It’s probably not a foolproof method, but one way to tell a real Mexican restaurant from an Americanized fast-food joint is to look for the potatoes. Sure, you’ll get tortillas at both, but only the real McCoy serves potatoes.
Well, La Escondida serves great oven-browned potatoes with its beef and pork entrees, plus a lot of neat dishes you won’t find anywhere that features a bell in its logo.
More Top Picks Best High Contrast Computer Mice For Seniors
A small and eccentric place along a rather bleak stretch of Clark Street near Lawrence Avenue, La Escondida looks as much like a curio shop as a restaurant. It’s a perfect antidote to an early Chicago winter: A bright and cheery place filled with Mexican folk art and the smells of home cooking.
The half-dozen booths are curiously oversized, as if the carpenter read inches when it said centimeters, but that just means there’s room to stretch out.
It’s a good idea to go native and start with one of the classic soups. There’s the Azteca ($3.25), a tomato-based soup with tortilla strips and pasilla peppers, or sopa de lima ($2.99), a broth with mushrooms, pieces of chicken and slices of lime.
Tacos ($1.25 each) range from the predictable (chicken, beef or cheese) to the who-ever-thought-this-would-go-together (steamed broccoli, cauliflower, spinach and zucchini finished off with mushrooms and tripe).
But the uniqueness of La Escondida lies in the dinner platters. Try the “fish tamale” ($7.25), a fillet of fish wrapped in a corn husk and cooked with olives, capers and lime juice. Or how about Laza Maya for $7.45? Skewered shrimp, chicken, fish, beef and vegetables are cooked in a banana leaf.
Drunken beef ($6.95) is marinated in beer and served with a chunky pico de gallo and those potatoes.
Most entrees come with a smidgen of salad, beans and a stack of rice that is rather unappetizingly colored like the Mexican flag.
But hey, just have another slice of potato.
———-
La Escondida, 4641 N. Clark St., 275-9530. Hours: 11 a.m.-10 p.m. daily. No liquor, but you may bring your own wine or beer. A, M, V.