In Chicago there’s simply no reason for anyone to eat stale tortillas. Visit nearly any carniceria and root around in the boxes in front of the meat counter and you’re bound to put your mitts on some still-warm packages from that morning’s delivery from the tortilleria.
And yet, when a restaurant invests the time and expense to take deliveries of fresh masa from those same corn mills and make their own tortillas—in house, to order—then that’s truly something special, as I hope I demonstrated in my story about Rogers Park’s El Sabor Poblano, where they make magic with fresh, yellow corn masa.
And yet not everybody advertises their tortillas hechas a mano as prominently as one would like. So as a public service, what follows is a by-no-means comprehensive list of 25 restaurants, in no particular order, from the tiniest taquerias to the bustling flagships of the Bayless Empire, that are making their own. Feel free to pimp your own favorites in the comments.
El Pollo Vagabundo (flour)
Nuevo Leon (flour)
Bar Sotano