Friday morning of Suzanne’s visit to Chicago we went to Xoco for brunch. We didn’t get there for their breakfast service, and arrived early in the lunch service. There was already a long line, which we joined, giving us time to puruse the menu.

Xoco is one of Rick Bayless‘s trio of Mexican styled restaurants at the corner of Clark and Illinois, the other two being Frontera Grill and Topolobampo. Xoco is billed as focusing on “contemporary expressions of Mexico’s most beloved street food”.

As is our habit when dining out, we picked a couple things that we would both like to try. One of Xoco’s specialities is tortas (Mexican sandwiches). There was a nice variety to choose from, but we finally settled on a Choriqueso (Homemade chorizo sausage, roasted poblano, artisan jack cheese, tomatillo salsa) and a Pepito (Braised Tallgrass shortribs, caramelized onion, artisan Jack cheese, black beans, pickled jalapenos). Both sandwiches came with a small dish of tomatillo salsa that was very tasty. The rolls they used for the tortas were great, crunchy and tasty.

Choriqueso

Classic chorizo, spicy, greasy, red, and yummy. Suzanne liked this one, though I thought it lacked character. It tasted like chorizo. ‘nuf said.

Pepito

I really liked this one. Shortrib meat, reminiscent of pulled pork: tender and delicious. The peppers and onions were mindblowingly good when you got them in a bite.

In summary, we were very pleased with our meal at Xoco. I look forward to dinner at Frontera on my next visit to Chicago. I also want to make a point of getting there for breakfast and some of their great sounding hot chocolate.