If you're in Logan Square and are looking for a Mexican fast-food joint with some vegetarian options? La Cocina might be exactly what you're looking for. Take the seitan tacos for a spin, or try out the seitan burrito in addition to vegetarian rice and beans. Don't forget the pico de gallo and chips! Delicious!
(Upton's Naturals choices- chicken, beef or chorizo)
I seriously hate giving bad reviews, but my God. Call me a glutton for punishment but I've given this place five chances (It's on the corner by my house) The food...simply AIGHT ----as Mexican food goes. But, I'm actually astonished to see the same two young guys working there as they are THE SLOWEST kitchen guys I've EVER seen. Every time I've waited almost a half an hour for two quesadillas??? They won't even take someone's order until they're finished MAKING someone else's order. Really? My stomach starts eating itself as I watch three or four other miserable souls waiting before me. No joke you could probably walk to JJ peppers, buy a hot dog and a paper, eat it and read it, walk back ....and wait. On top of all this great service, the prices are simply put...ridiculous. Unless you're there for that $1 flauta or taco day which is garbage anyway, what they're charging is insane. Two (SMALL!) steak quesadillas an EXTRA small rice and an Horchata...$12 Whaaaa? I think next time they'll stick a flower in it and call it gourmet. Â I'm sticking with Burrito house on Addison/Kedzie. Seriously the best fish tacos, super fresh, super fast and awesome portions, for a lot less $. :(
Review Source:After reading the reviews about this place I thought wow, being on a vegan challenge, I really have to try their tacos because not everyone can make a good seitan product. Not only did I not like them, I thought they were terrible. They were fried too crisp, too oily and the flavor was just not there. There are some good places to get vegan tacos in chicago but this is not one of them.
I definitely wont be back and don't recommend it for a vegan option either.
YES PLEASE. I got a little lost trying to find it (what can I say, I'm from California), but when I did, holy heaven. I was famished from my run, and had the entire place to myself at 9 pm on a Monday. My burrito was made really quickly, and for being a "regular" burrito, it was huge. I was easily able to add chicken seitan and avocado (they're really vegan friendly - 3 mock meats and vegan cheese). It was just what the doctor ordered.
Review Source:I have been to this place countless times, always on $1 taco tuesday.
All of the tacos are made to order and overall just some tasty mexican food done right. The staff there is pretty friendly and they make your order fairly quick. If you are looking for some cheap good eats check it out. Nothing else around the area can top it as far as mexican food goes.
Careful of the hot and mild sauces, they are both really hot!
Solid food for cheap. Dollar tacos on Tuesdays, though the more expensive varieties (particularly the fish) are worth the extra scratch. Counter service, but you still get the little extras like chips & 3 salsa options. Incredibly fast & equally courteous service. Overall just a great quick stop taqueria.
Review Source:Phony meat Mexican food is apparently a weakness of mine.
And while El Faro of the south side holds my heart, La Cocina of Logan Square has certainly dug out a home for itself in at least one ventricle.
Uptons Naturals seitan everything + the friendliest service ever and a sunshiny corner-store locale make this one heck of a lunch dive. Aaand they've got one of my fave casual features that a lot of counter service places forget about: self serve agua w/ cups- because sometimes, this gringa gets a little thirsty.
Ooh, and it's BYOB. Schwing!
In a hood increasingly populated with yuppie-chic invaders (e.g., Yusho and Jam), Logan Square's real diamond in the rough is easy to overlook: La Cocina. I have had every meat on the menu, not including the seitan. The meats serve as the solid foundation of La Cocina. The chicken, while grilled (not marinated), is always moist (I would love to see them play with marinades). The steak is incredibly well seasoned. Fans of Las Asadas on Western Avenue: a challenger has entered the arena. Then there is the fiery Al Pastor, whose spice is well balanced with pineapple. Certainly, this is their flagship meat. Note: a recent Yelp review has persuaded them to temper their al pastor recipe. La Cocina, please: do not succumb to the lesser sheep in your flock. You are not their shepherd. The violence of your spice must be appreciated like a fine weapon. Finally, there's chorizo, but to my mind it is much more pedestrian than the other fleshy fillings on offer. Nonetheless, as Eric, the owner and Chef de cuisine of La Cocina instructed me, it does combine well with egg for a decent breakfast burrito. In burrito form, these meats go down better with sour cream and cheese, which must be requested, however, first-timers may do well to learn the culinary basics. In fact, the taco dinner may be ideal for this purpose.
Some bullet points for the other menu items.
-Bean Soup: Not bad at $2 a cup--compliments a torta well.
-Tostada: has the benefit of sour cream, beans and cheese, which makes it an attractive item in light of the weak sopes for those who want more than the standard cilantro and onion in the tacos.
-Torta: good for those who don't want the full slog of a burrito. These also come with all the fixins. The bread is par for the course (this is one area where a simple upgrade could do wonders).
-Enchiladas: Interesting. Meat *on top* of the enchiladas proper. Makes every bite different.
Beyond the basic menu, the daily specials at La Cocina offer a rotation of small dishes. Tamale Wednesdays are the quite substantial, whereas Thursday's flautas were little more than diminutive tacos sans onions and cilantro. One thing here deserves special mention: aside fries. Basically deluxe nachos on top of fries. These are almost like a Mexican version of poutine. Throw some gravy on there and replace the shredded cheese with curds and we'd be there.
THINGS THAT NEED WORK:
-Sopes: The sopes' 'crust' is too chewy.
-Quesadillas: nothing to see here, really. It's a quesadilla. Perhaps an array of veggie filling options could make things interesting.
-CHIPS: La Cocina buys their chips from an external supplier, so what follows is not exclusively the fault of La Cocina. It is only out of deep respect for La Cocina that I say that these are the worst chips I have ever had. This is only because they are consistently salty. But they are not just a little salty; there is so much salt on these chips that patches of white are not uncommon. Please La Cocina, burn your remaining bags of these chips and replace them with edible chips. It's been weeks and my mouth is still burning. Â
Given what I have seen from La Cocina, I know they are not formulaic. There is a tacit joy in their experimentalist approach. By Zeus, they are the best tacqueria in the Logan Square area.
La Cocina serves some of the finest burritos in the hood. Of that I am certain. However, 'the kitchen' houses also some of the finest artwork to be found in Logan Square. In particular, one untitled work of art features an Aztec standing triumphantly in the sun with a club in his hand. In its shadowy foreground, one may easily overlook the fatally head-bashed conquistador laying at the Aztec's feet in dying prostration. Is this an allegory for La Cocina's socio-economic position within an increasingly gentrified Logan Square? Is the explicit text of the painting--a historical reminder of Aztec greatness--but the overt sign of a hidden subtext--the repetition of colonial history on the scale of the neighborhood? Or is the triumphant Aztec an ethnic myth--separated from the present proprietors by historical trauma, now projected backward onto history as a moment that never occurred, a fiction that binds us to a distorted understanding of the present, a present in which the legacy of the colonized mixes with that of the petite-bourgeoisie? Technically situated in Avondale, I humbly submit the following: the Zeitgeist of Logan Square tarries paradoxically in a kitchen beyond the neighborhood's margins, within the negativity of the violent spice of an Al Pastor burrito. Â
P.s., in February 2012, a friend put down $40 on tacos for the sitdown striking workers at Serious Materials (formerly Republic Windows, where in 2008 employees staged the first post-melt-down worker occupation). La Cocina matched him and a random customer threw down another $10 to give the workers $90 worth of tacos! Thanks for the solidarity!
A great place for vegans. Â A separate seitan menu with three kinds of Upton's (chicken-style, regular style, and chorizo). Â They have vegan cheese as well, but no vegan sour cream (yet?). Â Staff is super friendly. Â Dining area is spacious and spotless. Â And all this at a good price with chips and two kinds of salsa.
Review Source:This place is great! I've only eaten inside twice but I order for pick up all the time. I love the steak tacos Mexican style, and the steak burrito mexican style. The steak is super tender, well flavored and cooked perfectly. The steak has never been fatty either which is awesome. My girlfriend always orders the chicken seitan tacos or burrito. I've tried the seitan and it's really good as well. Cocina is one of my favorite Mexican restaurants in the city.
Review Source:This place gets down to business. Ya walk in, order grab a seat and they bring it all to ya. I enjoyed their deliciously salty chips and the squeezy salsa! They have a great vegetarian menu! I enjoyed my overly stuffed chorizo burrito with onion and cilantro. This place is fast, fresh, and friendly! I'm intrigued to go back and try their asada fries, sounds delish! Great guacamole too!
Bathroom note: good! Poopable level: zero because it's a restaurant and it's a unisex bathroom. If you're cool with the potential hot guy/gal waiting on the other side of the door smelling what just came out then by all means, poop away!
I kept seeing the "All Natural Seitan" lettering in the window as I passed by this little neighbourhood joint, so I had to check it out. I had the seitan "chorizo" burrito with vegan cheese (Daiya). You can order your food Mexicano (cilantro and onions) or Americano (lettuce and tomatoes). I opted for the prior. The burrito was huge and quite heavy; I'm used to veggie burritos (sans cheese) to be not as substantial. Usually I finish all my food, but I had a little bit of the flour tortilla that I couldn't quite pack in my belly.
The atmosphere is nothing special, but it's a great place for a quick bite to eat or to take out. Definitely will return.
La Cocina is a totally solid local Mexican joint. Â My veggie burrito was massive, delicious and cheap - the three most important qualities for any Mexican joint!
If La Cocina were closer to me, I'd make this my go-to quickie burrito place. Â Hands down would choose a La Cocina burrito over Chipotle or any of the other big chains any day.
On it's own, however, it wasn't an earth-shatteringly brilliant culinary experience. Â Highly recommended for a really good, yummy burrito, but it was want anything more out of your dining experience, probably look elsewhere.
Walking distance from my apartment, lots of vegan options, super polite and fast service. Â The dudes working there were really helpful in assuring me that everything I ordered was vegan - you'd think this is a no brainer, but I can't count how many places I've been where the people who work there have no idea what's in the food they're serving me. Â Not the case at La Cocina, they know their stuff. Â I got a vegan chicken quesadilla and a side of rice and beans. Â Delicious! Â I will for sure be back to check out the rest of the menu. Â So grateful to have vegan mexican so close to home!
Review Source:Yum! What a great place.
One of the things I like best is that you can bring anyone to eat here. Those with restricted diets can find vegan options, like a variety of seitan, and of course gluten-free dieters know that tacos are an easy option (uh, if they don't order the seitan!). Usually the kind of place that sells seitan is the kind of place where you pay a little more for your food, but the price points at La Cocina are consistent for this area.
Of course it doesn't hurt that the tacos are really delicious. Sure, there's nothing ground-breaking here, but it's definitely tacos done right. The rotating Tuesday taco special is fun, and they carry a variety of Jaritos, which I think is a must for a Mexican restaurant. I really like the al pastor and the chorizo tacos (real meat versions). I can't speak to any of the other menu items because I never get them, but the burritos seem to be popular. I usually get take-out and it has always been fast and accurate.
Hooray for this great place that is conveniently located on my route home from work!
The seitan 'meat' option is fantastic and this place is pretty much the only enjoyable part of my neighborhood. Â The service is always very friendly and I have never had a problem with my order.
I can only speak on behalf of the veg-friendly options but everything I have had has been great. Â Nothing ground breaking, just real good food.
After reading all the awesome reviews about La Cocina I decided to give 'em a try. I went in thinking I'd just try their carne asada tacos, but I immediately noticed sopes listed on their menu. Sopes are something you don't normally see made in restaurants here in the US, they're what you see made at home deep in Mexico. They're something my mother always made, and they're my favorite, so I went with them. While they weren't bad, they weren't anything I would order again. My biggest gripe was with the carne asada; it was slightly flavorless and sort of tough. Maybe it's because they cut their meat in larger pieces than the normal chopped asada I'm used to. I'm sure I'll eventually give 'em another-go, but I probably shouldn't expect Mexican food in Logan Square to taste anything close to my mum's.
Review Source:HOLY SH*T! Â My socks have been knocked clean off by La Cocina's vegan tacos. Â I tried all three kinds - fake chicken, fake beef and fake chorizo, and their deliciousness was in that order. Â They are also cheap - $2.25 per vegan taco. Â If I lived in Chi-town, I would soon not fit through the front door due to taco overload. Â YUM YUM YUM!
Thank you to La Cocina for thinking of us veggeis!
I'm sure there are other good things on the menu, but I have yet to move beyond the tacos. Not sure where these guys get their meat, but it always tastes fresh and is perfectly cooked and seasoned. Steak, al pastor, carnitas, potato-chorizo, chicken. All very good. Evey Tuesday they offer a different taco for just $1.
There is never a wait for food and the staff is beyond friendly.
La Cocina is a great neighborhood taco joint! I'm used to having to order veggie tacos when I go to a Mexican restaurant - but at La Cocina I'm so glad to have the oprion of seitan! The seitan tacos are delish (all of the flavors are good, but my favorite is the chorizo). Â The guys who work there are super friendly.and the price is right. La Cocina is a new favorite!
Review Source:We gave this place two chances, and wont do a third. Both times was for carryout, both times the order was wrong. Â Everything is wrapped in foil and in one bag, so checking each item isnt really practical.
Also, the meat was way too salty both times, I felt  i needed a 32 oz water just to make sure my body wouldn't shrivel up.
Not too sure what peoples latin food experiences are, but theres better in this area.
Sorry
I get so tired of Mexican food for vegetarians being iceburg lettuce, tomato and some tired old beans wrapped into a burrito. Seriously? That's not Mexican food.
The staff here was super friendly and suggested trying the seitan (which I'd seen advertised outside, but wasn't written on the chalkboard menu). I got the chorizo style, which was definitely on the spicy side, but delicious. I appreciate a place that doesn't treat vegetarians/vegans like freaks, but gives us actual good food options without pandering and Americanizing the crap out of the food. The horchata was delicious, too. Will definitely go back.
I am a huge taqueria fan, but this place just didn't really do it for me. The price is right, the inside was decent (although I took it to go), they prepared the order very fast, and again, it was cheap.
BUT
The pastor was REALLY spicy. I like spicy food quite a bit, it wasn't too hot to eat by any means, but it was much spicier than any other pastor I've experienced. The quesadilla was so thin it only had one side, I'm not joking. Beans and rice were good, but really how hard is that. Normally this wouldn't be a big deal, but it's Mexican food. If you can't do simple items correctly, that's a huge problem. Also, the fact that they are willing to dilute good Mexican food with Vegan stuff is just terrible. Veggie burritos n stuff, sure, but seitan tacos? They should be ashamed.
I'm not saying I will never return, just saying that for the area, it's not my first choice.
So, I once spent a large amount of time in Austin, TX and fell in love with flautas. I don't know how or why it happened but every place I went after leaving Austin, I looked for flautas. I tried everywhere.. and I found some good places, but most of them where way far south and I am super lazy.
Then La Cocina announced that Thursdays are ONE DOLLAR flautas night. I was super excited.
YOu get two flautas for one dollar, covered in lettuce a little sour cream and a tomato, like a flauta salad. The filling could be more substantial, but one dollar for two flautas, I couldn't complain. They are made to order, hot and fried to perfection.
I anticipate becoming very fat. All in all I can't help but continue to rave about La Cocina, and get their Al Pastor taco, it is THE best taco on the menu.
I frequent this place. Â It's a few blocks away from my apartment, it's cheap, and it's really good. Â We've been hitting up the dollar tacos on an almost weekly basis and I'm glad they've started offering french fries. Â The service is really friendly and sometimes they'll toss in some freebies.
However, the last handful of times that we've been in, they've been out of what I wanted. Â Their barbacoa is amazing and when I trek over in the rain to get it in burrito form, I get super bummed when they're not only out of that, but are also out of that awesome bean and bacon soup. Â And it's become so frequent that they're out of things lately that I want to suggest that they put on a sign on the door daily detailing what is on the menu but they don't actually have.
I gotta say I'M DIGGIN' IT!
This is the neighborhood I live in and this is the only Mexican restaurant nearby me--a few blocks within walking distance. I already know I'm going here every Tuesday for the $1 taco. But if not then, the tacos are just $1.79.
The people who work there are really nice, and their steak tacos are very pleasing. Not the greatest I've had in the city (a little too much onion), but still very good. I like also how they give you the option of a Mexican or American steak taco. Mexican has cilantro and onion, American with lettuce and tomato. Go for the Mexican! More authentic and better tasting. I myself had the cheese and sour cream added too.
Overall it cost me $5.05 for two Mexican steak tacos with the cheese & sour cream, and a veggie taco that's not listed. If you're in the area, check it out. If you live in the area, become a regular and make sure it sticks around!
I just finished scarfing down 4 tacos from my first visit to La Cocina. Â Today was $1 Taco Tuesday, which means 1 of the tacos on the menu is priced like that (the others are the regular $1.79). Â I assume it rotates.
Today's special was $1 chorizo con papas (mexican sausage with potatoes) tacos, and of the four tacos I ate it was definitely the best . Â It was deliciously spiced and the potatoes did a lot to tone down the salt in the chorizo without compromising flavor. The other 3 tacos, from best to least for me, were barbacoa (slow roasted beef), carne asada (grilled beef), and pollo (chicken). Â All the tacos were good, but the chorizo & the barbacoa were excellent. Â The La Cocina barbacoa may in fact be the best version I've ever had of that taco. The carne asada was solid, but the pollo taco, even though the white breast meat was tender and clearly fresh, was lacking a little in flavor. (After reading other reviews, I now think I should have ordered the "seasoned chicken"; I didn't realize from the menu that there was a difference....) Â All were garnished with cilantro and onion that was fresh and flavorful. Â The salsa verde was decent and the tortillas were very good.
(One suggestion I would make, Victor, [the really nice guy who took my order], is to add a slice of lime to the asada and barbacoa tacos. Â Then they would be perfect.)
Overall, I was impressed and I definitely plan on coming back to try more things on the menu. Â So far I would say La Cocina should be a go-to spot for anyone in the neighborhood who is craving good quality Mexican. Â If you're not from the neighborhood, don't make a special trip to Logan Square/Avondale; but when you are here, make a point of stopping by La Cocina for a taco.
Right around the block from my house and I hope to god it survives. Â Stopped by for some takeout on a Friday night. Â
I had a chicken burrito Mexican-style (with onions and cilantro) and added some cheese. Â The hubs had steak tacos. Â Everything was very fresh and tasty. Â Chicken was white meat chicken breast - yay! Â Like another reviewer mentioned, things are a little over-salted but still taste pretty durn good.
when my boyfriend first told me that this place was awesome, i wasn't exactly sold - this is, after all, a gent who, despite having spent the better part of a decade working in kitchens & schooling himself in the finer points of cuisine, considers the "foldability" of a microwave pizza a vital factor in its deliciousness. so i decided to bide my time.
i waited.
& waited.
& waited.
& eventually it got really old watching him come home with multiple bags of awesome, telling me how the owner had explained the ingredients of each night's dish to him, drooling over the freshly torn cilantro, the made-to-order guacamole with the squeeze of real lime, the tenderness of their barbacoa and the bits of pineapple in the pork (which, he adds, may not have been pineapple but "a really tasty hunk of fat" instead).
so i placed my own orders & HOLY BALLS. the rice is REAL mexican rice - not that boxed mix crap you'll find at other places - & the beans, though a bit mild in flavor, are fresh, not too salty, covered with just the right amount of cheese & peppered with a few fresh beans. the tacos are excellent, especially when done mexican style (with a large handful of cilantro & onions) & nothing is too greasy.
they're not all total winners - the bean soup is a bit watery, the chips are occasionally over-fried, but really, these are not big issues. la cocina is impeccably clean, incredibly friendly, & the price is (according to my culinary-educated bf) "a dollar or two less than what they could charge".
if you're not into spending an arm & a leg for rick bayless' "mexican" & you're not drunk enough to eat anything from lazo's, la cocina is a wonderful new joint in a neighborhood where good food is definitely lacking.
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