Chilam Balam: Small Plates

Living without a car in a suburb of Chicago, getting into the city takes a little extra motivation. The celebration of the opening of the Boystown branch of Forever Yogurt with the distribution of free frozen yogurt for a year to the first fifty people in line, provided just the push. Forever Yogurt, a self-serve frozen yogurt place where the price is determined by the weight of your ice cream and toppings, is any frozen yogurt lovers’ dream. While I consider myself one of the top frozen yogurt fans, to my dismay we found a line of people who are a bit more loyal and had been there since hours before opening time. After watching a somewhat anticlimactic distribution of envelopes, we decided to walk to a Mexican restaurant we had wanted to try, Chilam Balam.

 Prepared for a long wait, we were unsurprised that the tiny yet boisterous restaurant located down a small flight of stairs was packed at 7 p.m. on a Friday night. After a 45-minute wait, we were seated at one of the small tables and confronted with a small menu that we soon discovered is changed monthly. The menu features a variety of small dishes all for table sharing. The likable and honest waitress informed us that the shitake mushroom empanadas we had planned to order were not the best the restaurant had to offer. Confronted with dishes with names from “memelas” to “flautas” to “succotash gorditas” we decided to rely mainly on the waitress’ selections.

Roasted cauliflower with chimichurri, jicama, pineapple, cucumber and mango. 

The first two dishes were the corn masa memelas and the roasted cauliflower with jicama, pineapple, cucumber and mango. The memelas were a delicious start to the meal, the savory black beans topped with goat cheese was a perfect complement to the simple but tasteful corn exterior of the memela. Yet the cauliflower dish, although a beautiful presentation, did not quite compete. The combination of mango and cauliflower was inventive and served for a fresh side but the spiciness of the sauce took away from the otherwise clean flavor of the dish. We followed these dishes with the grilled vegetable succotash gorditas and the grilled salmon. The grilled vegetable succotash, although not quite as good as the memela, was also delicious in its bean and veggie interior and corn exterior. The quintessential salmon complemented with wild rice, was similarly light yet filling, but less original than the other dishes on the menu.
Upon looking at the website later in the night we found our surprisingly honest waitress was actually the owner of the restaurant, Soraya Rendon. According to the website Soraya had moved to the U.S. at the age of 18 and only a few years later had learned English and played an integral role in the creation of the restaurant. The down to earth feel of the owner serving her own dishes only adds to the charm of the restaurant.

Overall this Mexican restaurant stands out from its competition due to its evident dedication to  obtaining its ingredients from local farms. The freshness of its ingredients in confluence with its inventive combinations create simultaneously rich yet clean feeling meal. The fun atmosphere is enhanced by the encouragement to BYOB in addition to the many small dishes that make for a fun experience. 

Chilam Balam: 3023 N. Broadway Street, Chicago, IL 60657

(773) 296 - 6901

http://www.chilambalamchicago.com/

Tues - Thurs: 5 p.m. - 10 p.m., Fri - Sat.: 5 p.m. - 11 p.m.