Chicago: Best Tortillas in the World

Chicago: Best Tortillas in the World

I had the good fortune to speak with Rick Bayless yesterday, and he made what at first seemed a quite remarkable statement: “Chicago has arguably the best tortillas in the world.”

He explained that we are fortunate in this city to have as many as ten tortillerias – El Milagro, Del Rey, Totonilco, etc. – that use stone-ground corn in the preparation of tortillas.

Mexico, on the other hand, is in the middle of a Tortilla Crisis; there, large tortillerias frequently use powdered mixes…and they must buy their corn from the US (the Midwest, specifically) because it's becoming increasingly difficult for smaller Mexican farmers to compete with heavily-subsidized corporate corn farms in the north (cf, The Omnivore's Dilemma)

Good tortillas are the foundation of Mexican cuisine. Without good tortillas, it’d “be like having a French restaurant that served Parker House rolls. It doesn’t work..” According to Bayless, our “artisanal” tortillas will help support continued growth of Latino cuisine in Chicago, which he also believes offers some of the best – if not THE best -- regional Mexican food in the United States.

So…there’s some hopeful news on an otherwise grey and grimy day.

Interesting...

It also reminds me, or makes me want to post (to digress) about a couple of attempts at Mexican food in Casa Grande, AZ*. The first meal was at a chain-ish looking, 24/7 place (which as it turns out IS a chain) called Filberto's. Later we went to an open air shacky kinda place that we thought would be a better (i.e., more real) place called Nora's.

Both places served the Mexican food of my youth. Lotsa shredded yellow cheese, exceedingly mild red sauce, crisp tostados with bean spread; what Taco Bell based their food on (only to bring it MUCH lower). Sure, there was a bit of authentiticty to this. It was REAL AZ-Mex, and the menus, especially at Filberto's had actual authentic touches, at least to this part of the world like machaca and carne adovada. Still, this food was so far, well worse, than most neighborhood taqueria/burrito places around here. I mean I think North Ave. Burrito is better.

*Not the place to go for chow.

Vital Information wrote:Interesting...

It also reminds me, or makes me want to post (to digress) about a couple of attempts at Mexican food in Casa Grande, AZ*. The first meal was at a chain-ish looking, 24/7 place (which as it turns out IS a chain) called Filberto's. Later we went to an open air shacky kinda place that we thought would be a better (i.e., more real) place called Nora's.

Both places served the Mexican food of my youth. Lotsa shredded yellow cheese, exceedingly mild red sauce, crisp tostados with bean spread; what Taco Bell based their food on (only to bring it MUCH lower). Sure, there was a bit of authentiticty to this. It was REAL AZ-Mex, and the menus, especially at Filberto's had actual authentic touches, at least to this part of the world like machaca and carne adovada. Still, this food was so far, well worse, than most neighborhood taqueria/burrito places around here. I mean I think North Ave. Burrito is better.

*Not the place to go for chow.

I have this pain-in-the-ass brother-in-law in Los Angeles who turns up his nose at Chicago Mexican food because, "we have all that in LA."

Previously, I had assumed that this was probably one of the rare occasions when he was right.

Bayless, however, made the case that Angelinos (and he did live in LA for some years) think they know authentic Mexican but the food they serve there is nothing any Mexican would recognize as authentic. I do not believe I've ever eaten Mexican food in LA, so I cannot attest to the accuracy of this statement, but I'd like to believe it is true.

So...as with your example, just because Mexican food is served in the west or southwest (which, after all, used to be Mexican property) is no guarantee that what you'll get is authentic.

David Hammond wrote:Bayless, however, made the case that Angelinos (and he did live in LA for some years) think they know authentic Mexican but the food they serve there is nothing any Mexican would recognize as authentic. I do not believe I've ever eaten Mexican food in LA, so I cannot attest to the accuracy of this statement, but I'd like to believe it is true.

ROTFLMAO!!

Of course you would.

E.M.

I knew, with this discussion, that it'd only be a matter of time before I had to start defending Bayless, or myself, or Chicago.

Geez Erik, our tenuous detente didn't last long, did it?

David,

All of what you conveyed is actually pretty well established, at least according to some. Several years back now, a Mexican food expert from Houston published an article "outing" Chicago for having the best, widest array of regional Mexican. He focussed especially on the specialty places (birria, mariscos, carnitas) which are almost universally the mark of a deep food scene. Lots of reasons have been given, including the breadth of the original communities represented and the fact that, unlike in the Southwest, Mexican culture has not been assimilated over the course of many decades.

I have previously written about the quirky, very often bad, old-fashioned Ameri-Mex one finds in Phoenix, Denver, Riverside, Texas, etc. You pretty much nail it above. (Not to be confused with the good regional variants such as New Mexican and (some say) Tex-Mex.)

All of that said, however, one can obviously get great regional Mexican in LA, particularly Oaxacan of which they have much more. Phoenix has its fair share also. (Though Denver is enigmatic in its low standard of even strictly Mexican-for-Mexicans food.) I think the bottom line is that LA and CHI have absolutely huge Mexican populations, filled with very recent immigrants from all parts. That many mouths to feed (many working men sending cash back home who need cheap, robust food not cooked themselves) practically guarantees a good taco. The huge population is also needed to support tortillerias. Again, this has been discussed and is straight-forward: you sell a big bag of a staple that goes bad that very day, for a quarter or fifty cents, you need a lot of buyers buying every day. Thus, no great tortillas (or most else Mexican) in NYC --yet -- and no Cuban bread in Chicago....

JeffB wrote:That many mouths to feed (many working men sending cash back home who need cheap, robust food not cooked themselves) practically guarantees a good taco. The huge population is also needed to support tortillerias. Again, this has been discussed and is straight-forward: you sell a big bag of a staple that goes bad that very day, for a quarter or fifty cents, you need a lot of buyers buying every day. Thus, no great tortillas (or most else Mexican) in NYC --yet -- and no Cuban bread in Chicago....

Jeff, and this really gets back to my original point (and the one I should have stuck with): the quality of tortillas in Chicago, which I had never much appreciated because by the time I get them, however artisanal, they may be hours old. I remember eating tortillas hot-off-the-comal from vendors in Yucatan and even Mexico City, and they were so moist and delicious I could eat just about a whole package in one sitting...and I saw lots of obreros doing exactly that, wolfing down just a dozen tortillas or so for lunch, no filling, no salsa, commando style. We're a ways away from generally getting tortillas that fresh (except at select restaurants and Maxwell Street Market), but I wouldn't rule it out as a possiblity as more and more of Chicago becomes Mexicanized.

David Hammond wrote:We're a ways away from generally getting tortillas that fresh (except at select restaurants and Maxwell Street Market), but I wouldn't rule it out as a possiblity as more and more of Chicago becomes Mexicanized.

But are we really that far away? Every day, I pass by a market that gets two daily deliveries of fresh tortillas from El Milagro and Atotonilco. As long as I walk in before 7pm or so, they're still warm.

Sure, it's not a hand-patted tortilla fresh of the griddle, but it's a heck of a lot better than what hundreds of millions of other people in this hemisphere have access to.

I'm either fortunate to live in such a place, or smart, depending on how you want to look at it.

Best,
Michael

DH,
The tortillas I got one Saturday afternoon from Supermercado Morelia at Diversey and Cicero were extremely fresh. I don't know if that was just lucky timing or what, but they advertise fresh made tortillas daily.

I believe they are made in-house. They are sold in unmarked baggies sealed with twist ties on a tray above their roasted meat counter. The packages were steamy when I bought them and the tortillas were still fluffy and moist when I got home. However, after the packages were opened and the tortillas cooled off, they changed texture and became similar to any good commercial tortilla.


Morelia Supermarket
(773) 622-0995
4833 W Diversey Ave
Chicago, IL 60639

eatchicago wrote:
But are we really that far away? Every day, I pass by a market that gets two daily deliveries of fresh tortillas from El Milagro and Atotonilco. As long as I walk in before 7pm or so, they're still warm.

Sure, it's not a hand-patted tortilla fresh of the griddle, but it's a heck of a lot better than what hundreds of millions of other people in this hemisphere have access to.

Oh yeah, I agree, and if I get to Jimenez Bros. anytime before 1:00 PM or so, and dig in the box a little, I can still excavate a warm bag. And these tortillas may be some "of the best in the world" based in part on raw materials, but it's like fresh baked bread -- the sooner you get it after it's cooled enough to eat, the moister and more delicious it will be.

Hammond

Most of the Mexican food I have had in Arizona has been sub-par compared to what I can get at home. Of course, there is some excellent New Mexico food out there to make up for the state's shortcomings. My experience in LA has been somewhat better, but still second fiddle to Chicago for the most part. I have always found these facts hard to believe. It's good to see that someone as well traveled in Mexican cuisine as Bayless agrees with me.

How many tortillerias are there in the Chicagoland area where you can purchase freshly-made hand-formed tortillas? There are several such places in the Los Angeles area and I’ve been to a few of them, including Los 5 Puntos, where a recent visit scored me a dozen piping-hot hand-formed corn tortillas for $2 and small change, and Doña Rosa, where both flour and corn tortillas are available singly, by the 1/2 kilo, and the kilo.

Los 5 Puntos
3300 E. Cesar Chavez Ave.
323.262.4084

Doña Rosa
577 S Arroyo Parkway
Pasadena, CA
626.449.2999

Re: opinions on authentic regional Mexican food in the Los Angeles area...

...Cogita ante salis.

Babita
1823 S. San Gabriel Blvd.
San Gabriel, CA
626.288.7265
panuchos, camarónes Topolobampo, barbacoa

Mariscos Licenciado #2 (Sinaloan)
1052 N. State College Blvd.
Anaheim, CA
714.776.3415
ceviche de camarónes y pulpo, aguachile

Taqueria Vista Hermosa (D.F.)
3655 S. Grand Ave.
(Mercado La Paloma)
213.741.1251
pambazo

Chichen Itza (Yucatecan)
2501 W. Sixth St.
213.380.0051
panuchos, salbutes, tamal colado, papadzul, etc.

Birriera Chalio
3580 E. First St.
323.268.5349
birria

Cenaduría La Casita Mexicana (Oaxacan)
4030 E. Gage Ave.
323.773.1898
chiles en nogadas, mole negro, enmoladas, enfrijoladas, pollo en pipián

Guelaguetza (Oaxacan)
3337½ W. Eighth St.
213.427.0779
tlayudas, empanadas, tamales, mole negro, estofado con poolo o puerco, etc.

La Serenata de Garibaldi
1842 East First St.
323.265.2887
cócteles, empanadas de pescado y pollo, chiles rellenos

Yuca's (Yucatecan; James Beard Award Winner)
2056 Hillhurst Ave.
323.662.1214
cochinita pibil

Antequera de Oaxaca (Oaxacan)
5200 Melrose Ave.
323.466.1101
memelas, clayudas, mole estofado

Tacos Baja Ensenada
5385 Whittier Blvd.
323.887.1980
cócteles, caldos, tostadas, y tacos (de pescado, ceviche, callo, etc.)

La Luz del Dia
1 W. Olvera St.
213.628.7495
carnitas, estofado de res, tortillas hecho a mano, etc.

Badiraguato (Sinaloan)
3070 Firestone Blvd.
323.563.3450
machaca, asado estilo Sinaloa

Antojitos Denise’s
4060 E. Olympic Blvd.
323.264.8199
carne asada, chicharrones, cueritos

El Borrego de Oro (Hidalgan)
2403 E. Whittier Blvd.
323.780.4213
barbacoa de cordero

El Parian
1528 W. Pico Blvd.
213.386.7361
birria, carne asada

Las 7 Regiones de Oaxaca (Oaxacan)
2648 W. Pico Blvd.
213.385.7458
tlayudas, tamales, barbacoa estilo Oaxaca, memelas, mole de coloradito, etc.

Baldomero
3104 S. Maple Ave.
213.231.1682
birria y menudo

Birrieria Jalisco
1845 E. First St.
323.262.4552
birria

Birrieria Tepechi
1258 N. Avalon Blvd.
Wilmington, CA
310.513.8084
birria

Gallo’s Grill
4533 Cesar E. Chavez Ave.
323.980.8669
filete abierto, queso fundido

Mariscos Guillen (aka La Playita)
3306 Lincoln Blvd.
Santa Monica, CA
310.452.0090
cócteles, tostadas, tacos

El Aguila Bakery
5028 Huntington Dr.
323.222.1925
bolillos, pasteles, tamales (de pollo, res, carnitas, rajas con queso, y dulces)

Malverde (Geno Bahena's latest, where he purports to serve authentic fare from multiple states)
11215 Long Beach Blvd., No. 1010
Lynwood, CA
310.631.9177
mole Teloloapan, sopes, cordonices asado, etc.

Juanito's
4214 E. Floral Dr.
323.268.2365
tamales

La China Poblana (Pueblan)
3527 E. Whittier Blvd.
[No phone]
cemitas

Mi Ranchito (Veracruzan)
12223 W. Washington Blvd.
310.398.6106
chile verde, pozole, carnitas, albondigas

Ostioneria Colima
1465 W. Third St.
213.482.4152
ostiones, tostadas de ceviche, camarónes rancheros

Chalio
3580 E. First St.
323.268.5349
birria estilo Zacatecas

Tamales Liliana’s
4619 Cesar E. Chavez Ave.
323.780.0989
tamales de elote, puerco con chile rojo, etc.

Boca del Rio (Veracruzan)
3706 E. Whittier Blvd.
323.268.9339
camarónes al mojo de ajo, huachinango a la Veracruzana, al mojo de ajo, y al pil-pil

El Bucanero
4501 S. Alameda Blvd.
(@ Alameda Swap Meet)
323.233.2764
tostadas de ceviche y camarónes

Valenzuela’s (Jaliscan)
11721 E. Valley Blvd.
626.579.5384
carne asada en su jugo

Frida
236 S. Beverly Dr.
310.278.7666
mole verde y poblano

La Cabañita (D.F.)
3447 N. Verdugo Rd.
Glendale, CA
818.965.3530
entomatadas y enfrijoladas Oaxaqueñas (con tortillas hecho a mano)

La Golondrina
W-17 Olivera St.
213.628.4349
guisado de puerco con nopales, barbacoa de borrego, birria de chivo

Chulada Grill
5607 San Vicente Blvd.
323.954.7570
barbacoa (de res o chivo), clayuda (con tasajo o cesina)

Maria's Marisco's
317 S Broadway # 27
(Grand Central Market)
213.626.7593
cócteles y tacos de pescado, ceviche, callo, etc.

Casita Mexicana
4030 E. Gage Ave.
Bell, CA
323.773.1898
chiles en nogada, pozole

And, the list goes on and on...

E.M.

These addresses are all in Evanston, right Erik?

Erik M. wrote:How many tortillerias are there in the Chicagoland area where you can purchase freshly-made hand-formed tortillas? There are several such places in the Los Angeles area and I’ve been to a few of them, including Los 5 Puntos, where a recent visit scored me a dozen piping-hot hand-formed corn tortillas for $2 and small change, and Doña Rosa, where both flour and corn tortillas are available singly, by the 1/2 kilo, and the kilo.

Los 5 Puntos
3300 E. Cesar Chavez Ave.
323.262.4084

Yeah, if there's anything like this in Chicago I'd love to know where it is. I stopped into Los 5 Puntos on my lunch break today, and paid my 2 sumthin for a fresh, hot pack or tortillas that I watched being formed and griddled before my eyes. Retail customer after retail came in after me, ordering these handmade tortillas by the multiple dozen. They were wonderful. On my way to have a meal down the road from 5 Puntos, I passed at least 2 more places advertising hand-formed tortillas for retail sale. At least one was half panaderia/ half tortilleria. I'm not saying we have no such places in Chicago, but I haven't encountered them. I vaguely recall a sign on a panaderia on Montrose that advertised tortillas, but I'm not sure.

In Dallas (and perhaps other locales) Central Market also makes & sells hot tortillas in the store. My recollection is that they produce both corn & flour and each are available for sampling before buying.

One of the simplest pleasures is a fresh, hot corn tortilla slathered with butter (not a traditional preparation, of course)!

I'm not where I can check specific addresses at the moment, but I do recall buying fresh corn tortillas and better-than-merely-passable Cuban bread at various of the Hispanic bakeries that have established themselves along Clark Street in Rogers Park. I'll try, in the next week or so, to pin that down.

But I remember that the Cuban sandwich I made with that bread (and the breakfast with honey and butter on three of those tortillas) was plenty fine.

Gee, now I feel lucky to have a Mexican place so close to me where they make the tortillas by hand
http://lthforum.com/bb/viewtopic.php?f=15&t=23332&start=0

Taxco
223 W. State St.
Sycamore, IL. 60178
815 895-2545
http://www.taxcorestaurant.com

razbry wrote:Gee, now I feel lucky to have a Mexican place so close to me where they make the tortillas by hand
http://lthforum.com/bb/viewtopic.php?f=15&t=23332&start=0

Taxco
223 W. State St.
Sycamore, IL. 60178
815 895-2545
http://www.taxcorestaurant.com

You are, but that's not what we're talking about here. We're talking about retail places like bakeries that make and sell tortillas to go.

Oh, I get it. I think there is a place like that in Rockford. I'll have to check it out. Thanks for keeping me up to speed.

I made tacos the other night for dinner. And the recipe was massive so we had more than enough filling, but we went through the corn tortillas I had to hand.

I ordered some more on Instacart and came across some brands I didn't recognize.

Does anyone have thoughts on La Banderita and Atotonilco corn tortillas? I did add El Milagro to my cart.

pairs4life wrote:I made tacos the other night for dinner. And the recipe was massive so we had more than enough filling, but we went through the corn tortillas I had to hand.

I ordered some more on Instacart and came across some brands I didn't recognize.

Does anyone have thoughts on La Banderita and Atotonilco corn tortillas? I did add El Milagro to my cart.

pairs4life wrote:Does anyone have thoughts on La Banderita and Atotonilco corn tortillas? I did add El Milagro to my cart.

I definitely prefer La Banderita most among the three as a brand for store-bought packaged tortillas. My recent experience is primarily with flour and whole wheat flour tortillas for quesadillas though, since corn are just too small and not as well suited overall for the melting of cheese on the surface.

El Milagro for me, though that's mostly because they seem to arrive super fresh to the places where I shop. When they're several days old, I wonder if there's much of a discernible difference between the various brands.

The La Banderita label says they are manufactured in Norcross, GA. That makes them an easy pass for me.

admich wrote:La Banderita label says they are manufactured in Norcross, GA. That makes them an easy pass for me.

I don't know if that is a reference to freshness or the geographic location. If there's a better, fresher brand of flour tortillas (mid/fajita-size, not burrito, I don't use anything that large) in most stores, I haven't found it yet.

As far as the location, they seem like a successful 30+yr old family business that started in Atlanta.
https://olemex.com/our-story/

admich wrote:The La Banderita label says they are manufactured in Norcross, GA. That makes them an easy pass for me.

Are you saying they are less fresh than, say El Milagro , made closer to home? I strongly doubt that. They are both made, packaged and put on a truck for delivery. El Milagro gets a day advantage, maybe.....

pairs4life wrote:Does anyone have thoughts on La Banderita and Atotonilco corn tortillas? I did add El Milagro to my cart.

I'm not a fan of La Banderita corn tortillas (not sure I ever tried the flour ones). I almost always get either Atotonilco or El Milagro, as both are very good and easy to find. I honestly wonder if I could tell the difference between the basic corn tortillas from Atotonilco and El Milagro in a blind taste test.

Not everyone realizes that Atotonilco and El Milagro (as well as other brands) make more than one variety of corn tortilla. Unless shelf stability is the major consideration, you want the ones wrapped in paper (and you want to use them the same day, ideally within hours). The paper-wrapped tortillas are usually made from only the simplest ingredients, while the ones in plastic bags generally contain multiple preservatives and adjuncts. In November 2011 Nick Kindelsperger wrote a very useful guide to factory-made tortillas in Chicago, together with a gallery of tortilla photos.

Here's the ingredient list for Atotonilco's and El Milagro's paper-wrapped corn tortillas: Corn, Water, Lime.

And here's the ingredient list for La Banderita's yellow corn tortillas (in plastic): Whole grain corn, Water, Contains 2% or less of each of the following: Gum blend, Preservatives (Propionic acid, Sorbic acid, Fumaric acid, Methyl and Propyl parabens), Acidity regulators (Sodium hydroxide, Calcium carbonate), Lime.

lougord99 wrote:

admich wrote:The La Banderita label says they are manufactured in Norcross, GA. That makes them an easy pass for me.

Are you saying they are less fresh than, say El Milagro , made closer to home? I strongly doubt that. They are both made, packaged and put on a truck for delivery. El Milagro gets a day advantage, maybe.....

From La Banderita's website: "While our headquarters is located in Norcross, Ga., Olé Mexican Foods has manufacturing facilities throughout the U.S., allowing us to offer our high-quality products to stores and their customers wherever they are located." I think, but am not certain, the tortillas sold in Chicago are made in Bedford Park (per information in Nick's article).

Even though La Banderita's corn tortillas are fairly local, I think both Atotonilco's and El Milagro's product is usually fresher in area stores, at least in Mexican neighborhoods. It's not at all uncommon to find cases where the inner packages are still quite warm. I'm in awe of the two companies' distribution systems. If you pass the tortillerias during the day, you'll see a steady stream of factory-owned trucks pulling up in front, loading up, and driving off minutes later. I'm so happy to have access to such a good (not to mention cheap!) product in Chicago, and never take it for granted.

Dinner tonight is a layered casserole, making use of some stale El Milagro paper-wrapped corn tortillas.

I want to put in a good word for El Popocatapetl, or just El Popo. The have the factory about 2 blocks from where I live so I get my tortillas there. They do have the paper wrapped freshly made ones on sale at the factory, but I don't know if those are available in stores. I can't tell the difference between these and the El Milagro fresh ones(whose factory is also not that far from where I live), honestly.

Unfortunately, due to the recent situation; the factory is closed for retail and they only sell through stores. I stocked up a bit (froze some), so I have not had a chance to see what is available at the Cermak Produce on Paulina/Cermak, and if the paper wrapped ones are on sale. But if you do get them at your favorite place to get tortillas, give them a try and see if this fits your palate.

Along with the regular corn tortillas, they also have a Amarillo and a Blue Corn varieties. I have not bought the Amarillo ones because they are in a plastic packaging and have the usual preservatives etc. Maybe I should try them and see if the flavors are different. The Blue Corn tortillas are great.

I buy the corn Atotonilco's wrapped in paper from Fresh Market Place on Western and Palmer in Bucktown, and everytime I've gotten them, they are still warm in the box. They are really good, a lot better than El Milagro.

Rene G wrote:Dinner tonight is a layered casserole, making use of some stale El Milagro paper-wrapped corn tortillas.

A couple weeks ago I was disappointed to find my (preservative-free) tortillas had grown mold. Since I'd already started preparing other ingredients, I decided to wash them under running water with light scrubbing. Worked great and the casserole was delicious! I've never washed tortillas before.