Cafe El Tapatio

Cafe El Tapatio

Cafe El Tapatio is located at 3400 N Ashland Ave just North of W Roscoe street. The restaurant when walking up seemed a lot bigger than it actually was. There are only two rooms for dinning and not too many tables. It makes for a nice close environment. The walls were decorated with traditional Mexican paintings, but since it is the Holidays there were some festive lights and decorations up as well. The restaurant was filled, we had no wait and were seated right away, but I could imagine El Tapatio having a decent wait if word got out about how great their food is!

Everyone that worked there was very nice and I am guessing that it was the owner or manager who walked around to every table, a couple of times, to make sure everyone was doing well. The service was great; food came fast, and left my plate even faster!

Café El Tapatio makes their own tortilla chips as well as all of their salsas and sauces. We were given a nice size bowl of chips and a great homemade salsa with a good kick to start off.

The first course my girlfriend and I started out with was the Empanadas. If you have never had an Empanada before they are turnovers stuffed with various ingredients. The one that we had was the baby spinach and queso de cabra. It was great. The order came with four good-sized Empanadas along with a Verde salsa and sour cream in the middle of the plate. The cheese had a great taste and was melted and warm inside along with the baby spinach; it made an excellent start to dinner!

Following the Empanadas my main course came quickly after the appetizer plate was cleared. The Tacos del Mar was something that caught my eye right away. Being a huge fan of fish tacos I always think back to the great ones that I had on the beaches of San Diego. Now I can enjoy the same ones right here in the Windy City! The Tacos del Mar were described as a lightly battered tilapia topped with mixed greens and cilantro crema. Served in a warm tortilla de maiz and arroz blanco. I would describe this as DAMN, that’s good stuff! The tacos were excellent. I got three tacos with a large chunk of battered and deep fried fish along with a mound of rice and some diced tomatoes, onions and cilantro in its own little pile. The cilantro crema was something that I had never had before, but it was great. Having a similar consistency as sour cream accompanied with some lime I squeezed on them I was in heaven!

Overall Café El Tapatio is a hidden gem right in Roscoe village. This restaurant is the type of place I will bring my friends from out of town to get some fine Mexican cuisine!