 El Famous Burrito
One of the most well-established hole-in-the-wall burrito places in the Chicago area, El Famous actually has 11 locations throughout Chicago and suburbia. In some ways, this works against El Famous, as if you are in the mood for a "football-sized burrito," you probably want it from a place that seems atmospherically as ill-advised as a "football-sized burrito" is nutritionally. This is not to say that El Famous is a streamlined, sophisticated place, but meant rather to distinguish it from places like "Burrito #3" or "Burrito Restaurant" that you pass by every now and then. El Famous is quite a bit better than most of those fly-by-night places.
The restaurant itself is small (I think there were four tables), and pretty clean. The menu is the usual fast-food Mexican fare (burritos, tacos, quesadillas, etc.) with breakfast also available (huevos rancheros, etc). The place is open 'til 1 during the week and 'til 5 on weekends (for some reason they close at 5 on Friday night and open at 7 Saturday … what do they do in those 2 hours?). So it's definitely catering to the late-night bar crowd, though I stopped by around 8 or 9 on like a Thursday for a vegetarian burrito (no cheese, no sour cream, plus avocado) and a large horchata. The burrito comes with chips and salsa (kind of bland but still good) and the whole bill came to $5 even. Cheap eats. The horchata was also sort of bland, but good. The burrito was very good, and exceedingly big, and I actually was not able to finish it. I know my old eating buddies will laugh (I used to be able to eat everyone under the table – wait, that came off wrong – wait, that came off even more wrong!), but I suppose past a certain age you're just not a candidate for a ridiculously large burrito anymore. Other things I've noticed about growing older include: total impotence, racial intolerance, and a love of bubble baths.
A good place to bring your frat brothers when they're in town (a better place would be the gas chamber), but moreover a nice place to enjoy a stomach-expanding amount of good food cheap. Parking is usually not a problem, and the service is excellent. I was even quite engaged by the action movie that was on TV, with the sound muted. Something about a corrupt cop chasing after the hit man who's been hired to wipe out his ex-wife. Well, I can't be that far off, that's for sure.
Review by Barney Killer, December 1998 |