La Esquina Del Sabor

In Los Angeles, gourmet food served in trailers is becoming the rage of the city, as diners text and tweet their favorite roving locations every lunch hour. Chicagoans in the Humboldt Park area have been going to a trailer located in the middle of a service drive in the park itself, La Esquina Del Sabor, for years. Although the establishment serves Puerto Rican bistec, pollo, arroz con gandules and other dishes, their mainstay is Lechon. Like Pierogies are for the Polish or roast lamb is for Greeks, Lechon is more than just a food in the Puerto Rican community, it is a cause for celebration and ethnic identity. A roasted pork whose method of cooking originated in the Philippines and was brought to Puerto Rico when both were United States colonies, Lechon is pork, pork and pure pork. It is so flavorful there is no need for smoking, barbecue sauce, hot sauce, hoisin, or any other flavoring. But new diners be warned. Lechon tastes like pig. In recent years meats such as lamb, pork and even catfish have been altered so that their true flavors are masked. Much of the pork you buy now is learner but also bland—“the new white meat”—they say. As a result, new lamb “tastes like roast beef” and catfish “tastes like chicken.” Like the old lamb and catfish, Lechon is a bit greasy, fatty and has a slightly gamey taste to it. But it is for this taste that so many line up in front of a trailer in Humboldt Park in the heat, rain and snow. Besides, a seven-dollar platter can easily fill up two human “pigs,” with some left over.

California and Luis Munoz Marin Drive

Best of Chicago 2009

“Actually Filmed in Humboldt Park”

Remember the Josh Hartnett-starring “Wicker Park”? No? We didn’t think so.

Audience Comments: “Nothing Like A Bland, Homogenized, Location-Neutral Title”; “I need a gentrifica-vacation”; “we just want Christmas money.”

Best of Chicago 2008

The Continental

Being a 4am bar (or 5am on Saturdays), The Continental is not exempt from late-night overcrowding. To be honest, after 2am, it’s really, really crowded and often, especially during warmer months, there’s a pretty long wait to get in, as the place reaches capacity by 1:30am. But what makes the overcrowding bearable is the crowd of mostly locals—or people who should be locals and paid the cab to trek across town to come. And it’s not all frat-house, as a lot of bars tend to be that late.

2801 West Chicago
(773)292-1200

Best of Chicago 2007

Boricua Town

A neighborhood named for a German scientist who never even visited Chicago would do better to embrace its Puerto Rican heritage before it’s too late. The battering rams of gentrification are at the gate and cannot be turned back, but like other ethnic neighborhoods—Greektown, Chinatown, Little Italy—that retain their heritage and identity to varying degrees in the face of rapidly changing demographics, so too should Humboldt Park. And so, boricua, a commonly used word to identify Puerto Ricans, might just help the city acknowledge its growing Latino heritage.

Audience Choice
Humboldt Park; West Wicker Park (tie)
Best audience comments: “Cosmos: A neighborhood with a club name derived from the major work of the old neighborhood’s namesake. It should attract more dumpy white people and, hey, it’s cute!”; “Ho-Hum-then Bolt Park”; “Humble Pork”; “Scumboldt Park.”

Best of Chicago 2007

Twisted Scissors

There’s no shortage of fancy-schmancy salons in this city, but sometimes it’s nice to get a haircut without dipping into your rent money, and Supercuts is always a risk. Good thing three former Big Hair stylists teamed up to open Twisted Scissors, a salon that offers cheap cuts that start at $25. The salon’s objective of not overcharging for its service has caught on, as it’s not uncommon to have to wait a couple weeks for an appointment. But it’s worth the wait—you won’t be offered PBR at Hair Cuttery.

2001 North Point
(773)227-1077

Best of Chicago 2007

Division Street at dusk between Wood and Damen

The soundscape starts mildly at Phyllis’ Musical Inn and bumps up a notch at Smokedaddy, where the forest of sidewalk tables begins; move further west and Moonshine thumps into the cool autumn nights. A few doorways of quiet, past the closed-by-night Milk & Honey, and then you are in the throng: Via Carducci, The Boundary, Jerry’s, Coco Rouge, Vintage, Easy. The block west of Damen is eatery-chocked, too, but the loud music chiming and clashing and crowds noshing and gnashing and flashing and splashing are a solid wall of attitude, if not style, the closest approximation in this new yupscale nightlife zone to the most impossible, impassable stretches of Miami’s South Beach. Cross the street! Quickly!

Best of Chicago 2007