El Cid

Ratings Guide:
Half handshake, half chest-bump hug – 5 stars
Chest bump – 4 stars
Fist bump – 3 stars
High five – 2 stars
Handshake – 1 star
Manly ass slap – ½ star
Fone and fone – 0 stars




Restaurant: El Cid
Location: 2645 N. Kedzie


I French kissed a cow this weekend and it reminded me of eating roast beef. Not only that, the cow was dead. More on that in a moment.

This past Saturday, where the weather was absolutely perfect, I ventured over to by buddy Dave’s place. Dave just moved here a couple of weeks ago and he had some friends in town from New York. They wanted to grab a bite and were in the mood for some authentic Mexican food, something they say they don’t really get in New York. So, with the weather perfect and the desire to sit outside, I recommended we check out El Cid in Logan Square.

I love the atmosphere at El Cid. Located in the heart of Logan Square it’s just across the street from the Blue Line stop, making it pretty easy to get to. Well, easy to get to for me, since I live near the Blue Line. Maybe not as easy to get to for you if you don’t live near the Blue Line. Lucky for me I don’t care about you. Logan Square has a great vibe about it. One of those “up and coming” neighborhoods, it’s been deemed the next hot spot. It feels a lot like Wicker Park felt 5-10 years ago before Josh Hartnett moved in. And El Cid has two outdoor areas – one in front with about five small tables that let you sit on the sidewalk and take in Logan Square and a second patio in the back with the perfect combination of trees and sunlight. We sat in the back.

Days like this day were made for two things – Mexican beer and margaritas. Chrissie and I opted for the margaritas, while Dave and Wojo went with Pacifico. I didn’t love my margarita. After having one at Matchbox the night before (best in the city), my bar was probably set too had, so I was going to be disappointed no matter what. But, that doesn’t change the fact that it wasn’t a great margarita. Chrissie got the strawberry one and said it tasted like cough syrup. I’m not sure if she meant, “Yum, this tastes like cough syrup” or “Yuk, this tastes like cough syrup” or “MMMMM, cough syrup. This reminds me of the good ol’ days.” I’m guessing the first. The beer tasted fine. Dave went with the Tecate for his second round, and it was served out of a can. And you know what they say; it isn’t summer until you’re slamming a 12 oz can of Tecate.

I started things off with the queso fundido. At a lot of places queso fundido is just a fancy way of saying Rotelle dip. But not at El Cid. They do it the right way. They bring out a plate of perfectly melted Chihuahua cheese, then you scoop it up with your fork, wrap a tortilla around it, and enjoy. I couldn’t have been happier. It was a plate full of happiness. I think I hit rock bottom when I ran out of tortillas and just started eating the cheese with my fork.

Then I ordered three tacos for my lunch. Two of the tacos were fish tacos. I’ll be honest, they were good but not great. They had a nice mix of cilantro and onions and fish, and I squeezed some lime on them, but the flavor was very average. Nothing special.

The third taco I got was beef tongue. That’s right, beef tongue. I saw it on the menu, and I’ve never eaten beef tongue before, so I figured what the hell. I was actually a little disappointed. I’m not sure what I expected it to taste like, but it tasted like roast beef. You could see the taste buds and stuff on the little pieces, so it had that going for it. But, the taco did kill two birds with one stone - now I can cross “beef tongue” and “French kiss a cow” off my list of “1 Million Things To Do Before The Cubs Win a World Series”.

Other orders at the table included the barbeque chicken kabobs, which were fantastic. Maybe the best order of the day, minus the plate of cheese. Dave got some kind of sandwich, which he regretted. It was served on Mexican bread, and he thought that sounded interesting. Turns out Mexican bread is pretty much like American bread. Who knew? But, he also got a taco with Mexican Gyro meat (which is just marinated pork) and it was excellent. I’d advise getting tacos with this instead of fish or beef tongue.

Now, I read recently that El Cid was up for the honor of best tacos in the city. It didn’t win, but finished somewhere in the top ten. I love me some El Cid, but mostly for the atmosphere. But I wouldn’t say they are anywhere near the top 10 tacos in the city. Who is in the top 10? I don’t know, I’ll have to get back to you. But if El Cid is in the top then, then I think Chicago is in a lot of trouble. But that’s just me.

El Cid gets a high-five with a manly ass slap. There’s better Mexican food elsewhere, but that doesn’t stop me from going out of my way to visit El Cid when I can.


Got a question? Send it to born2fork@yahoo.com.