Ms. Smarty Pants Know It All

1601 W. Montrose
312-523-0923

(continued from part 1)

Because I wasn’t hungry, I had just ordered an appetizer. Their appetizer selection excited me a great deal. One of my least favorite things about a typical Mexican plate is that they are so heavy. There’s a side of rice, a side of beans, and some kind of meat in a flour or corn wrap with cheese and more beans. Sometimes you get a bit of iceberg lettuce, chopped onions, and a wedge of tomato on the side. Perhaps some Pico de Gallo.

Even when it is really, really good, as at the Red Iguana in Salt Lake City (write up to come), I often wish there was just some more lightness to it. Here, they had salads, ceviche, sopas, and my order, the tilapia tacos. They call the dish tacos ensenada. There are two per order and are so delicious. At the base, there are nice breaded pieces of tilapia. These were very moist and definitely tasted identifiably like fish rather than overfried pieces of crunch. On top, there are shredded cabbage, diced tomatoes and onions, cheese, cilantro, and a very nice lime/vinegar dressing. It was light, fresh, and felt great in my mouth. For $6, I thought it was a close-to-perfect summer dinner.

The boyfriend had the wood-grilled salmon with red mole. It comes with a pyramid of white rice and zucchini. When the dish arrived, the salmon was very underdone because they were trying to rush our food. After sending it back to go a bit longer on the grill, he was finally ready to eat. Mole sauce is just not my thing so I’m passing along his note that it was good. The salmon had a lovely flavor and was also very moist.

So even with all this—broken AC, forgotten order, raw salmon—I still enjoyed the dinner a lot. I’m looking forward to going back. And I’m definitely making reservations.

I know I should have photos for all this stuff, but I just wasn’t prepared. But you can see other people’s photos here and here.

Tags: Chicago, Food //