Restaurant news: Carnitas Uruapan, Mexican taqueria, opens Little Village flagship after 50 years in Chicago

Chicago Tribune

24-02-2025

A Mexican restaurant founded 50 years ago specializing in 'little meats' finally has a big new flagship.
Carnitas Uruapan opened its largest location in the Little Village neighborhood of Chicago on Jan. 27.
'We are a very traditional carnitas-focused taqueria,' said second-generation owner Marcos Carbajal, a James Beard Awards semifinalist for Outstanding Restaurateur this year. 'My dad started our original restaurant in 1975.'
Inocencio Carbajal began the business in Pilsen making the dish that literally translates to little meats.
'Carnitas is a regional specialty dish from Michoacán, Mexico,' Marcos Carbajal said. Two towns go back and forth about where it originated, he added, Quiroga and Uruapan, where his family is from.
The iconic dish traditionally starts with a whole pig, said Carbajal, cooked in its own manteca, or lard, which naturally renders out from the skin. It's flash-fried golden brown, he added, then slow-cooked 'confit style' for about two hours until it's crispy on the outside, but still juicy and tender on the inside.
'We make carnitas using ribs, shoulder, pork belly and pork skin,' he said. 'And we follow a recipe that goes back to the family butcher shop that my grandfather and an uncle owned in Michoacán in the '40s, '50s and '60s. My dad learned the trade when he was about 11 years old.'
The elder Carbajal has settled into a role as a founder. He's still known to everyone in the neighborhoods as El Güero, said his son, a nickname for his fair skin and green eyes.
'He is from a generation of immigrants that refuses to ever really stop working,' said the younger Carbajal. 'My dad's not active in the day-to-day running of the restaurant, but a mainstay, someone who's always in our dining room, and who's always around the different restaurants.'
The second-generation owner was formerly a banker.
'I jumped back into the family biz about 10 years ago,' said Carbajal. They expanded with a second location in Gage Park in 2019 and have been building the third location since 2021.
And they're referring to it as their flagship.
'It is a much larger endeavor than our other two locations,' he said. 'And it's kind of a natural evolution.'
Pilsen was the original Mexican neighborhood in Chicago, he added, and still the heart and soul of the community culturally.
'But Little Village is now the most populous Mexican neighborhood in the city,' Carbajal said. And it's the backbone of the community, he added, booming with entrepreneurship.
Their new space has transformed the ground floor of a three-story building with a history dating back 100 years.
'It's from the 1920s,' said Carbajal. 'An art deco building with a terra cotta facade.
In the '50s and '60s, it was a furniture store, he said, with furniture manufactured on the second and third floors.
'In the '80s and '90s this became a concert venue for up-and-coming Mexican bands called the Concordia,' he added, with a 40-foot sign out front. 'A lot of people came here for concerts. They would do weddings and quinceañeras. There's a lot of nostalgia in the community.'
That nostalgia appealed to Carbajal and inspired him to bring back the building, which sits on a corner with one of the largest sidewalks in the neighborhood known as Mexico in the Midwest.
The flagship Carnitas Uruapan was designed with 100 seats available inside now. A sidewalk patio with 50 seats will be built out in the spring, he added. You can park in their lot across the street, which can be a big deal in Little Village.
'The building itself is beautiful,' said Carbajal. 'We restored the terra cotta storefront.'
The 40-foot Concordia sign was replaced, he said, with an ode to the neighborhood. As much as he loves his business, Carbajal said he did not want to be the guy that takes a historic landmark sign and plasters their name 40 feet high.
'What we decided to do was take the same style and font and write the name of the neighborhood on that sign,' said Carbajal.
It now says La Villita.
Through the front window, you'll see somebody making fresh tortillas on a new tortilla machine. And there's a takeout window, so you don't need to go in.
But when you open the door, you'll experience modern-day Mexico.
'Spanish everywhere, music playing,' said Carbajal. 'The design is refined, regional Mexican.'
From banquettes with an ostrich pattern, like ostrich boots, and rebozo fabric, similar to women's shawls.
'It's full table service,' he added. But we do so much takeout that on a Sunday, you might see 50 people in line in the takeout area.'
So what should you order?
'If it's during the week, we have a lunch special,' said Carbajal. 'We run this half a pound of carnitas, where you can order all the different cuts and kind of dial in what you like.'
The Carnitas Especial Meal also includes a half dozen tortillas made fresh, he added, a little side of beans, little side of chicharron, a crispy fried taco dorado, with your choice of three fillings, and house-made horchata or jamaica agua fresca.
'On the weekend, you gotta go carnitas by the pound,' he said, with a sampler of all the different sides. 'And on the weekend, we have a specialty type of tamal from Michoacán called a corunda.'
Instead of a dried corn husk, it's wrapped in a fresh corn leaf for a stronger corn flavor. Filled with Swiss chard and cheese, it's eaten topped with salsa, crema and cotija cheese.
And for the first time in its 50-year history, Carnitas Uruapan is serving alcoholic drinks, from imported and local beer to spirits and seasonal cocktails.
The Tarasco Secrets, an early bestseller, said Carbajal, is mixed with charanda, a sugarcane spirit made in Michoacán, Nixta corn liqueur and guava.
Do note that the restaurant closes at 4 p.m. on weekdays and 5 p.m. on weekends. That's because carnitas are typically a weekend specialty dish in Mexico, Carbajal said, and usually places that do great carnitas are normally sold out by noon.
'We have batches and batches that come out,' he added. 'But the majority of our customer base being Mexican, in their mind, they're not craving our food for dinner.'
Which could be good for quiet nights in the apartments he's building on the second and third floors.
He plans to bring live music back to the building on weekends, but acoustic.
'Just to give it that flagship vibe.'
Until then, look for the sign that says La Villita visible a mile away.
'It's becoming something that people are taking pictures with,' said Carbajal. 'My intent is for it to serve as a landmark the way that the Little Village arch serves on the other side of the neighborhood.'
3801 W. 26th St., 773-940-2770, carnitasuruapanchi.com
More new openings, in alphabetical order:
Diversey House
Black-owned Moor's Brewing and Steep Ravine Brewing (formerly Ravinia Brewing) have opened a new sports bar and brewery together. Diversey House started pouring in Logan Square on Feb. 5. Partner Marc Anthony Bynum, a veteran chef from Long Island, New York, is making his debut in Chicago with signature ribs, served with pickled watermelon rind and an espresso chipotle barbecue sauce, and the Diversey Fries, loaded with an oxtail ragout and beer cheese fondue.
2601 W. Diversey Ave., 773-799-8050, diverseyhouse.com
Milk Bar
A highly anticipated bakery has finally arrived from New York City by way of the Boka Restaurant Group. Milk Bar began baking in the West Loop on Feb. 8. Acclaimed pastry chef Christina Tosi personally brought her famous Compost Cookie and created two new Chicago-only items: a Portillo's Chocolate Cake Cookie and a Hot Dog Bomb, a variation of their Bagel Bomb, but with all the elements of a Chicago-style loaded hot dog instead.
208 N. Green St., milkbarstore.com
The Staley
After opening Signature Bar together in January 2024, former Chicago Bear Israel Idonije and chef Stephen Gillanders (S.K.Y., Apolonia, Valhalla) have teamed on a second play — this time, a sports bar. The Staley kicked off in the South Loop on Jan. 27. Named for Bears godfather Gene Staley, the menu offers classic bar food including a Staley cheeseburger with bacon jam and a Staley-style pizza, plus big screens everywhere.
1736 S. Michigan Ave., 312-248-8711, thestaley.com
In notable restaurant news:
Alinea, one of the world's best restaurants, opened by acclaimed chef Grant Achatz 20 years ago in May, is going on tour to celebrate with three stops announced so far on a first leg: Brooklyn (March 20 to April 13), Miami and Beverly Hills.
1723 N. Halsted St., alinearestaurant.com
Ever, the Michelin two-star restaurant by chef Curtis Duffy that opened in 2020, is losing business partner Michael Muser who announced that he's 'moving on' and 'headed for new adventures' after working together for 15 years through three restaurants.
1340 W. Fulton St., ever-restaurant.com
Chicago Black Restaurant Week, which marked its 10th year celebrating Black-owned businesses, just wrapped up Sunday. While the deals are officially over, it's a great list with notable, new destinations including Homewood Brewing Co., the restaurant and brewery launched by Carmela Wallace last October in the south suburb as a ' testament to a mother's love ' for her late son, the rapper Juice WRLD.
18225 Dixie Highway, Homewood; 708-838-0064; homewoodbrew.com
In restaurant reopening news:
Sikia, the only fine dining restaurant in Englewood, operated by the students and instructors of Washburne Culinary and Hospitality Institute, reopened after repairs and refurbishment with a $17 three-course lunch service at Kennedy-King College on Jan. 30. It had closed due to the pandemic in 2020.
740 W. 63rd St., 773-602-5200, ccc.edu/kennedy/departments/washburne-culinary-institute (Reservations are required.)
Vermilion, the restaurant opened by women's rights activist Rohini Dey as a pioneering Indian Latin restaurant more than 20 years ago, and last transformed with a fiery Indian Chinese menu, has closed, but relaunched as Sanctuary, a 'cocktail den' with 'comfort fare' in River North on Feb. 21. (Axios Chicago first reported news of the closure.)
10 W. Hubbard St., instagram.com/sanctuary_2025
In restaurant closing news:
90 Miles Cuban Cafe, known for expansive corner patios as much as its food, closed both locations in Roscoe Village and Logan Square. (Block Club Chicago first reported the news.)
In restaurant fundraising news:
Piece Brewery and Pizzeria, makers of the New Haven style thin and crispy yet chewy pizza, are running with the big dogs again, with the PAWS Chicago Slice to Meet You fundraising collaboration. The Wieners Circle has joined the pizza collab pack for the first time with a pie featuring their char Polish sausage, chopped sport peppers, grilled onions, grated pecorino cheese and an infamous side of attitude. Your purchase of a $35 pizza sends an $80 donation to PAWS ($10 from Piece and $10 each from seven matching donors). The Wieners Circle pizza for PAWS is available at Piece until March 8. If you miss it, big dog Rick Bayless will be back with his Bayless Family Pizza next. (Full disclosure: I adopted my dog Kōl Chu from PAWS.)