Mexican food, culture and wrestling drew more than 500 people to Pilsen's first ever Mole de Mayo celebration Saturday afternoon. The event, which featured bouts of Mexican wrestling (lucha libre), and a variety of mariachi and dance troupes, was centered around mole, a traditional Mexican sauce. more ›

We love a good mole here at Chicagoist, although not so much to follow Geno Bahena and his traveling freak show of moles from restaurant to restaurant. Seriously, does the man have a wanderlust or is his business acumen just not that good? more ›

Gourmet Magazine's September issue is a special "Latino America" issue, which means that not only is it chock-full of recipes for moles, tamales, and other delicacies, but that it also features multiple articles on Latino American cuisine in the U.S. Time Out Chicago food writer David Tamarkin has an article documenting the fantastic Mexican food scene in Chicago, highlighting specifically the number of regions and styles of cuisine our fair city offers. And while... more ›

Take a walk down 18th Street in Pilsen and you won’t go far without passing a carnitas shop, pizza joint, hot dog stand or Mexican grill. It’s a varied mix of cheap (read: affordable) and cheap (read: not very good). For tablecloth dining options in the neighborhood, diners are often limited to May Street Café or Picante Grill, two places both given the Chicagoist review treatment. The former closes down when convenient (e.g the previous... more ›

Residents of the South Loop/Motor Row area are quickly getting more dining options, and just in time, as home buyers and renters flock to the "hottest" neighborhood in the city. There's Jerry Kleiner's long focus on developing a restaurant district along South Wabash (with Opera, Gioco, Room 21); the Mainstay Hospitality holdings all do great business; Cuatro consistently draws diners from all over the area; Café Bionda proved so successful that owner/chef Joe Farina's opened... more ›

Pilsen is a neighborhood currently battling the winds of change from the neighborhoods surrounding it. With the gigantic University Village development project reaching its northern edge businesses throughout the neighborhood are undertaking minor repairs or full-on overhauls in the hope of courting new homeowners down to spend their money in the galleries, storefronts, and taquerias, while still maintaining the working-class family feeling that draws so many Mexican immigrants to settle down there and the... more ›