Mexican Food

See the Diversity of Mexican Street Food at the Maxwell Street Market

A pambazo from The Green House.
A pambazo from The Green House. Photo: courtesy Nick Kindelsperger/Serious Eats Chicago

A decade ago, it was news that the Maxwell Street Market, ineluctably tied to Jewish peddlers (and delis) and black musicians (and barbecue), even had Mexican food. Today it’s so firmly Mexican in character that Serious Eats can actually run a piece called “Beyond the Taco: 11 Great Non-Taco Dishes at Chicago’s Maxwell Street Market” and no one will say “huh, they have tacos at Maxwell Street?” Nick Kindelsperger looks at the full diversity of Mexican food at the Sundays-only market (which is, it should be pointed out, no longer at Maxwell Street but up and down Desplaines near Roosevelt). Maxwell Street has always been the Ground Zero for Chicago food, the place where fresh-off-the-boat-or-bus immigrants first land their foods on our shores, and this slideshow of everything from El Salvadoran pupusas to mango ice is a great intro to the cross-cultural beachhead that the Maxwell Street Market remains, for a few bucks to any visitor, today. [SE Chicago]

See the Diversity of Mexican Street Food at the Maxwell Street Market