On a bright, early Sunday morning in September, I (Susan) and two hearty women on bikes joined WBC founder Jennifer James, her husband Doug and youngest son Pele on a delicious tour of Pilsen. Gina and Shay, friends who both work in community health, live in the neighborhood and were excited to learn more about their community, including the best places for cheap eats.
Our first stop was a church basement. We are not at liberty to share the exact coordinates for fear they will get overrun with customers (since WBC has a huge following! To find the location, you'll have to join us on our next tour.) We split a bean taco - we didn't want to get full too soon on this tour.
The next stop was a corner stand, Shay had a strawberry enchilada - basically strawberry-colored and flavored corn meal. Gina had a meat taco, and I had a Mexican-style hot chocolate. We stood on the corner and enjoyed them all in the shade.
There was another stop at another corner umbrella stand, but unfortunately they were out of what Jenn wanted to introduce us to. This is why the ride needed to start at 9 AM--these vendors run out of the good stuff early!
Fortunately, across the street was el-popocatepetl, a tortilla factory storefront, where we stocked up on various packages you normally see in grocery stores, but the freshest you can get.
Next stop: Don Churro, with our choice of chocolate, strawberry, cream cheese or plain churros. Delicious! Also ate them standing on the sidewalk.
En route to our next stop, we rode by a series of murals on the walls of the elevated rail tracks. Pilsen is known for its large-scale public art painted on all kinds of buildings.
One more stop to a full service restaurant on Ashland near 18th, where we could taste a sample of goat. I think it was barbecued. It smelled tasty, but, being a vegetarian, I declined. Jenn ordered a large meal called a huarache that was all the toppings on a sandal-shaped tortilla.
Our last stop was the Pilsen Weekend Market, with one more place for tacos. We were all so full from all the other stops, that we mostly just wandered and looked at the other stalls. The last adventure before we split was Shay testing out Jenn's Bakfiets cargo bike. Once she got the hang of it, she said it changed her life.
Want more exciting adventures like this one? e-mail info@womenbikechicago.org and let us know!
