Where to find Churros

I'm looking for a place to pick up some churros this evening after work (and in general, too). A friend pointed me to Mimi's Churros at 25/Halsted, but their phone seems to be disconnected and I don't feel like taking the orange line there if I'm going to have to turn around empty handed.

I found a thread that mentioned San Miguel bakery on Montrose, but since churros aren't their focus I'm worried that showing up at 6pm they'll already be sold out. I tried calling and asking if they normally sell out, but I don't speak Spanish and no one there spoke English.

I work in the loop and will have 2 hours to get from work to the churros and back to Irving Park/Sheridan.

Thanks for any suggestions, or info on whether Mimi's is still open.

I don't know how late they stay open but you should definitely try:

Mr. Churro/"El Moro de Letran"
1626 S Blue Island Ave
Chicago IL 60608
312 733-3173

I've only had their churros early in the morning, soon after they were made, and they were excellent.

Though only available on Sundays, the churros place at Maxwell Street Market is my source for freshly fried dough tubes filled with strawberry, chocolate and vanilla.

This churros van used to be labeled El Barco, but I think another vendor may be handling the churros trade at the market now.

Hammond

At the risk of being laughed off the board, I love Costco's churros, but I'm a sucker for good fried dough rolled in cinnamon and sugar! When I'm done shopping, I often head over to the eatery area and buy one.

They cost $1 each, and are about an inch in diameter and 18" long. It's definitely a good value. To my palate, they taste very fresh (though I'm usually there at noon, so I can't tell you what they'll taste like at 6 p.m.). I think they sell them plain (no sugar) but don't sell them with filling.

BTW, you don't need a Costco card to get to the eatery part of Costco. Simply walk in the exit, which leads to customer service and the food.

Costco churros are yummy! However, my Mom and I have come to the conclusion that the Niles churros are better than the Lincoln Park Costco churros. Believe me, we've tried both MANY times!

JeanneBean wrote:Costco churros are yummy!

I JUST had one of those at that Costco! I agree, they're really good and big. I like the Maxwell st. ones better because they're denser and have the cream in the middle.

bnowell724 wrote:I like the Maxwell st. ones better because they're denser and have the cream in the middle.

And, I'll add, they're served fresh out of the fryer.



Best,
Michael

In Waukegan, Churros are usually sold at the latin grocery stores or markets. Perhaps someone can recommend some good latin grocery stores that may have churros as well?

Amata wrote:Mr. Churro
1626 S Blue Island Ave
Chicago IL 60608
312 733-3173

i'm not sure why.. but this place just doesn't taste as good as the churry stand @ Maxwell... even tho it's half a block away from my place...

chgoeditor wrote:At the risk of being laughed off the board, I love Costco's churros, but I'm a sucker for good fried dough rolled in cinnamon and sugar! When I'm done shopping, I often head over to the eatery area and buy one.

They cost $1 each, and are about an inch in diameter and 18" long. It's definitely a good value. To my palate, they taste very fresh (though I'm usually there at noon, so I can't tell you what they'll taste like at 6 p.m.). I think they sell them plain (no sugar) but don't sell them with filling.
.

Havent tried Costco's version, but many Mexican Bakeries on the Northside have
decent versions.

For the OP, considering a location on Sheridan... Rogers Park has at least
2 bakeries that I know for sure have Churros - the Ayutla Bakery, and
La Baguette (I think its called - its right next to El Llano on Clark, a half
block from A&T Restaurant, both often referred to on this forum. Basically
near CLark and Pratt I think). Both these bakeries are on Clark.

Ive picked up from La Baguette on a few occasions - their Churros
are ready after 9am most days, and IIRC come in 4 flavours (plain,
ie sugar/cinnamon dusted, vanilla filled, chocolate filled, and
IIRC strawberry filled). I think theyre 40 cents apiece, though
sometimes the girl behind the counter has sold them to me at
3 for a buck (but not always, its a sort of flexible price apparently
I *think* Ayutla may be 60 cents each or some such (Ayutla, BTW,
is a couple of doors down from La Monarca, the paleteria on
Clark). Both bakeries are very reasonably prices, and offer many
more items than just churros - but do make fresh churros at least
every day.

c8w

Thanks everyone for the suggestions. I called La Baguette and they said that they do normally have them, but that for some unknown reason they weren't making them yesterday. Bizarre, but what can you do.

I also called a handful of other places, other Mexican bakeries I'd heard good things about on this board and from other sources. Some just don't have them, and some have them but were closing before I could get there. Oh well.

I'm going to have to check out the Costco churros too; if I'd read that one before leaving work yesterday I probably could have made it there.

Once I do a comprehensive survey of all the churros I'll be sure to post back...

El Moro (de Letran) is the real deal. A very old-fashioned place with hudge, old churro making apparatus. Many of the churros around town that you think were made at the local panaderia were made there.

The things at Costco should not be confused with churros.

There is, as always, more to know about churros than you might think. Mexican churros are similar, but different, from the churros of Spain and the Caribbean. Truth be told, the dense, cakey Mexican churro is my least favorite. But fresh from the fat in the morning at El Moro, they are still delicious. Quite alot of work goes into them, as steaming hot dough is pressed into the churro shape and then fried in a massive vat of oil. My favorite is, surprise, the Cuban version, which is made with a lighter, smoother dough that includes yuca. Eat churros with cafe con leche and die.

It just so happens I will be picking up several hundred churros at El Moro tomorrow. .... RR con RR cigarro RR con RR barril, rapido corren los carros en el ferrocarril

Slightly off topic but...

My introduction to churros came when I was living in Grenoble, France, where there was a guy with a roving churro cart (he'd move it every couple of hours). Every time you placed an order he'd fry them fresh right there, dip them in cinnamon sugar, and hand them to you in all their freshly fried glory. Kinda like getting funnel cakes here. The churros were less dense than the fresh ones I've had the Maxwell St. Market, a lot shorter - maybe 4 or 5 inches long, and never filled with chocolate/custard/etc. They were about 10F ($1.50) for a half dozen.

I've tried all over Chicago to find something like this - somewhere besides Maxwell Street where you can routinely get fresh, hot churros, and haven't found any. I've found a couple of recipes for them though, so in the future when I'm getting a craving, I'll probably try to make them myself.

Those are the Spanish churros. Not uncommon at all for them to be made to order. The same is true of other churros.

Like I said, El Moro makes thousands of fresh churros each morning. Go by between 5 am and 9 am. They will sell you some.

mailsf wrote:A friend pointed me to Mimi's Churros at 25/Halsted, but their phone seems to be disconnected and I don't feel like taking the orange line there if I'm going to have to turn around empty handed.

I live by Mimi's and they seem to be open only seasonly. I don't think they're open at the moment. Plus, the Churros I've had there really weren't that great. I guess you have to time it just right because you never know how long those things have been sitting there.

sinos wrote:I live by Mimi's and they seem to be open only seasonly. I don't think they're open at the moment.

I can confirm that Bridgeport Italian Lemonade a/k/a Mimi’s Churros, is a seasonal business and hasn't yet opened for the year. I'm not sure when they plan to but Memorial Day seems like a reasonable guess. I never stopped in but always wondered about it; it's nice to hear some comments. Has anyone tried their lemonade?



Another place to be aware of is Churros Jacob on Western, about a block south of the Orange Line station. I haven't noticed this place open recently but it's possible they're seasonal also. If I see it open I'll try to remember to mention it. I haven't tried their churros either (I'm simply not a big fan of the things).

Anyone know of any churros places on the far south side? Some of the Mexican markets have them, but they've usually been sitting there for some time. Any way to find fresher churros out south?

I had fresh, hot, cream-filled, melt-in-your-mouth churros last weekend at Markello's, a Greek bakery that also bakes a lot of Mexican pastries. Open 24 hours, "fresh bread every 20 minutes," off-street parking in the strip mall.

Markello's Bakery
3520 W. Lawrence Avenue
(773) 539-9344

Cheers,
Wade

Greco-Guatemalteca (with Mexican stuff).

FYI, Mimi's was open this past weekend.

JeffB wrote:Greco-Guatemalteca (with Mexican stuff).

Yep im the owner there,were international we do it all hahahaha

Don Churro - El Moro De Letran is the real deal Holyfield. Probably the tastiest sweet treat I've eaten since moving to Chicago four months ago... Shameless plug: I also just wrote about it!

Don Churro El Moro De Letran
1626 S. Blue Island Ave,
Chicago, IL 60608 -
312-733-3173

US Cellular (New Comiskey) Field has awesome churros. Might be tough to get this time of year though.

XOCO

Oddly enough, they have them at the Apple Haus in Long Grove, both plain and custard-filled, but not apple-y.

230 Robert Parker Coffin Rd
(847) 634-0730

backorforth wrote:Don Churro - El Moro De Letran is the real deal Holyfield. Probably the tastiest sweet treat I've eaten since moving to Chicago four months ago... Shameless plug: I also just wrote about it!

That's a great place for churros! I sadly never have gotten to explore Pilsen as much as I'd like to, but maybe I'll change that someday. The fact I explored Bridgeport earlier this year is at least a start in the right direction.....

Xoco

If you're at Navy Pier, the churro stand makes them fresh, and you have the option to fill them with vanilla, chocolate, or condensed milk. I actually prefer their churros over Xoco's because they have a larger diameter lol mmm...hot, crispy on the outside, soft within.

Jimenez Panaderia on the 3800 block of west Fullerton Avenue sells several flavors of Churros.
Cream and a red jelly and others are sold by the "tong & tray" method popularly used in most of Chicago's
Mexican Bakeries...........wherby a customer picks up a red plastic cafeteria tray and a handy clean pair of kitchen tongs,
and sanitarily extracts the precious little gems they so desire from the bakery display cases.

DO NOT stop there without picking up some of there super-duper "Flan de Elotes"- a super yummious snack of sweet corn,
enrobed in a flan like concoction......quite good- as is the Bread Pudding, Tres Leches Cake-and various other fruit glazed tarts
in the refrigerated cases.....
(not that I couldn't describe the entire inventory there...... )

Panaderia Jimenez
Jimenez Plaza
Fullerton @ Avers (3800 W.) (free parking lot! )
Logan Square
Chicago, Illinois

The blue-truck churros has always been a last stop for me at the Maxwell St. market and one of my favorite versions (always fresh). But I recently had a chance to sample the lighter, crispier version at Xoco.

Winner hands-down of this head-to-head: Xoco.