for this is an ingredient that seems to me to appear in Chicagoland restaurant offerings only rather rarely. We resolved to go to Kappy's to try these not so common items but, for various reasons, including the proximity of Kappy's to Casa de Samuel, whose menu we were then exploring, we never got around to it, that is, not until today.

For Lent, I'm not eating meat for the most part and so, when Amata suggested we go out for lunch today, that was a central factor in our choice of destination. Living in what might well be the neighbourhood in Chicago with the greatest concentration of places that offer pepper-and-egg sandwiches, we've already had our fill of those and so thoughts turned to more distant parts of town and more exotic dishes. As we considered Japanese and Chinese and Middle Eastern, I suddenly remembered the tlacoyos de requesón at Kappy's, which in turn reminded Amata of enchiladas Potosinas and off we went.



I ordered two items, really just variants on a theme: corn masa stuffed with cheese and cooked on a griddle. Of course, I ordered a tlacoyo de requesón but to accompany it also a quesadilla de flor de calabaza (each costs $2.99). I decided to start with the quesadilla and, by the time I remembered we are now almost constantly armed with an LTH issue digital camera, I had already come close to finishing off the first course. Pictured below are the remnants (slightly out of focus) of the quesadilla with the tlacoyo resting comfortably behind.



The quesadilla was filled with chopped calabaza flowers as well as sautéed little pieces of the squash itself and, of course, a Mennonita-type cheese. In all it was quite tasty, though slightly drippy (see photo). The tlacoyo de requesón was, on the other hand, not at all drippy or greasy. Rather, it was an austere, simple, subtle combination of the sweet milky flavour of requesón, seasoned only with a touch of flat-leaf parsley and salt, and the equally mild and pleasant flavour of griddled masa -- perfectly simple and delicious. Here is a picture in which the ravioli-like filling of the tlacoyo is revealed:



I also got to taste the enchiladas Potosinas which Amata ordered and I found them delicious: nicely piquant, with a good flavour of chile as well as of the cheese filling. Here's a picture of the partially consumed enchiladas platter:



All in all, Kappy's strikes me as a fine place to go for a quick meal or masa-based snack.

Nam nam.

Antonius

El Nuevo Kappy's Restaurant
2759 Cermak Road Chicago
773-847-3200

Post-site-move character problems fixed.

Antonius wrote: A sign for enchiladas Potosinas caught the eye of Amata

Can you elaborate on what an enchiladas Potosinas is. There is a place not too far from me with a similiar sign, and I've been very curious.

Rob

Sure, Rob. The usual kind of enchiladas are "en-chile-d" by the tortillas being dipped in a chile-based sauce. These from San Luis Potosi, on the other hand, are "enchiladas" by having a puree of chile ancho worked into the raw masa dough before they are cooked. They are filled with cheese (and the ones at Kappy's also had a bit of poblano chile in the filling) and cooked through. I think you can see from the photo that they aren't covered with sauce, but rather garnished with crema and crumbled cheese. The platter of 5 enchiladas plus beans, rice and a bit of salad was $4.99. I thought the enchiladas were quite nice (though the beans and rice were nothing special), and I also enjoyed a champurrado (masa-based beverage flavored with Mexican chocolate) with my lunch.

Now, no one here who knows (of) RST will be surprised to learn that he has also visited Kappy's (soon after our dinner at Casa de Samuel, Rob) and that he talked to everyone and learned where they are from. (leesh, you should chime in here too!) So from RST we can add the further information that the owner of Kappy's is from Durango and the main masa chef is from the state of Morelos. The tlacoyos de requeson seem to be one of the specialties of Morelos, judging from Diana Kennedy's My Mexico, where she gives a recipe for them in the Morelos chapter.

Vital Information wrote:

Antonius wrote: A sign for enchiladas Potosinas caught the eye of Amata

Can you elaborate on what an enchiladas Potosinas is. There is a place not too far from me with a similiar sign, and I've been very curious.

Rob

They are indeed to be found here and there. A little Mexican restaurant in our "Tri-Taylor" neighbourhood, Charco Verde, offers them, as does a place I suggested to Mauvais Sang as a possible clandestine destination, La Escondida, on Oakley and Blue Island (just south of the "Little Tuscany", northern Italian enclave of Heart of Chicago). The enchiladas potosinas at Charco Verde were just okay but the ones at Kappy's were to my tastes really pretty darn good.

Antonius

Antonius wrote:All in all, Kappy's strikes me as a fine place to go for a quick meal or masa-based snack.

Antonius,

I've never been to Kappy's, though thanks to your write up and delicious pictures, especially Amata's enchiladas Potosinas, I'll be stopping for a meal soon.

Amata, thanks for the enchiladas Potosinas explanation, very interesting.

Amata wrote:Now, no one here who knows (of) RST

RST?

Is that the guy who made the long involved, though literate, posts on c-h a couple of years ago?

Enjoy,
Gary

Thanks for the additional information on the enchiladas.

I do not know if you have ever been to Islas Marias, the Nayarit style seafood specialist. One of their signature dishes is empandada de camaron. The empanda dough, while not brick red like those enchiladas, has some chile worked into it.

As to tlacoyos, I know one other place: http://vitalinformation.blogspot.com/20 ... 8724958508 (also, coincidentially, the only place I know of for Mexican heavy metal music).

Rob

PS
Antonius, your fast, are you forsaking meat for the entire duration of lent or just on Fridays?

Vital Information wrote:I do not know if you have ever been to Islas Marias, the Nayarit style seafood specialist. One of their signature dishes is empandada de camaron. The empanda dough, while not brick red like those enchiladas, has some chile worked into it.

Rob:

No, I haven't been there yet and thanks for reminding me about it. This would be a good time to go.

As to tlacoyos, I know one other place...

Thanks for the link; Los Cazos sounds worth a visit too.

PS Antonius, your fast, are you forsaking meat for the entire duration of lent or just on Fridays?

I'm following pretty much the traditional pattern of fasting for the Roman Church which involves fasting for 40 days. Indeed, the word for 'Lent' in Latin and thus too in the daughter Romance languages is a derivative of the word for the number 40: Lat. quadraginta 'forty', quadragesima 'Lent', cf. It. quaresima, Fr. carême, Sp. cuaresma. But note that from Ash Wednesday to Easter there are actually 46 days. However, six of those 46 days are in fact Sundays and one does not fast on Sunday. Thus, I am 'fasting', at least insofar as I am not eating meat, on all days except Sundays (a few lapses inevitably occur and can be made up for by donning the old hair-shirt).

The number 40 occurs in a number of extremely significant contexts in both the Old and the New Testament and, to my mind, seems to have a clear connexion to the notion of purification in preparation for renewal of life or a new closeness to God:

• 40 days and nights: the flood
• 40 days: Moses on Mount Sinai for receiving the 10 commandments
• 40 years: the Jews in the desert on the way to the promised land
• 40 days: Jesus fasting in the wilderness
• 40 days: Jesus' stay with his disciples after the resurrection

One notes too that in the Catholic tradition, the Old Testament contains 39 books with the New Testament representing then the fortieth book which completes the theological journey.

(Der heilige )
Antonius

Post-site-move character problems fixed.

Antonius wrote:[...]a few lapses inevitably occur and can be made up for by donning the old hair-shirt.

Now that you have a digital camera, would you mind sharing a picture of this item with us?

Erik M.

I forgot to say before that RST had gotten a tlacoyo de chales from Kappy's which he shared with Antonius, VI, and me: chales are the little bits of crispy pork leftover when you render lard. That was really delicious too, and unusual for restaurant offerings here, as far as I know. Other tlacoyo fillings listed at Kappy's are habas (which ought to mean fava beans) and champinones. They also have gorditas with various fillings including chicharron in red or green sauce.

Rob, there was a sign up yesterday at Kappy's for those empanadas de camarones, too -- maybe a Lenten special?

I don't think we mentioned the hours Kappy's is open, and it's unreadable on our photo of their sign: Open 8 am to 9 pm daily.

Erik M. wrote:

Antonius wrote:[...]a few lapses inevitably occur and can be made up for by donning the old hair-shirt.

Now that you have a digital camera, would you mind sharing a picture of this item with us?

Erik M.

Erik:

I tried but there isn't sufficient light -- even with the flash on -- to get a good picture down in the windowless, underground cell where my hair-shirt and I reside.



de profundis,
A

Post-site-move character problems fixed.

Antonius wrote:I ordered two items, really just variants on a theme: corn masa stuffed with cheese and cooked on a griddle. Of course, I ordered a tlacoyo de requesón but to accompany it also a quesadilla de flor de calabaza (each costs $2.99).

I also got to taste the enchiladas Potosinas which Amata ordered and I found them delicious: nicely piquant, with a good flavour of chile as well as of the cheese filling.

Antonious - I was at Kappy's about a month ago and enjoyed pretty much the same meal - I think my friend and i also added the gordita rajas. It was pretty much the same corn tortilla - hand made to order, filled with wonderful, mild sliced peppers, and onions. I absolutely loved the squash blossom quesadilla, the tlacoyo de requeson and the enchiladas! the gordita was delicious as well, and i was quite stuffed when i rolled out of the place. It was a great meal to start off a day of walking thru the neighboring area.

Ciao
Sharon

I think tlacoyos are usually attributed to the central states, especially Mexico and the city of Toluca. But it's an old dish -- as can be seen from the name. According to Benitez in Cocina Prehispanica (a bilingual book thank goodness), they may have been called tlascalmimilli along with mamelas in Bernardino de Sahugun's History of the Things of New Spain.

That one looks amazingly symmetrical. Did you see them make it? I'm wondering if they're using a "cheater" method or if they're just that skilled.

extramsg wrote:That one looks amazingly symmetrical. Did you see them make it? I'm wondering if they're using a "cheater" method or if they're just that skilled.

The woman who makes them is indeed a highly skilled mas-euse.

Antonius

Antonius wrote:All in all, Kappy's strikes me as a fine place to go for a quick meal or masa-based snack.

Antonious,

Couldn't agree more, Kappy's is a great place for a masa based snack, though I have to admit that without your post I may have driven by, and have driven by, any number of times without stopping. On the surface Kappy's simply looks like any of a thousand gyro/hotdog/fried frozen pizza puff/taco no love in the food joints, not so, not in the least.

The most telling, at least to me, as we were paying our bill and chatting with the woman I assume, though you know what's said about assumptions, co-owns Kappy's with her husband, was her checking out our table to see if we ate everything. She said she likes it when people eat everything they are served.

We had enchiladas Potosinas and three quesadillas; rajas, flor de calabaza and mushroom. All three good, mushroom surprisingly so and, though while quite good, the flor de calabaza was simply finely minced squash, not squash flower. Actually I found Kappy's preparation of fresh squash much preferable to, say, the canned squash flower used at Dona Louis on Clark.

I will admit to having the temerity to ask her if the chile was actually worked into the dough of the enchiladas Potosinas, sorry for doubting you and Amata, it seemed to me they were simply chile soaked. By the way, very nice picture of enchiladas Potosinas.

Antonious, thanks for the heads up on Kappy's and the company, along with Steve Z, at lunch.

Enjoy,
Gary

do folks know if these noncarnivourous items (especially that filled with the ricotta like cheese) are available outside of lent? or do I need to rush down there now?

zim wrote:do folks know if these noncarnivourous items (especially that filled with the ricotta like cheese) are available outside of lent? or do I need to rush down there now?

Zim:

The sign for the tlacoyos with requeson is always hanging, so I believe they're always available.

A

At least on this memorial day, they weren't serving enchiladas potosinas at el nuevo kappy's. The sign in the window is still up, but where "enchiladas potosinas" once was on the menu, potosinas has been scratched out and replaced with "verdes".

-ed

Today I was with a group of folks whom I wanted to treat to lunch, and for this particular group I wanted the food to be – as much as possible – indigenous foods of the Americas. Now, since we don’t have in Chicago a place like the cafeteria at the Museum of the American Indian in DC, about which chapulin recently posted (link), or Sweetgrass Aborginal Bistro in Ottawa, I really couldn’t do a whole lunch with ingredients from the Eastern Woodlands/Plains/Subarctic/Pacific Northwest (etc) culture areas. Instead, the obvious route to go was Mesoamerican.

I haven’t been to Maiz, but I know from this thread that Maiz did or does consciously present itself as emphasizing pre-Contact Mexican food. But it’s not open for lunch.

I had a better idea, anyway: I took my group to Kappy’s. Here’s what we had (with multiple orders of everything, so that each person in the group of 9 got to try some of each antojito):

Enchiladas potosinas, served with beans and rice.

Tlacoyos de requesón (ricotta cheese), and de habas (fava beans).

Quesadillas de flor de calabaza (zucchini blossoms), de champiñones (mushrooms), and de huitlacoche (corn fungus).

Gorditas de rajas y queso (strips of roasted poblano chiles and cheese), de nopalitos (cactus), and de papas y chorizo (potatoes and Mexican pork sausage).

Picaditas con salsa roja (red sauce made with chile ancho), cecina de res (dried beef) on the side.

And a number of us drank champurrado (warm chocolate-flavored corn masa beverage) and horchata (rice drink flavored with cinnamon and almonds) with our meals.

How successful was this as a pre-Columbian meal? Well, from the New World we had corn (in everything!), (pinto) beans, zucchini blossoms, tomatoes, huitlacoche, mushrooms (undoubtedly eaten in the New World as well as the Old), chiles, cactus, potatoes, and chocolate.

The Old World elements were dairy products (cheese, crema), favas, pork, beef, rice, almonds, and cinnamon. But note that the pork and beef each received particularly Mexican treatments, and perhaps the ingredients of the horchata were first combined as a drink in Mexico (I don't know of an Old World counterpart to this drink).

I think this was about as pre-Columbian as one can get, ordering off of a regular menu in Chicago!

Everything was delicious, and the owners were very pleased that I had brought my group there. And, since there have been some comments in the Maiz thread about the prices there seeming a bit high, let me add that the food at Kappy’s is a bargain. We had more food than 9 people were able to eat for a grand total of $72 before tax and tip.

I highly recommend a visit to Kappy's, if you have never been!

Amata

Amata,

Just last night I was asked to arrange a banquet. Your post may have solved my "where-to-go" dilemma plus it gives it an interesting cultural and historical insights.

Thanks!

Regards,

Cathy, I'm glad to have given you an idea for your banquet. But be forewarned that Kappy's is pretty small and very plain (an old fast food place, as you can see from the picture at the top of this thread). You might want to visit beforehand and make sure that they can accommodate your group and that it's not too "down-scale" for a banquet.

El Nuevo Kappy's was, as always, great. The quesadilla flor de calabaza is especially swell, so too the enchiladas potosinas. The picaditas con salsa roja, which I had never had before, were, however, quite possibly my favourite.

Antonius

P.S. a Doña Amada:

Muchas gracies. Era un almuerzo muy rico y los compañeros eran todos muy simpaticos. Y yo no pagé nada!

Amata wrote:... and perhaps the ingredients of the horchata were first combined as a drink in Mexico (I don't know of an Old World counterpart to this drink).

Heus, orchata es un producte alimentari molt tipic per la regió Valenciana. Es també conegut en Italia i aixì ella fa potser part de la tradició culinaria comuna dels països Catalans i las regións italianas que estavan sota de la dominació politica aragonesa i llavors espanyola. Parlaremne més tard.

El Butxí

Something here somewhere documents the many faces of horchata, from the chufa nut based drink of southern Spain/Andalous to the approximations made in the new world: milk flavored with almond by some Cubans; the Central American version with its nuts and seeds (perhaps closest in spirit to the original); the Mexican rice water.

Okay, guys, I withdraw my horchata conjecture. Thanks for the Iberian education, Antonius and Jeff.

I just wanted to add my praise for kappy's. Taking amata and antonius recommendationa while back we went for echiladas potosinos and quesdiallas de requeson. These especially the enchiladas are some of the best vegetairan mexican food around (IMO)

Today, I served my municipality, my county, my state, my country and american jurisprudence by sitting in a stifling jury room on the third floor of Cook County Criminal Court watching instructional videos on courtroom demeanor, highrise fire safety, and then doing crosswords while the gentle tones of the ER theme emanated from the televisions behind me. I didn't make it to voir dire, but I did make it to Nuevo Kappy's for lunch. It's damned good! My two tlacoyos, one of requeson and one of chales, were crispy and delicious, apparently shaped and stuffed to order. My plain cheese quesadilla was suberb, if not quite at the level of tortilla perfection as the masa madonna of maxwell st. My dining companion, a fellow juror from Winnetka who I dissuaded from visiting the more convenient Popeye's outlet just north of the court, had two mediocre looking steak tacos with lettuce tomato and a slab of american cheese (!). I should've ordered first, because as soon as I asked for cebolla and cilantro the owner's eyes lit up and I have a feeling that more care was given to my personal lunch than my companions. Pico de galla, salsa verde and roja came with teh complimentary chips, as well as a tub of lime infused jalapenos. Yum. Unfortunately I was not selected to serve in a particular case, so I'll have to wait on furhter sampling Kappy's wares. THe woman who served us was interested to knwo where I found out about Kappy's and I cited LTH, and will email her the link to this review shortly. She remembered Antonious ('from UIC? With a woman?') and will no doubt poke her head in to say hello.

Seth Zurer wrote: ('from UIC? With a woman?')

well, whatever the institution may be, I'm glad she remembers us from the lunch last December.

-- the woman with Antonius

p.s. Yes, Kappy's is great! Glad you liked it, Seth!

Kool. I had the pleasure of biding my time on that same 3rd floor earlier this month. I, too, left the building for lunch, hurridly bypassing the Popeye's-bound hordes(the less said, the better). I walked up several empty blocks during which I was asked for a light for his cigarillo by a tall, elderly gentleman who asked if I'd just gotten out of jail; he offered, "see, that's what you do first thing you get out...you go for a smoke and something to eat...in fact...that's where I'm headed...back to jail." I asked if my seemingly interminable snowy walk would eventually pan out culinarily and he just sorta shrugged and pointed vaguely into the fuzzy distance. I ended up at a mariscos place(the name eludes me...for shame) and promptly ordered average al pastor and carne asada tacos(so sue me )...I was cold and wanted something cheap and not overly-processed. The best was the moderately-spicy house salsa and a complimentary pollo caldo. If I'm summoned next year I'll try to branch out...maybe to the other mariscos place across the street.

And looking at the pictures in this thread I realize I chose the place directly opposite El Nuevo Cappy's. I avoided Kappy's based on the predominance of burgers, fries, and hotdogs on their sign.

I found myself in the neighborhood today, scouting out contaminated former munitions manufacturing properties for my oddball clients to purchase and turn into lofts or Home Depots or whatever (yes, there are more of these in Chicago than you might want to believe). This kind of thing makes you hungry, and just as I started to think about that, I pulled up in front of Kappy's. Never been before, but that's a name you don't forget, so I knew something about it was worth the stop. Couldn't, of course, recall the dishes that have met with praise here, but I saw Oaxacan tamales on a sign behind the register and I knew, that is what I wanted to try. I got two, one green and one red. These were very good examples, almost as good as the Maxwell Street vendor. The green was the better flavored of the two, subtly spicy and the meat was extremely tender and fresh tasting. The red was anything but subtle, and the meat was a bit dry, but it had a peculiar advantage of its own, namely that it had actually been a bit overcooked. The result was that the filling had actually gotten a bit crispy, not what you expect in tamales, but there it was; and I liked it. Service was swift and friendly, and they were most accommodating of my inferior language skills. Plus, they were open on Easter (it ain't just the lawyers and the White Sox that work on Easter, don't you know). Next time, I'll try the enchiladas potosinas or some of the other menu items that have been praised herein.

JimInLoganSquare wrote:I got two, one green and one red. These were very good examples, almost as good as the Maxwell Street vendor. The green was the better flavored of the two, subtly spicy and the meat was extremely tender and fresh tasting. The red was anything but subtle, and the meat was a bit dry, but it had a peculiar advantage of its own, namely that it had actually been a bit overcooked. The result was that the filling had actually gotten a bit crispy, not what you expect in tamales, but there it was; and I liked it.

I have had overcooked tamales where the skin develops a kind of chewy rind in places, and this is another of those mistakes that I enjoy eating. It's funny how when you eat a lot of a thing prepared "the right way," when accidents happen, the result is pleasurable because you get a familiar thing done differently.

Amata wrote:I forgot to say before that RST had gotten a tlacoyo de chales from Kappy's which he shared with Antonius, VI, and me: chales are the little bits of crispy pork leftover when you render lard. That was really delicious too, and unusual for restaurant offerings here, as far as I know.

Leave it to the illustrious and eternally enigmatic RST to suss out the good stuff. I had several of Kappy's tlacoyos tonight, and the chales were far and away my fav: texturally interesting, with surprise crunchiness here and there and bursts of lush baconness moderated by freshly griddled masa, like A's beloved tlacoyos de requeson, marvels of simplicity.

Hammond