Restaurant review: Las Carnitas Uruapan La Villita, a flagship for pork in Chicago
Inocencio Carbajal opened the original Carnitas Uruapan in 1975 with his wife, Abigail Carbajal, in Pilsen. While , as the family patriarch is known in the neighborhood, a nickname for his fair skin and green eyes, still roams the dining rooms, his son now runs the family business built on carnitas, and hospitality just as tender.
Marcos Carbajal, a former banker and second-generation owner of the enterprise, expanded with a second location in Gage Park in 2019. They celebrated the grand opening of the third and largest restaurant in January. Carbajal was named a James Beard Awards semifinalist for Outstanding Restaurateur this year.
The flagship in Little Village has become a dining destination for locals and regional tourists too.
'We see people of Mexican origin from around the Midwest,' said Carbajal. 'They come to buy quinceañera dresses and then eat carnitas.'
When you wend your way past shops blooming with birthday ballgowns, and sidewalk vendors selling limes or Labubus, a crunchy puff of chicharrón may magically appear.
'If you're waiting for takeout with 15 or 20 plus people, we'll go up and down the line to offer you chicharrón,' said Carbajal. 'Just to make that wait a little easier to manage.'
If you dine in, instead of chips and salsa, your server will bring to your table a captivating spread of complimentary chicharrón and salsas.
That's an amazing gift at a restaurant where you can feast for under $20.
The stunning carnitas 'Especial' is their signature sampler meal with a half pound of glorious pork, a crackling taco dorado, velvety refried beans, six house-made tortillas with all the garnishes (onion, cilantro, lime) plus more chicharrón and seriously spicy salsas (verde and jalapeño tomato).
You can choose your cut of carnitas, but I highly recommend getting the trio mix, with lean shoulder (like pulled pork), rib meat and lush skin. Then build your own tacos with the warm tortillas, inhaling the elusive perfume of toasted corn.
Do note that the special is only available weekdays.
On weekends, the corundas reign.
The deeply flavorful Michoacán-style triangular tamales are wrapped in fresh corn leaves, and served unwrapped, but fully dressed with brick red chile de arbol salsa, fresh crema and a dusting of cotija cheese. They're not filled like the more familiar tamales, but studded with Oaxacan queso, similar to mozzarella, or acelgas y queso (Swiss chard and cheese).
'It's a very nostalgic item,' said Carbajal. 'In a neighborhood with a lot of people from our part of Mexico in Michoacán, I think that one hits home.'
But they're not from his family's recipe.
In the early days of the pandemic, he hosted a pop-up with chef Danny Espinoza, now co-owner with his wife, Jhoana Ruiz, of Santa Masa Tamaleria in Dunning.
'He's a friend and his grandmother was a tamale vendor in Michoacán,' said Carbajal. 'So it's his family recipe.'
The corundas are made with manteca (lard), he added, of which they have plenty from cooking their carnitas, and two kinds of fresh masa.
'I'm a big fan of our friends at El Popo,' said Carbajal about El Popocatepetl Tortilleria. 'We've been using them since the '70s and they're our neighbors in Pilsen.'
Carnitas by the pound cannot be dethroned as their all-around bestseller, but the most popular cut has changed from the old neighborhood to the new, reflecting changing demographics. In Pilsen, they now sell a lot more lean shoulder, Carbajal said. Meanwhile, the pork ribs and fantastically funky skin are a lot more popular in Little Village.
The silky chicharrón guisado, fried pork rinds simmered soft in red sauce, remains a weekend-only item at the original store, but is available every day at the sibling locations to tuck into tortillas.
Glossy green guacamole and thick-cut chips, the metamorphosis of those tortillas by baptism in bubbling hot manteca, offers a cooling contrast, as does a bright ensalada de nopales (cactus salad).
The golden tacos dorados — filled with pillowy pockets of potato and cheese, potato and chorizo, or sesos (spicy pork brain) — crackle when hot from the fryer.
Surprisingly, there's one filling that's common across the neighborhoods.
'By far the traditional pork brain,' said Carbajal. 'Because carnitas places in Michoacán are known for selling those hand in hand with the carnitas.'
The sesos gets seasoned and cooked with salt, garlic, serrano chile, onion and cilantro before it's stuffed into a tortilla and flash-fried in the caso, or cauldron.
The tacos dorados are best when eaten immediately, otherwise they'll harden, and do need a tart squeeze of lime or fire from salsa.
Dessert is limited to the frozen paletas first launched in Gage Park, with an especially lovely Gansito pop that's layered with the beloved Mexican chocolate and strawberry snack cake.
At the flagship, I would have liked at least one more sweet, perhaps a variation on a regional specialty. After all, they're serving alcoholic drinks for the first time in Little Village, highlighting charanda, the sugarcane spirit made nearly in their hometown in Michoacán.
The refreshing Tarasco Secrets cocktail, mixed with Charanda Uruapan and Nixta Licor de Elote (corn liqueur), is familiar and fruited with guava, and shockingly low-priced at $10, when drinks elsewhere go for easily twice as much.
'We wanted to make cocktails that your Mexican aunt or uncle wouldn't think, 'What are you handing me? This tastes weird,'' said Carbajal, laughing. He worked with cantinero (bartender) Luis Estrada, bar manager at The Press Room.
Nonalcoholic drinks are delicious too, from an iced café de olla to the house-made horchata, both delicately spiced and sweetened. Regulars should note that a horchata or agua de jamaica (hibiscus) is no longer included with the weekday carnitas meal.
'We can blame inflation for that,' said the restaurateur.
But the weekend-only menudo is still a steal. One of the world's legendary hangover cures transforms beef tripe, guajillo chiles and aromatics into a soothing stew. You dress your bowl to taste with onion, cilantro and oregano as part of the restorative ritual.
'Price is something I'm very mindful of,' said Carbajal. 'I want big families to come by.'
I ordered online for one visit, because the majority of the business is still takeout, and dined in for another. When I called to confirm my order, after I got through the voice prompts in Spanish, I was able to speak to a live bilingual person.
Service was excellent for takeout and dine-in, both fast and friendly. But the thoughtful hospitality starts even before you arrive, with two parking lots in the high-traffic area.
The colorful interior by designer Aida Napoles of AGN Design features ribbons on a ceiling installation hiding little marionettes. Everybody used to have those when they were kids down in Mexico, Carbajal said.
They're just another detail to discover when a culture is truly seen.
Las Carnitas Uruapan La Villita
3801 W. 26th St.
773-940-2770
carnitasuruapanchi.com
Open: Monday to Thursday 10 a.m. to 4 p.m.; Friday 9 a.m. to 4 p.m.; Saturday and Sunday 8 a.m. to 5 p.m.
Prices: $10.99 (weekday only Carnitas 'Especial' meal), $6.99 (guacamole and tortilla chips), $6 (weekend only corunda), $10 (Tarasco Secrets cocktail), $3.50 (12 ounce iced cafe de olla)
Sound: OK (65 to 70 dB)
Accessibility: Wheelchair accessible with restrooms on same level
Tribune rating: Excellent, three of four 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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