Sol de Mexico

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: Sol de Mexico
Location: 3018 N. Cicero


Back when I first started writing reviews for this site my buddy Geoff begged me (maybe I’m exaggerating) to go to Chilpancingo with him. It was his favorite restaurant in the city, and he wanted to be there when I went (probably because he wanted to be mentioned in the review that would follow). Well, I never went, and Chilpancingo closed down. But I have good news for Geoff – Carlos Tello opened up Sol de Mexico. Why is that good news? Well, Carlos is the brother-in-law of Geno Bahena and Geno was the owner of Chilpancingo. So, thanks to Carlos’ mother-in-law (and Geno’s mom) the mole covered food that made Chilpancingo famous (at least according to Geoff) lives on at Sol de Mexico. Still with me?

So I headed there a couple of weekends ago to check it out. The leather-bound menus have the Chilpancingo logo on the outside, but it’s all Sol de Mexico on the inside.

First off, I want to apologize in advance. I didn’t take anything with me to write down what I ordered. And most places have an itemized list of what you ordered on your receipt, but the receipt at Sol was hand written, and I couldn’t read a lick of it. And after all that, I had a couple of bottles of wine (not by myself) because it’s a BYO joint. So, I’m gonna do my best to try and remember what I ordered, but this isn’t going to be my best piece of work (which isn’t saying much).

There are a bunch of ways to go about ordering food here. The menu has a long list of appetizers, tapas selections, and entrees. So, you can just order a bunch of apps and share some tapas, or some apps and entrees, or tapas and entrees, or just tapas, or just entrees, or apps and tapas and entrees. Really the possibilities are endless (not really, as my 10th grade algebra teacher would tell you that there are exactly seven possibilities). And I’m sure you can figure out what choice we made.

Here’s where things get a little cloudy, so bear with me. I do know we ordered sopecitos because my wife had read about them in the Chicago magazine. They are four cute little boat looking things with different fillings – two with chicken and some mole sauce, one with guacamole, and one with some refried beans. And they were tasty, but I wish they were bigger (shocker). Speaking of, I think McDonald’s should come out with a limited edition Mini Mac, where you take a Big Mac, but make it pretty much bite size. Kind of like Minnieburgers or sliders. Then you can serve like two or four (actually, I’d like twelve) of the Mini Macs in one of those Big Mac boxes. Girls would think they’re adorable and want to have them and walk around with them like they were a purse dog and guys could pretend they were healthier because they’re smaller. I think they would sell. But maybe that’s just me.

Um, where were we? Oh, the sopecitos were good. We also got a bowl of guacamole. Not bad, but nothing special. I know that someone ordered an entrée, which was pork related. Someone ordered an app as their meal, and it was quesadilla related. My wife ordered an app that was quesadilla related and another app that was who-knows-what related. And I ordered four different plates of tapas (though I have NO idea what the four plates where). Here’s what I do remember. I liked my wife’s quesadilla, I liked two of the plates I ordered, and I loved two of the plates I ordered. And that’s about all I remember about the food.

Here are a couple other things I remember:
- Trying to order my food in Spanish. The waitress was amused. My wife was not.
- The waitress telling us that we had to take our empty wine bottles with us, because they couldn’t throw them out, because someone might find them in the trash and accuse them of selling alcohol. Um, what? Just bizarre.
- The place looking like not much from the outside, but inside being very comfortable with some really good food. Honestly, when we pulled up we thought there was a chance that it was a glorified Burrito and Taco #4. We were pleasantly surprised.
- The meal cost about $50 a couple ($60 with tip). That doesn’t include alcohol. Not a bad price, but I could see this place getting really pricey if you come with a big appetite, as I easily could have ordered about three more plates of food.

And sadly, that’s about all I got for you. Pathetic? Absolutely. Is it as good as Chilpancingo? I have no idea. Is Geoff mad that I never went to Chilpancingo with him? Who cares.

So, take the rating for what it’s worth. I enjoyed this place and would go back, even though I couldn’t tell you what I ordered. Fist bump.



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