Zocalo (358 W. Ontario St., 312-302-9977), a new restaurant by members of the family who started the Lalo’s empire, officially raises the city’s quotient of upscale Mexican restaurants.
While there are lots of great taco stands, there are few Mexican restaurants that offer great service and great food in Chicago. Adobo Grill comes to mind as one that does (with locations in Old Town and Wicker Park), as does Salpicon in Old Town, and of course, Topolobampo and Frontera Grill in River North. But other than that, it’s a dry and lonely place–the Mexican fine-dining scene in Chicago, that is. (Lalo’s does a great job at offering a much more casual dining experience.)
At the stylishly subdued Zocalo, where our waiter secured our wobbly table without having to be asked to do so, we thoroughly enjoyed the Cornish hen in a mango glaze, even after stuffing ourselves on a trio of guacamoles, chunks of pork in mole sauce served with blue corn tortillas, and several other small plate offerings. The restaurant offers about a dozen large plates, and easily twice that many small ones.
We also downed a few tasty margaritas and mojitos among Zocalo’s simple yet fine selection of cocktail suggestions. Zocalo is on that stip of Ontario near the Ontario feeder. Stay on the feeder and you curve up to the left and around, to the expressway. Avoid the feeder and you go straight onto Ontario, where a near critical mass of restaurants is in the works, thanks to the modern highrises popping up within easy walking distance.
With all of these restaurants–good old Reza’s is still there next to the newbies–we might have to start calling this part of the street the “Ontario Feeder” and think of a new name for the on-ramp leading to 90/94.