Taqueria El Pulpo, a winner! [Project LTH]

Having gotten the Taquerias de Aurora portion of the project off to a lousy start the day before, I felt compelled to stop by El Pulpo when the opportunity presented itself. I have eaten at El Pulpo a couple of times. The first time I had their cocktel de pulpo (what else could one have?) and the next I sampled a weekend special - something in a chile de arbol sauce. Thought I posted on them, but I cannot find it here so maybe this is back in the CH days when I was working on my taste of Westmont - which should be known as the dining mecca of the west, BTW.

Both meals were quite good & the place has a nice energy to it and seems to do a steady business along with the Carniceria El Pulpo a couple of doors down.

Warning: they do not seem to speak much English, which is slightly unusual in these parts. But they were more than patient with my butchering of Spanish.

As I ordered, I spied a cauldron bubbling with meat chunks and asked what it was - carnitas. But for tomorrow, sadly Saturday. Still trying to figure out what to order on these outings, but this time I went with al pastor, barbacoa and chicken. Generally I am not too fond of chicken tacos - overcooked, mushy, stringy and tasteless, so I started there hoping things would improve. Very surprised was I by the tasty, chunky pieces of chicken. Quite good.

The Barbacoa was even better. Flavorful, cooked to perfection. And the Pastor was just as good, crispy with layers of flavor savory, sweet, spicy. The tacos were sufficiently soft and fresh that I asked if they made there (or tried to, in my butchered Spanish) - they laughed, probably at how I said it, and told me no.

Because I had to return to the same soccer fields the following morning, I was happily able to stop by and have a couple of carnitas tacos - also excellent.

These days I tend not to order tacos very often. El Pulpo has shown me what a mistake this is. I have also figured out that whatever the name of the place - El Pulpo for instance - if they also own a butcher next door you can figure the meat is going to be pretty good. Go, have some barbacoa, enjoy! In addition to the carnitas on Saturday, they also had Birria de Chivo , which I look forward to sampling. El Pulpo has set a delightfully high standard for my part of the Taqueria project.

El Pulpo
630 795-1235
323 W 63rd St Westmont , IL 60559

I note that none of my western correspondents have bitten on El Pulpo, but I am hooked so let me give you an update. Stopped by last Saturday late in the morning for a hit of carnitas (soooo delighted to have a place that makes carnitas within reasonable driving distance of home). There was a plate of what looked like empanadas on the counter, which I inquired about. Quesadillas - flor de calabaza. So I ordered one of them along with two tacos de carnitas.

But they substituted on me, no more flor, just huitlacoche. Okay by me.

I cannot say the quesadilla was great. Massive, corn-mealy (in a good way) puffed tortilla chock full of crumbled almost-melted queso fresco and a sprinkling of huitlacoche. I know it is a quesadilla, but I would have preferred a bit less cheese so as to better enjoy the huitlacoche flavors.

The carnitas were quite good, though.

For me at present El Pulpo ranks up there in the top rank of west suburban Mexican - a nice range of food including daily specials of regional interest. But they shine in the meat they prepare - various barbacoa, carnitas, and even the every day chicken, beef and steak fillings. Great tacos.

Made it here for lunch today. 3 carne asada tacos, complementary chips with 2 table salsas (one verde, one chile arbol) and a can of coke. Decent enough, but not really any better than other area places like Los Burritos Tapatios, imo. Menu seemed pretty standard for a taqueria, but maybe there are more interesting things to order to make El Pulpo stand out. Being a bit further of a drive from work than Taco Grill and the lack of pastor on a spit mean I probably won't be back, but it was good to try a new place.

wimperoo,

Thanks for your report four years and one month after dicksond's last comment.

Regards,

Cathy2 wrote:wimperoo,

Thanks for your report four years and one month after dicksond's last comment.

Regards,

jimswside made a post about the place in the Taco Grill thread a month ago that brought the place to my attention.