28 April 2023

I was flying to Denver for the weekend, and my flight doesn’t get out of Midway until late. But as Midway is such a ridiculous hike from where I live, I went into the office for the Friday and walked to the Loop to take the Pink Line out.

Now those of you who know Chicago must think I’m lost if I tried to use the Pink Line to go to Midway. That’s because I had a dinner stop first, as my flight was so late in the evening. I hopped off at California and walked to La Casa de Samuel.

This Mexican restaurant is famous for having some exotic and unique dishes, like iguana. They are also famous for their goat. I was hungry as I didn’t eat lunch; however, with a flight to Denver, I didn’t want to be too full for a flight either. Not an easy compromise, but I tried!

I ordered and relaxed as it was a quiet early evening so far. There was a singer, which provided some entertainment. My margarita showed up and I enjoyed a few sips of it. Nice and strong, mango today. I caught up on some emails before my starter arrived.

Nice, charales fritos – fried smelts. One of my favourite things to snack on, but darn this was a big plate for my starter! I’m starting to worry! Delicious, I can eat these things non-stop. Who needs French fries when you have charales fritos?

I kept working on it and needed another drink, so had a lovely cantarito. So delicious, and strong too!

This kept me going as my main course arrived, cochinita pibil. One of their specialties, this was done very well. Lovely flavours, and a generous portion. Of course I used up all 5 tortillas, cleaning off the raw onions and most of the other sides. And somehow I finished it all, and went back to the smelts!

I finished my drink and charales at about the same time, and I was full like crazy. Oh, too much! Not good for a flight! But I was still early, so I decided to go the slow way and take 2 busses to get to Midway. This was I can digest too!

I’ll explore the fancier parts of their menu one day, but this was excellent. Worth a trip out to this part of town definitely!

Off to Denver!

La Casa de Samuel
2834 West Cermak Road
Chicago, Illinois