Mi Tocaya Antojeria

 

 

When most people think about Mexican food, they frequently think of street food like tacos, burritos, and tamales.  Mexican restaurant that serve these in Chicago are ubiquitous and are almost as common as the hot dog joints which are almost on every corner.  All of these things are Mexican, but Mexican food is much more than this as can be seen in places like Rick Bayless' places, Frontera Grill, Topolobampo, and other restaurants like Chilam Balam and Dos.  Mi Tocaya Antojeria, located in Logan Square, aims for a place that, while not quite fine dining is definitely much more than street food.  Mi Tocaya is a Spanish term of endearment meaning "My Namesake" so, Chef Diana Davila named her restaurant after herself in a backhanded manner.  An antojeria is a place that serves antojitos.  I was first introduced to antojitos when I was visiting Peru.  There, antojitos were grilled skewers of meat or vegetables, some of the most popular of which were the beef hearts and the alpaca.  When I was there, I thought that antojitos were specifically grilled skewers, but I have since learned that antojitos literally means "little cravings."  Mi Tocaya Antojeria is Chef Diana's namesake and serves small plates.  Located on the boulevard near the square, it's small and very much a neighborhood restaurant.  It has a great patio in front (behind a steel gated fence) over looking the boulevard that would be great to enjoy a summer afternoon or evening, though it rained on the day that I came, so sitting on the patio wasn't really an option.  I walked in and sat at the bar overlooking the grill where Chef Diana was working.  The place is very colorful with murals and framed art hanging throughout the restaurant.  Notable to me was the painting of Wonder Woman surrounded by several other paintings done in various abstract styles, and the neon sign of Mi Tocaya hanging on the rear wall.  The drink menu has beer, wine, and cocktails, the beer focusing on Mexican Lagers with a few local craft beers, the wine having a Spanish Red, White, Rose, and Cava, and the Cocktails focusing on Mezcal and Tequila.  Looking over the cocktail list, I saw something that I had to order simply for the name of the Mezcal used, though looking at it again, I see that it was also a spin on my favorite cocktail, The Last Word, so it was a double win.  The name of the drink was Chicana 2.0 and it contained Peloton de La Muerte Mezcal, Finn's Gin, Yellow Chartreuse, Maraschino, and Lime.  In bike racing, the peloton is the main group of cyclists who are riding together and jostling for position, so Peloton de la Muerte is the peloton of death.  The Last Word is Gin, Green Chartreuse, Maraschino, and Lime.  The drink was essentially The Last Word with Mezcal added.  Having compared it to The Last Word, it definitely does not look like The Last Word.  Served on ice as opposed to the Last Word being shaken over ice and served clean, it was red as opposed to The Last Word's yellow-green color.  It was tart, sweet, and a little savory, with a slightly smoky finish from the mezcal.

The food menu is broken up into "Antojitos", small bites, Tacos, and "Antojos", what are essentially medium plates.  I went for a sample from each category, aiming for what might be considered some of the most challenging items, starting with Peanut Butter y Lengua, which was exactly what it sounded like, peanut butter and beef tongue.  The beef tongue was peeled, sliced into large pieces, like something I might expect to see on a skewer, and topped with Jamaica Pickled Onions and Grilled Radishes. The beef was tender, the onions were tart and sweet, and the thinly sliced radishes had a nice crunch to them. The peanut butter was spread around the plate, so you could avoid much of it if you wanted to.  It did have some spice, so the combination of beef, onions, and spicy peanut butter kind of reminded me of Thai food.  While I assume it was hoped that the beef and peanut butter would be eaten together, I did try them separately to get individual flavors.  Everything was good on it's own, but it was also very good all together, and I did make sure to eat most of the peanut butter.

For the tacos, there were some standards like the (beer can) chicken and the cochinita pibil, but they also had an oyster taco that really looked interesting and I would have gotten if it were not for the Milpa Taco, what was essentially a veggie taco similar to something that my grandmother used to make.  It was Grilled Butternut Squash, Chiles, Pinto Beans, and Corn Crema, on a Corn Tortilla.  My grandmother's version added zucchini and pork, but the same flavors were there.  It was very good and brought back some nice taste memories.

My main course was the most complicated to eat (and pronounce).  Called Tuetano con Sabores de Caldo, it was Roasted Bone Marrow and Short Rib (with microgreens and carrots) served on a Homemade Flour Tortilla.  I like roasted bone marrow, it's essentially beef butter, but it does some work to eat it because it has to be scraped out of the bone.  With this, the bone was presented on top of the tortilla and kind of buried with the short rib, greens, and carrots, so I had to unbury it because eating it in the bone would have been impossible.  After digging it out and rearranging things so I could eat it, it was very rich and good.

The dessert list was very short and hit a couple of Mexican classics, Flan and Tres Leches Cake.  Flan is very similar to Panna Cotta, and while I like it, I will never turn away a tres leches cake, a cake soaked in three milks, cream, condensed milk, and evaporated milk.  This tres leches, called Kristoffer's Tres Leches Cake, is made by Kristoffer's Bakery in Pilsen and has been name checked by Rick Bayless as his favorite tres leches cake.  This cake was very heavy with cream and milk and covered with a light chocolate frosting and served with an edible flower.  It was very rich and good and made for a great finish to a very good dinner.  It was a lot of fun and I will definitely return.  There is a lot more to try on the menu.