Tacotlàn, the cozy and chaotic father-and-daughter-owned Mexican restaurant in Hermosa, best known for its excellent rendition of the taco phenomenon known as quesabirria, gives meaningful life to fleeting food trends, invoking deeply rooted immigrant traditions as an ode to their late family matriarch.
And they just opened a new stall location at Time Out Market on Nov. 2.
My parents, 91-year-old Mom and Pop Chu, have lived nearby the flagship on the Northwest Side of Chicago for nearly 50 years, so we’ve seen the change from European to Latino neighbors. I’ve been going to the taqueria since it opened in 2018 and found their first attempts at quesabirria more hard than anything.
Their chilaquiles, though, were everything. The classic breakfast dish transforms crackling tortilla chips in a toss of hot house-made red or green salsa. Suspended in the moment when sharp edges soften, they would hint at what was to come. Not just with the food, but the hospitality too. Those early days could be a bit brusque.
“We’re known for our quesabirria,” said Jessica Perjes, co-owner with her father, Everardo Macias. “But we’re much more than that.”
They’re surprisingly innovative, bringing fun and fantastical food and drinks to delighted diners and staff alike.
“I want people to feel welcome just like when my mother was here,” said Perjes. “And treating them like they are in our home.”
The original sunset orange-red quesabirria taco is still their bestseller.
“It takes about five to six hours to make,” she said of their birria-style beef that’s spiced, but not spicy, and cooked until incredibly tender.
One of their cooks, Carla, who’s been with them since the beginning, brought her birria recipe. But it wasn’t until the quesabirria trend hit in 2020 that Perjes decided they should try the Mexican stew in the new sensation.
For the taco, they place two corn tortillas from Atotonilco on the grill, add shredded Muenster cheese, that beautiful birria beef, plus a flurry of chopped white onion and feathery green cilantro. Beef tallow and other secret ingredients give it that signature color and complex flavor.
“We leave it on until it’s as crispy as possible,” she said.
It’s not just crispy, but a layered experience with baptized tortillas that ultimately shatter, revealing a melty and meaty soul. And that’s before the dip.
“We worked on the consomé together, because it’s not just the broth,” said Perjes. They also add a house spice blend. “We literally label it ‘kick.’”
When their cook left temporarily, Perjes learned how to make the birria-style beef and consomé herself. Her husband, Christopher Perjes, makes it now in the morning, while Carla oversees the back of the house.
The curiously named Lalo’s On the Beach burrito bowl holds a surf and turf escape of grilled shrimp and outside skirt steak, both fully dressed with guacamole, avocado salsa and chipotle sauce, plus lettuce and tomato, all over garlicky white rice.
“My father goes by Lalo for short,” Perjes said. “Every single time that we had carne asada in our backyard, he always wanted to get that premium outer skirt steak.”
Those backyard barbecues at home were the beginning of what they now call Lalo Landia.
“We used to talk about what we would put on the menu,” said Perjes. “He was like, no, I don’t think that that would sell, because that cut of meat is extremely expensive. And I was like, well, then we would just charge for it accordingly.”
Lalo’s signature dishes would not only sell, but they would become among their most popular items. The father-and-daughter team began with the bowls before adding burritos at the flagship restaurant.
As for the name, adding shrimp to Lalo’s preferred outside skirt steak had them thinking of the beach.
“Which is where we want to send him,” Perjes said, laughing. “Go to the beach and enjoy yourself.”
You’ll probably find Macias at the colorful restaurant most days. He was there when the influential TikTok food critic Keith Lee stopped by. His review was so positive that the order has been immortalized on the menu as The Keith Lee Plate with three quesabirria tacos with skirt steak, topped with onion and cilantro plus consomé and double rice on the side.
My plate would be the quesabirria sampler, featuring four tacos stuffed with the original beef, steak, chicken and shrimp, all over that garlicky white rice, plus tortilla chips and extra onions and cilantro.
You can create your own ideal order once you’re seated at a table in the narrow storefront, possibly under a framed portrait of Selena or past a counter in front of the grill toward the back. Wherever you sit, a faint aroma of quesabirria spices will linger.
The restaurant is full-service, so your server will bring complimentary chips and salsa. It’s always a marvel to watch the friendly and fast bilingual staff navigate the space, balancing platters and bowls and outlandish drinks.
A smoky carne asada classic taco, made with inside skirt steak arrachera, the traditional beef cut that’s a touch tougher, remains most popular with old-school customers. The delicious al pastor taco, however, hints at Chinese char siu with delicate bits of pineapple amid the pork. And a rajas con queso taco slips silky peppers into a lavish serving of cheese.
The elote buldak noodles may be my favorite dish, taking seriously spicy buldak carbonara instant ramen completely over the top with street corn kernels, butter, mayo, cotija cheese and chile powder. The Mexican toppings temper the Korean heat, bringing flavor into the conversation.
Perjes credits her sister Alexandra Macias for their elote noodles recipe, and Chicago-based food influencer Erica Noblecilla of Erica Eats Everything for the initial idea.
A beautiful birria ramen came earlier with the original quesabirria trend. They start with a Tapatío brand original flavor ramen bowl, but only the noodles come in the consomé. The soup base and dried vegetable packets are offered on the side.
“Our consomé is already flavorful enough, but some people want that extra saltiness, or that extra kick,” said Perjes. “And there’s actually two consomés, one is for the quesabirria and one is for the ramen.”
She’s right, and all those nicely al dente noodles need are the accompanying radish, onion, cilantro and lime.
The birria grilled cheese, on thick slices of golden Turano Italian bread with American cheese, was terrific at first bite with a dip in consomé, but there’s a reason tomato soup has endured as the standard pairing with its bright acidity, which was missing here. A loaded baked potato delivers as promised with a generous helping of your choice of carne asada, al pastor, birria or chicken, but seems designed for a social media cheese pull rather than balance.
The menu claims that the pepino with limon drink is the most delicious cucumber lime agua fresca in Chicago, and that may well be true, with a remarkably refreshing sweet yet tart texture.
A delightful strawberry horchata evokes not-too-sweet Asian strawberry milk drinks. The blended berries capture summer fruit on the seasonal back patio.
The hidden oasis sets the scene with umbrellas overhead, neon signs in Spanish and multicolored rugs underfoot. They call the little addition La Casita Linda for Herlinda Macias.
“That’s my sister’s ode to our mother,” said Perjes. “Anything fun is Alexandra.”
That includes the absolutely adorable Hello Kitty agua cup topped with a bouquet of assorted candies. If you’re lucky, you’ll get some Salsagheti. The sweet and spicy Mexican candy looks like red spaghetti, but is dusted in chile powder, with a side packet of chamoy liquid candy. The cups are not inexpensive at $25 each, but comparable to the Starbucks Bearista cup at $30.
Desserts come from MD Cakes Cookies & More owner and baker Maria Duron.
“My father saw her when he was going to get supplies at the market,” said Perjes. “And he was like, hey, my daughters are looking for some dessert.”
Duron’s churro and café de ollo tres leches cakes sell out so fast that I’ve only been able to taste the perfectly silken caramel and custard flan. They usually get desserts on Thursdays, so you might plan ahead for an everyday celebration.
The Tacotlán extended family recently celebrated a major milestone when Everardo Macias became an American citizen.
“He’s been here for so long,” said Perjes. “And he’s worked so hard.”
Macias is originally from Poncitlàn in the state of Jalisco in central western Mexico. The family story goes that he was working at Scott Petersen & Co., a historic maker of hot dogs in Chicago, when he passed by a building for sale.
“He paid for it outright with his hard-earned money,” Perjes said.
Macias opened his first restaurant in that building.
“He called it El Ponchado, his nickname,” said Perjes. “Like the flat guy, because he was so skinny.”
It started with a bang, she said, and people loved it, because he was serving the same arrachera that they serve now.
“But he just did not know how to manage it,” she added. “It closed down when I was in high school.”
Marisel Melendez, the owner and founder of Ponce, the Puerto Rican restaurant, rented the space for 20 or so years, until they moved into their own building across the street.
That’s when Macias wanted to try again.
“I didn’t want to see him arguing with my mom about finances,” Perjes said. “And I did not want them to have to go through that defeat again.”
Perjes was working in sales downtown at the time and decided to help.
“But I’m not dumb,” she said, laughing. She told her father that she wanted to be a partner. “He was like, no, because you have a big mouth. And I was like, yeah, so do you, but let’s just do it.”
That’s how they’ve kept it going. The Tacotlán and Ponce families have also remained close. Perjes invited Melendez to their ribbon-cutting at Time Out Market.
Macias took time to finally become a citizen now, because for the first time, there was a fear.
“All these things that he built here, for somebody, for this administration, to basically say, you are no longer a part of this country, that was insane to us,” Perjes said.
Their family experienced generational separation when her mother was a child and was left behind in Tampico, Tamaulipas, in Mexico for years with aunts and uncles and grandmothers.
“She didn’t have her parents for a long time growing up,” Perjes said. “I think the feeling of not having them around made her such a great mom.”
She worked multiple jobs to place her children in so many activities, from swimming to piano, everything she wished that she had growing up. That may explain Perjes’ almost endless energy in creating community.
“When I couldn’t help in the restaurant, my mom was there,” she said.
Her mother helped out until she was diagnosed with pulmonary fibrosis, but saw some of their early success the second time around, before she died at 63 in 2021.
“She loved being in the kitchen,” Perjes said. “And not a day goes by that I would not trade it all in to have her here.”
Tacotlán
4312 W. Fullerton Ave.
Open: Tuesday to Thursday noon to 8 p.m.; Friday and Saturday noon to 9 p.m.; Sunday 11 a.m. to 6 p.m.; closed Monday
Prices: $3.75 (al pastor taco), $3.75 (rajas con queso taco), $4.25 (carne asada taco), $12 (elote buldak noodles), $15 (birria ramen), $22 (Lalo’s On the Beach burrito bowl), $23 (quesabirria sampler with consommé), $6 (pepino with limon agua fresca), $25 (Hello Kitty agua cup with strawberry horchata)
Sound: OK (70 to 73 dB)
Accessibility: Not wheelchair accessible; wheelchair accessible on seasonal front patio when weather permits
Tribune rating: Excellent, 3 of 4 stars
Ratings key: Four stars, outstanding; three stars, excellent; two stars, very good; one star, good; no stars, unsatisfactory. Meals are paid for by the Tribune.
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