Taqueria El Pueblito

This place is GREAT!! My husband and I went the other night for our first time. The salsa is great, they give you a few different types, very good. My husband had a burrito, it was HUGGGE. He said it was great, and I had, one chicken taco and one el pastor taco. the chicken taco was very very plain, but that was sorta expected, however, the el pastor taco was the best taco i have ever ever had. It was amazing. :) might even walk over and get one for lunch :) :) ANyways, if you live around here, its sooo good. :))

I can't believe I haven't written a review for this place yet! I've come here for years and love the place:

- Veggie tacos & tortas! So good! They use lots of (greasy, though, gotta say) veggies (mushrooms, peppers, onions,..) on their veggie items, which is so much better than the countless taco places that just leave off the meat and give you a taco with, uh, rice, cheese and sour cream

- Not only are there like 16 bottled hot sauces on each table, but the chips come with a free hot bean dip in addition to the fresh red, green, and extra spicy orange salsas

- Open late, so this is a great place to drop in late night and still find several tables occupied by people ending their dates here. Cute.

- When I was dying of the flu last week, I came here with friends and wanted a soup rather than my usual tacos. Everyone advised against paying $8 for a chicken soup of unknown quality when all the other food is so cheap, but I ordered it and it was the best ever! A HUGE, amazing, spicy chicken soup with lots of meat and lime and fresh cilantro. It came with a pile of tortillas (diy soupy chicken tacos, yum) and a plate full of rice, limes, onion, cilantro and hot peppers to add to taste. Everyone was jealous. I'm coming back here for the soup every time I have a cold from now on!

Vegetarians, search no more. This place delivers on our yuppy romantic notion of the cheap authentic hole in the wall that tastes better than whatever you found in zagat.

It's not on the menu, but ask for vegetarian tacos. They take whatever they have - usually a colorful combo of peppers, mushrooms, onions, etc. - sautee it up with some seasoning and put it in a corn tortilla with some other fixings, lime and cilantro. So real, so tasty, they don't even need to springle "mexican blend grated cheese" on top. This is not your refried beans kind of taco.

They are enormous, delicious, and for $2 / taco, unbeatable value. Don't tell them, but I'd probably pay double. You also get free chips that come with refried beans (beware - they have pork fat) and an assortment of salsas ranging from hot to really really hot. Yum.

The artwork is kitchy Mexican ripped heroes holding things like damsels in distress and quetzalcoatl (if I remember correctly from Spanish class). Just go with it - you're in El Pueblito.

One word of caution... Don't walk there at night.. the neighborhood isn't super safe. God bless the 22 (and actually, they wrap the tacos nicely if you ever need a snack for that long journey down Clark). Anyway, overall, I may be a zealot at this point, but I would trek up to El Pueblito even if I didn't live in Rogers Park.