Quesadillas Dona Lolis

Closed down. Went last night.

Note: the food is actually from Mexico D.F., not Oaxaca. But still! It’s awesome.

This isn’t so much a review as simply a heads up for anyone who gives a shit about Mexican food. Quesadillas Dona Lolis is the ONLY PLACE IN THE UNITED STATES (as far as I have seen, and believe me, I’ve looked) that serves huitlacoche. For those have you who have never tried this, wrap yourself in Goretex and your scarf and go out in the freezing cold to try it now. Those of you who know it need no more in the way of description, but for the uninitiated it is an intensely flavorful fungus that grows on corn. To ease the blow, many times you will hear it referred to as corn mushrooms or corn truffles. At Dona Lolis, they serve the real deal (not just sauteed button mushrooms like most restaurants) on quesadillas the size of your head. Food love! CHEAP food love… I think each quesadilla was $ 3.50!

Unequivocally one of the worst meals of my life. I should have turned around and walked out based on my first impression of the interior, but I foolishly plowed on. On a Saturday mid-​afternoon, I was the only patron the entire duration of my stay.
I couldn’t tell where the restaurant staff ended and the extended family began. At first I chalked this up as a strong point – «Cool, it’s a family-​run establishment.» Later I realized my error, as the shrieking children annoyed the hell out of me and the server became too engrossed in her conversations to pay me any attention. I never got refills on my soda or water and had to ask for the check.
The food was horrid. I ordered an appetizer (blocked it from memory) and a chicken enchilada; but the meat gave me the willies. It wasn’t big chunks or shreds like you would expect, but tiny overcooked bits. It tasted and felt so odd that for the first time in my life, I seriously wondered whether I was actually eating chicken or… something else. To this day it makes me queasy to imagine the possibilities.
The melted-​then-​resolidified cheese was lumpy and granular, the enchilada was bland and dry, and despite my request for no sour cream, there it was.
Maybe I should have tried the quesedillas… too late now.

Husband and I are exploring the taquerias on clark from devon north. This was stop #5 on our list. The restaurant was almost empty. Its interior is pretty comfortable, with mooshy booths and a wood cut-​out ceiling, kitchy décor on the walls. The waitress was friendly and available when needed.
First came out the pre-​requisite tortillas. Pretty stale and a small bowl at that. The salsas (red and green) were presented in ketchup squeezy bottles. Not very appealing. Husband liked the green, though. Chock full of lime and cilantro. Almost like a pesto.
but the entries more than made up for the lackluster tortillas.
We shared 5 items.
First the guacamole. So nice. Chunky with tons of tomato and onion and cilantro with a nice lime tang to it. Almost like the guacamole husband makes at home. Excellent.
Then came the Flor de calabaza (squash blossom) quesadilla. Excellent, again. Like a tasty little salad was stir fried into my quesadilla. And the huitlacoche (Mexican corn truffle) quesadilla was even better. My friend told me he’d eaten huitlacoche for a million dollars at frontera grill a while back. You can have it here, my friends, for approx. 3 dollars. It’s different. Like if you took mushrooms and spinach and ground them up into a really green, earthy paste. Delicious. The tortillas were great, too. Big and corn and, I’m pretty sure, homemade.
We also had a Huarache (long, flat masa bed) with nopal (cactus) and egg and a sope (round, ridged masa bed) with poblano pepper. The pepper was a little too spicy for me but husband liked it. The egg and cactus might have been the star of the show for me. The cactus is marinated in something salty and lovely and cooked till it’s tender, but not soggy. Somehow the scrambled egg complemented the cactus perfectly. Just awesome.
I asked for champurrado (chocolate, cinnamon drink) but they didn’t have it. I wasn’t too surprised. It’s more of a winter drink. Instead I had their orchada (cinnamon rice water) which was awesome, and perfect to cool off pepper mouth.
Husband had his typical mandarin drink.
We thought about the fried plantains for dessert, but were just too full.
The total bill came out to $ 25, with tip. And we were stuffed.
We would definitely come here again. Great place.

I’m ashamed to admit that we walked into this place without looking, and assumed we were at the doorway of La Cazuela, but we were actually one door down from there. As soon as walked in, I realized our error, but my oblivious husband did not, so we went ahead and sat down and ordered.
The menu was in Spanish (including the specials), and while I know a little bit of Spanish, I didn’t know enough to understand the specials. So, I went with what I know: tacos with spicy pork. These tacos were pretty darn good! I loved the onion and cilantro topping and the salsas added quite a kick. The corn tortillas were obviously made from scratch and didn’t disappoint! The best part of the meal though? The Mexican Coca-​Cola served in a glass bottle!
The restaurant is definitely lacking in «atmosphere», but the Spanish-​language soap operas on the TV accented by the signs which were all written in Spanish created an interesting cultural experience. I certainly had a chance to brush up on my rusty rudimentary Spanish skills!

Thought this looked interesting — but it was dreadful. It’s clean but very basic in a linoleum and formica way. The squash blossom quesadilla was huge, but heavy and greasy, and not at all tasty. The Huarache Mixta was tolerable, but nothing special (try the ones at Maiz). The camerones diablo had a nice heat, but there was so much sauce it was more like soup. The corn tortillas and quesadilla and huarache were all «home made» but that just wasn’t enough. Although there were only two tables including us, I still had to ask for the check, and then I realized she had overcharged us by several dollars. no mas!

This place was reviewed in Time Out recently, but I have been there three times prior to reading the article highlighting Clark St in Rogers Park.
My friend Lewis and I decided to try «one of those mexican places on Clark» and we went into this one. For a long time I didn’t even know the name of the place.
It is so inexpensive and pretty divey, but I like that aspect. They have squashblossom quesadillas, orchata, fried bananas for dessert. My favorite dish is the poblano pepper gordita and the tostadas are good too.
The ceiling has these really strange wooden cut-​out panels. Very interesting.
They only take cash and the service is kind of slow, but you sort of feel like you are eating at a friends house… especially with the spanish soap operas on the tv.

Not surprising that people haven’t tried out what looks like yet another undistinguished Mexican joint in Rogers Park.
This place has a pretty unusual menu for a Mexican place: a good sign. The use ingredients that you’ve probably only heard of at Rick Bayless’ or other upscale Mexican places. In particular, they make quesadillas using huitlacoche (which they call «Mexican truffle» — it’s actually a corn fungus that most farmers will throw out — though that sounds kind of unappetizing), and flor de calabaza (pumpkin/​squashblossoms). And they’re done right, grilled in corn tortillas.
The pambaso sandwich is also excellent, and they advertise boatloads of seafood on their menu. (Haven’t tried those yet, but word of mouth says the seafood is also good.)
Clientele is probably 80% Spanish-​speaking, and the only drawback, aside from the kind of squishy booths, is that they tend to be blasting Mexican soap operas on the T.V. (Authentic, yes, but it gets old.)
Also: cash only, and BYOB.