Rick Bayless: Mexican Essentials, released Wednesday, puts some of his most essential recipes (along with lots of videos) in the palm of your hand. more ›

With some patience, these aren't difficult to make. More than one person is necessary though, unless you magically are someone with all the time in the world. more ›

Without any warning, Rick Bayless opened another outlet of his popular O'Hare sandwich shop. There was much rejoicing. more ›

Ready for more fusion foods? The latest entry into the Lakeview neighborhood is La Taccorea, offering another variation on the popular Korean taco. more ›

The classic Mexican sandwich can be found all over the city, not just at Xoco. Check out some other Torta options. more ›

For a simple brunch in Lincoln Square with both sweet and spicy dishes, Cinnamon Café on Lawrence is your best bet. more ›

Country singer Lyle Lovett said recently that Mexican food in Chicago couldn't be that good "if a guy named Bayless is cooking it." more ›

If you have the taste for one of these delectable treats, look no further than Rogers Park's Tamales Lo Mejor de Guerrero. more ›

With winter chills expected just around the corner, now is the perfect time to visit Humboldt Park for one of the best kept secrets in this city: Chicago’s only pozoleria. more ›

The shell of the new taco is made from nacho cheese Doritos. The CEO calls it "a breakthrough product." more ›

Masa Azul has amassed an impressive bar of small-batch agave spirits - including several quality mezcals. more ›

Agave rules the bar at Masa Azul, the newly opened Logan Square restaurant serving a mix of Mexican and Southwestern food. More than 70 varieties of tequila, 10 mezcals and (very soon) even a few bottles of rare-to-see sotol line the colorful tile-backed shelves of Masa Azul's bar. And there is scarcely a mass-market tequila brand among the collection - a testament to the efforts of owner Jason Lerner, a passionate and knowledgeable connoisseur of independent, small-batch agave-based spirits, who has taken pains to assemble a kind of personal all-star team of intriguing, high quality products, discovered over the years at seminars and tasting events and during his travels. more ›

Vegetarian food is not exactly hard to come by in Mexican restaurants. It does not take a whole lot of effort to throw some standard non-meat ingredients on a tortilla or taco shell and label it vegetariano. It takes more talent and a better understanding of the veggie palate, however, to serve up meatless meals with real south of the border flare and authentic Mexican taste. The folks at Los Portales in Rogers Park possess that skill. more ›

Only in Chicago can you chase down a truck to have tamales served by brawny luchadores. Sending cryptic messages from the tamalespaceship, Tamalli Space Charros is the only stridendist mobile tamaleria, focusing the entire menu around only tamales, with a theme encompassing both Mexican wrestling and sci-fi films. more ›

Mercadito, the modern Mexican hotspot in River North, has been hosting a series of cooking demonstrations for the past several months. We got a chance to attend last month's sold-out show, run by Chef Patricio Sandoval, and came back slightly deaf, pleasantly full and rarin' to go again. Take a look at some of the dishes and drinks from our experience and learn about the next demo, scheduled for April 25. more ›

Every third Sunday of the month, El Cid #2 in Logan Square is hosting a "pig & swig." The special of the day is pork, roasted in-house, which you can get in a taco or torta. We are suckers for pigmeats of all varieties and events with rhyming names, so you can bet we showed up to the first roast. These Sunday afternoon pig roasts will run at the Kedzie location from April to September. more ›

We have said it before, but some things simply bear repeating. Living on a vegetarian diet does not have to be boring or bland. All you need is an adventurous spirit, a palate to match and either a good dining guide or map of the city. Chicago is a food-lover’s oyster, and for the vegetarians among us it is literally stuffed with pearls. If you are craving good, authentic Mexican food, you can satisfy your hunger and your budget with a trip to Taqueria Mi Guadalupe in Rogers Park. Bland and boring step aside. The food here is excitante y caliente. more ›

Perhaps the sunshine and warmer temperatures have lulled us into a false sense of security. It sure does feel, however, like spring may have finally sprung here in the Windy City. Call us eager, but that means it is time to start trading in parkas for shorts, snow boots for sneakers, and the soups and stews of winter for much lighter and fresher springtime fare. Though it is available year-round, one of our favorite spring dishes is none other than fresh guacamole. It is perfect for eating on the patio and has a flavor that harkens to warmer climbs and sunnier times. more ›

Let's say you want to make your restaurant stand out. You could serve great food, lower your prices, or hire a new chef. Or, if you're La Senorita, a Northern Indiana restaurant group, you could create a series of billboards that reference the most famous mass suicide in modern history. More than 900 people died by drinking poison in the 1978 Jonestown disaster, so it's only logical that it could be used to sell drinks. Check out a picture of the billboard at the Lansing State Journal. more ›

We love to see chefs helping each other out. Last night, we received word that Brandon Baltzley, formerly of Mado, is hosting another pop-up dinner at Yuca Cafe in Bucktown tonight at 7. After the awesomeness that was his last pop up dinner, we were very excited. It got even better - Baltzley later informed us that he is just acting as backup for his friends, Jose Cervantes (former general manager of Rosebud) and Emmanuel Cadengo (former sous at Mado). He's bragged up Cadengo to us before, and it's great to see that sort of support. Whomever actually cooks your plate, the dinner will be six courses of Mexican food. Dishes like fish tacos, pozole, green mole with chicken and plantain, porkbelly with huitlacoche and white mole and bistec a la mexicana will fill out the $50 menu. The dinner will allow guests to BYOB, but wine pairings from Life's a Cabernet will be available for $22 dollars. more ›

Maybe that headline should be "pours out soups." Anyway, Chipotle launched it's new soup program on Monday, and Chicago is one of only two cities in the nation to get it. This is especially exciting for our vegetarian readers, as their signature soup is vegan. Pozole, a traditional Mexican stew, is being made by Chipotle with a tomato and hominy base, and will sell for $3.33 for an 8-ounce portion. If you're a dedicated carnivore, you can add meat for an additional $1.50. more ›

In the predominantly Puerto Rican neighborhood of Humboldt Park, you’ll find a neighborhood staple and a unique Mexican favorite at Cemitas Puebla. Well known but still unassuming, the humble storefront of Cemitas Puebla offers bold, flavorful and unique cemitas that keeps dedicated followers coming back for more. more ›

Katherine Shillcutt, writing for the Houston Press, has created one of the funniest visual representations of food information that we have ever seen. We are slightly biased, as we're suckers for Venn Diagrams, but the concept is particularly interesting. Officially based on "Texas diners" but applicable to any average American, the diagrams show where American versions of ethnic cuisines and the authentic versions of those cuisines overlap. more ›

As fall’s final days roll around, now is the best time to take advantage of every opportunity to enjoy the art of outdoor feasting. To master the art of eating street food while squatting on a curb, there’s no better place for novices and experts alike than at the Maxwell Street Market. Re-relocated from the former Canal St. location to their new spot on Roosevelt and Des Plaines, this landmark market is open every Sunday, rain or shine, welcoming thrift-seeking shoppers amongst hungry hoards of families. more ›

The ordained Mole Master, Geno Bahena, opened Tepatulco to showcase a mixture of traditional Mexican food and contemporary Mexican cuisine. We stopped in for a quick bite to see if the rumors about good food but poor service were accurate. more ›

To say that it isn't hard to stumble into a taqueria in Pilsen is an understatement. Focus on the Blue Island corridor, however. and the question becomes trying to avoid one. We took advantage of yesterday's thaw to walk around, enjoy the weather buy some pirated movies (you should see our copy of "Untraceable"). Then, after we worked up an appetite, we headed into the first taqueria we saw for a quick bite, which wound up being an old favorite. more ›