Chilam Balam in Chicago

Chilam Balam is a Mexican restaurant in Chicago that is currently on everybody's mouth. You read about it in the magazines, you meet people that look at you with disdain because you claim you love Mexican food and yet you have not eaten there. This type of place. The problem with this type of hypes is that in most cases it is unfounded (see the example of Nightwood).

However, in the case of Chilam Balam, the hype is perfectly justified (although there are hiccups with the service).

The Good
The restaurant, in a basement of a building, is very small, and easy to miss when you are looking for it. Once you enter, it is very colorful, with tables very close to one another. This doesn't bode well. But when you finally get the food, you will start to relax, and the grumpiness you accumulated because of their mistakes with your table will start fading away.

The food is really incredibly good. The menu has dishes that are very different from those that you will find in most other Mexican restaurants: corn masa memelas with smokey black bean puree and goat cheese; mushroom empanadas; grilled Hawaian tuna with habanero carrot puree; rabbit barbacoa...

You will also find some more regular dishes such as flautas or ceviche, but overall you should expect the menu to be quite new if you are used to other Mexican restaurants in Chicago.

Our favorite was the rabbit barbecoa, which is served with tortillas, like tacos: it was amazing, and we ordered two of them. And the peanut butter empanadas were incredibly tasty (but then again, everything is good with peanut butter).

Is the menu really Mexican, i.e. are the dishes really Mexican or adjusted to the palate of the Chicago diners? I wouldn't know, and I have the intention to go back there with a couple of Mexican friends to find out. But irrespective of whether the food is authentic or not, well, the food is good. And ultimately that is what counts.

The service, once sitting at the table, was quite fast and attentive.

The bad
I hate restaurants that do not take reservations. I hate them with a passion. I think it is a stupid policy that upsets your customers, who are going to come to your restaurants, and are going to get grumpy while they wait for a table. It is beyond me why restaurants do it. Have you ever met anyone whose secret desire for a Saturday night was to spend an hour waiting for a table at a restaurant? I didn't think so. But what I hate even more is when you not only don't accept reservations, but you also have a very stupid system whereby you ask your customers to wait and promise you will call them on the phone.

What happened was this: we get there. We are told the table will be ready in 20 minutes. The lady in the restaurant takes my number and promises she will call us. I tell her: "In any case we will be just here, so just let us know". 15 minutes later we go back to check with her, and she has given away our table because she claims she tried to call me and I didn't respond.

Now, we all know that AT&T and the iPhone both suck like a prostitute on crack. I did not have any call on my phone, but maybe she did try to call me, I don't know. But I am standing there, lady: you see me while you serve the tables. Doesn't it occurr to you to actually simply tell me that the table is ready?

And then there was her boss, or something: when they realized the issue he immediately said "oh, I am sure she got your number wrong". I hate coworkers or bosses that let down their people in front of customers. One thing is customer service, another this is to make your employees look like complete dicks.

Anyway. So we waited for another table. And in the end we were about to go away because they wouldn't tell us how long we had to wait for.

Now, CAN YOU FREAKING TAKE RESERVATIONS? What's so complicated about it?

The second thing that upsets me the most in a restaurant is when you discover that it is a cash only place only when you are about to pay. There was NO label on the door. And we didn't see any indication of the cash only policy on their menu. And the waiter definitevely didn't say that.

Now, I understand that accepting credit cards is a cost for you as a restaurant owner. But you are in the restaurant business: and frankly, you are not even a sandwich shop where you spend $5. So you MUST accept credit cards.

A message to the owner: good food, but you piss people off with your stupid no reservation and only cash policy. You really do.

Overall score: 7 out of 10.

Chilam Balam 
3023 N. Broadway St.
Chicago, IL
773 296 6901