Restaurant news: Cerdito Muerto, a cocktail bar and Mexican American kitchen, transforms an old family home in Pilsen

Chicago Tribune

16 hours ago

Cerdito Muerto, a speakeasy-style cocktail bar with a contemporary Mexican American kitchen that's transformed an old family home that survived the Great Chicago Fire, opened in Pilsen on June 26.
The name translates in Spanish to 'the dead piglet,' but is meant in a playful way, said Emidio Oceguera, owner of the debut business.
'Being a first-generation Mexican American son of farmers and ranchers, pigs and piglets are pretty endearing in our culture,' said Oceguera.
The space was his mother Consuelo Oceguera's restaurant, Tacos Palacio, and his late father Miguel Oceguera's neighborhood pool hall.
'Even to this day, my partner calls me Piggy, so Piggy and piglets have always been kind of part of my identity,' he said. His wife and business partner Sarah Dickerson is their head of marketing and brand development.
Speakeasies were sometimes known as blind pigs or blind tigers or striped pigs during Prohibition, as a front for illegal bars that would charge admission to see fictional animal curiosities, then offer a free drink. Hence the curious dead piglet, or cerdito muerto.
'This has a very speakeasy feel to it,' said Oceguera, who was general manager at Chicago Cut Steakhouse for a decade. 'But I do not advertise myself as a speakeasy.'
In fact, when asked about the best-selling items so far, he mentioned the food program that's constantly changing under chef Becky Carson, previously the opening executive chef at the reimagined Ramova Grill and Taproom. Carson has brought a branzino to the menu, with chimichurri, citrus and fresh oregano.
'But (the menu) does have a few of my mother's staples,' said Oceguera.
That includes a goat birria taco from her rural hometown in Jalisco, Mexico.
'It's no frills, there's no cheese,' he said, clarifying that theirs is decidedly not like the relatively recent quesabirria taco. 'It's just the way it was meant to be eaten, as if you were in a pasture.'
They've also kept Mamà Coco's al pastor taco, but that's not traditional, he added, and eats almost like cochinita pibil instead.
Rachele Byrd-Townsell, previously beverage director at Pizza Lobo, and Guillermo Martinez, bar manager at Estereo, were both beverage consultants.
A classic Saturn cocktail, mixed with gin and passionfruit, has emerged as an early fan favorite. Their variation on the Paloma has become another popular drink.
'We named it Guillermo's Palomo, because we make our own 'Squirt' in house,' said Oceguera.
The grapefruit-flavored soft drink is a common mixer in the cocktail. Mexican Squirt is as prized as Mexican Coke, made with cane sugar, not high fructose corn syrup. Both are available among the bar's non-alcoholic drinks.
'It is so imperative that I do not cheat on any ingredient, because every seat counts for me, so every experience is crucial,' Oceguera said.
His experience with the space runs deep.
According to his research, the building was built in 1853, originally as a house, eventually with a barber shop. His father emigrated from Mexico in 1973, and he rented a cot in the basement from a family friend.
'After some time, he was able to get on his feet, moved out and met my mother here in Chicago,' he said. 'Ten years later, in 1983, they purchased this building from that family friend.'
The elder Oceguera came from a small ranching town, where shooting pool was their pastime.
'My dad was really good at pool, but not a gambling man, so he made it a pool hall,' said the younger Oceguera. 'And my mom started selling menudo on Sundays to the young men.'
The pop-up precursor turned into a pretty good business so they got rid of one of the pool tables.
'And my father made a little kitchen for my mother in the front,' said their son. That became a tiny taqueria with five stools, and the pool hall stayed in the back.
After Oceguera received a grant from the city's Business Affairs and Consumer Protection Road to Recovery Plan for communities most impacted by the pandemic, they closed Tacos Palacio in 2022. That grant allowed him to execute the renovation at a high level, he said, which was a labor of love.
But he lost count of the number of times, he said laughing, that he was crying in the basement in the fetal position asking, 'When is this gonna happen? Why isn't the permit here? Why is construction taking so long?'
Now, when you walk up to the building, you'll see that it's been restored as close to period correct as possible on the outside. But you won't find a sign.
You'll enter through an 1800s courthouse door from Maywood, which he refinished and painted black.
Inside, past an old family photo of goats in Mexico, down a corridor laid with classic penny tiles, you're greeted at a restored lectern with their reservation book.
'We're not using a reservation system,' he said. 'We're just doing it old school and writing your name down.' You can call, text, email or just walk in.
There are no pool tables in the small space, which has a capacity of only 30 or so, but there are mementos.
'There's a photo of my father taken around the time he got here, shooting pool at a bar that wasn't far from here,' said Oceguera. 'So it's almost like an ofrenda.'
And there's a rack with 10 or so pool cues, which all belonged to people who are no longer here.
An open kitchen honors how his mother worked, he said. A booth runs the span of the room, with a 12-seat bar to the right, which he built himself. The seating was designed to some unusual specifications.
'I built the space with women in mind,' said Oceguera. The bar is two inches lower than the standard height, and the booth allows diners to touch the floor. 'I'm not a tall man, so sometimes my feet go kicking as well.'
First and foremost, he said, Cerdito Muerto is a safe space.
'I really built the space to be inclusive and inviting,' he added.
He's also focused on working with minority-owned and women-led businesses. From designer Aida Napoles of AGN Design, to Cristina Gallo and her husband Marty Sandberg of Via Chicago Architects + Diseñadores, as well as producers of the primarily Mexican-made spirits at the bar.
Has his mother experienced the transformed space yet?
'Oh yeah, if you're lucky enough, you might see her. She loves talking with people,' said Oceguera. 'It's just nice to see my mother, in her 70s, being able to see something of a retirement.'
His father, who died in his mid-50s in 2013, never retired.
His mother was looking at a completely full room at 11:30 on a recent Saturday night.
'And she said, 'I can't believe this is like this,'' Oceguera said. 'I said, 'Oh, I've seen it Mom.' I always pictured this. It's like I'm looking at a memory.'More openings, in alphabetical order:
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