Want to give a Maxwell Street tour for 1?

I live at the South end of the market and go every Sunday, but have yet to eat outside of the comfort zone. I'm looking for a seasoned Maxwell go-er to guide me to huitloacoche tacos, birria de res and other standards. If you consider yourself a market veteran (read: you hit at least three or four vendors, possibly more) and are planning to hit Canal tomorrow, I've got a loaner parking sign--so you can park close--if you'll show me the Way Beyond Carne Asada Tacos.

I suppose I’d be a decent candidate for what you’re looking for. I frequent the market and have tried every taco stand there, as far as I know. I’m not a pro, but I definitely have a favorite Birria spot there. I’d say Birria with consome, and Al pastor tacos are my 2 favorites and I’ve tried both at every possible spot. I also have a few other favorite dishes with each stand, and I usually make a marathon of the stands every Sunday to gorge myself. Though I’m probably not as well versed as others here (I haven’t had the opportunity to try the huitlacoche tacos, though I’d like to) I’d definitely say Mexican food is my favorite, and Maxwell St. is my favorite place to eat it. I’d love to join you and whoever else wants to!

With that said, we’ll see how hardcore we all are. Tomorrow it’s supposed to rain all day long. I’ve already decided to go in the rain, because I don’t miss the market, maybe the rain will make the food taste better…

Are you still in?

P.S. my favorite places all seem to have moved to the north end, and I take the blue line in. Though I’d be willing to walk south to meet you.

HI,

For the future, you may want to post on the Events board your desire to buddy up for a Maxwell Street Tour. It is especially easy to gather a group when you are certain of good weather. It is my understanding it is a rainy day tomorrow. The other advantage of a group crawl is the ability to sample a wide range of foods.

I'd be interested in going, though I'm pooped at the moment from the 47th-athon followed immediately by the Jains dinner.

All the best,

Guess the idea of rain set the whole thing off, perhaps next week. And we'll have to post this in the events section. Thanks Cathy!

Yeah. You didn't miss much. I went today, determined to introduce my out-of-state friend to Maxweel Street, and while it wasn't completely empty, it was running at like 5 or 10% of capacity. However, two Mexican food joints were open, and I was finally able to get some tacos de ojos! Dining companion was thoroughly squicked out and, to be honest, I would have prefered not being shown the two rather large eyeballs being served up to me (on lamb tacos--I was expecting goat, but the woman at the stand said quite assuredly that it was lamb). However, the staff got a rather hearty laugh out of my companion's rather umm, surprised expression. I ate the whole thing and it wasn't really bad at all. The texture was not at all what I expected. I thought it would be crunchy or at least hard, but it had the mouthfeel of rather soft fat. Didn't taste like much. I had no idea it would be served up as whole eyeballs--I was expecting something chopped up, to be honest.

Binko wrote:I thought it would be crunchy or at least hard, but it had the mouthfeel of rather soft fat. Didn't taste like much. I had no idea it would be served up as whole eyeballs--I was expecting something chopped up, to be honest.

That's how I remember the eyeball: almost silky in texture, though it did taste kind of organ-y. I can't imagine ever eating one again -- lousy taste and the specture of Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease, though for a bragging rights food, it's tough to find better.

Hammond

Can we please have an eyeball moratorium? Really, please. Nobody who's taken the fall has had anything positive at all to say about them; only that they didn't die or immediately puke upon consumption. Seriously, does anyone recommend eating ojo tacos, other than on a dare? Does the flavor come close to overriding the abhorrence factor? I thought not. Therefore: On this website, please, no more eating of eyeballs, and no pictures of eyeballs other than those gazing out of the happy heads of LTHers eating food that does not contain eyeballs. Just please, people.

Now, I didn't eat them totally for the weirdness factor. (Partly, but not completely).I ate them because, well, I've never eaten them before. People eat all sorts of weird body parts. They eat brain, they eat marrow, they eat intestines, etc... I like all of that stuff so I figured, why not eyeballs? They're really not that much weirder than chitterlings or brain, are they? I remember reading about it about a year and a half ago or so in the Chicago Reader and was determined to find them. Until today, I haven't located them. Honestly, I didn't think they tasted bad at all, but I don't think they were anything to go out of the way for, either. All in all--and this isn't some culinary machismo talking--very inoffensive. They were nowhere near the grossest thing I've ever eaten. (I think surstromming takes that prize.)

JimInLoganSquare wrote:Nobody who's taken the fall has had anything positive at all to say about them.

“I ate the whole thing”
Binko

“Couldn’t find better”
Hammond

“Discreet”
Seth Zurer

David Hammond wrote:

JimInLoganSquare wrote:Nobody who's taken the fall has had anything positive at all to say about them.

“I ate the whole thing”
Binko

“Couldn’t find better”
Hammond

“Discreet”
Seth Zurer

David, you realize none of these is actually a positive statement, don't you?

"I ate the whole thing" ... and then what, you puked it out? You just sorta regretted it? What?

"Couldn't find better." There's damnation with faint praise. Couldn't find worse either, could you?

"Discreet" -- I give Seth a buy on this one. A meaningless yet metaphorically intriguing evaluation. Does this mean, e.g., they did not look back? Nobody was willing to watch you do the deed? What, I ask?!?

Jim,

Glad you asked!

In this case, i consider the finely choppedness of the eyeball a form of discretion; I give the eyeball taco itself credit for it self-restraint in ickiness - I imagine that the eyeball taco itself is embarrassed about how gross it looks and how gooey it is and that it itself is taking responsibility for its own shortcomings by presenting itself in a slightly less unappealing form.

Not unlike my first enjoyable brain-eating experience (at Maxwell St - how's that for topicality) which depended for its positive value upon the fact that the brains in question were modestly wrapped within fresh fried corn masa and tactfully seasoned with cilantro and more - ie the gray matter was hidden from view, veiled, obscured. But it opened the door to a whole new range of pleasurable brainy eating experiences.

Perhaps if more eyeball tacos showed the same restraint and consideration for the delicate instincts of the human gag reflex, we would all be praising eyeball tacos as the next big thing instead of calling for a moratorium.

Yours truly,

Seth

JimInLoganSquare wrote:David, you realize none of these is actually a positive statement, don't you?

Gosh, no, I didn't realize that. Guess I should have read more carefully.

Or not, Seth. Even the supporters of this questionable foodstuff lament its "lousy taste and the specture of Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease." A quote I wouldn't have dreamed to create. I pride myself on being broad-minded, but are we not just being blinded (pardon that one, please) by our desire for open-mindendess, in defiance of all reason? On the other hand, considering each cow has only two eyes, it's not like the markets are being inundated with the ocular atrocities. Eat 'em or throw 'em in the cultural dustbin of culinary might-a-beens, makes no difference in the end.

Seth Zurer wrote:Not unlike my first enjoyable brain-eating experience (at Maxwell St - how's that for topicality) which depended for its positive value upon the fact that the brains in question were modestly wrapped within fresh fried corn masa and tactfully seasoned with cilantro and more - ie the gray matter was hidden from view, veiled, obscured. But it opened the door to a whole new range of pleasurable brainy eating experiences.

My opinion is, if you can't feel the hot, still throbbing brains between your fingers as you plunge headlong into a freshly-cracked skull, then you really oughtn't to be eating brains, had you? Discreet brain and/or eyeball presentations are just weak and unappealing, both viscerally and intellectually, don't you think?

Seth - So am I understanding correctly that the eyeballs you had were chopped up? Mine, for better or worse (more the latter, really), were not.

I just have to say I keep reading Binko's name as Blinko

No tacos de Ojo for me, I have no need to be that adventurous.