- [Bill] I'm Bill Addison,
Eater's ever roving national critic.
Chicago has one of the largest Mexican-American populations
in the country, full of fantastic Mexican restaurants
of all kinds.
I'm going to send you to Mi Tocaya Antojería
in the bustling Logan Square neighborhood.
(upbeat music)
- I really was raised in my parents' taqueria
since I was in fifth grade.
This is Chef Diana Dávila.
She grew up in the Midwest
and she expresses her Mexican heritage through her cooking
in delicious trail-blazing ways
I've never seen or tasted before.
- So I was kind of like one of those people that just kinda
knocked in the back alley door and been like,
'Hey, chef, I love what you're doing.
I wanna know what you know.'
I really liked this French countryside place
called Courtright's.
They're closed now,
but that was the first place that I professionally started
and then after that I worked at Butter.
I really loved what Ryan Poli was doing
with a lot of Spanish influence.
And my family's a big part of cooking, in general, for me.
You know, I have a lot of family in Mexico
and I have some family members who also wanted to be chefs
and they always were like,
'Oh, I wanna go to Le Cordon Bleu, I wanna go to Paris,
to France, I'm gonna go' always to somewhere else
and I've always been like why, you know?
Like why don't we learn our own
instead of going and learning how to make baguettes.
Mexican food in Chicago is amazing.
It's really good, but I...
Sometimes you could get kinda caught up in, again,
catering to what people think or want out of Mexican food.
There's a lot of taquerias, small taquerias,
and things like that and you'll only see
really a couple specialty items that they're really really..
That they grew up eating
and then the rest of them is the pretty standard, you know?
Like tacos carne asada with onions and cilantro,
tacos de lengua, and so I feel like
we need to start sharing a little bit more.
A little bit more of our food and culture with people
would be nice.
- Right now, the person who's most synonymous
with Mexican cooking is probably Rick Bayless.
He set an example for elevated Mexican food.
He kind of shows the mainstream American diner
that I found something,
it's almost like Prometheus with fire,
and I want to share it with everyone.
Diana, over at her restaurant, is a little different
because she was born in Chicago,
but took several trips to Mexico
and learned from her family.
And that kind of enthusiasm was imbued in her DNA
really early on.
She's more interested in pushing the precedent,
setting her own standard, and creating dishes
that not only showcase her heritage, but show people
something that they're never tasted in their life.
(jazzy music)
- [Bill] This is Dávila's steak burrito.
No surprises, no chefy gimmickry, just greatness.
This is Dávila's gorgeous take on cochinita pibil,
the Yucatan's famous pit-barbecued pork dish.
Dávila's caldo de res, a beef stew,
was inspired by her father.
It was as one pot dish he made on weekends.
- There's nothing like inviting somebody to your home
and cooking for them.
Let's not just think about tacos,
let's think about all the other beautiful layers
of food and sauces and techniques that we have.
It's the food that we were brought up eating,
like fideos or espagueti con crema poblana
or albondigas or chiles en rogada.
Mi Tocaya is really meant to share
real Mexican food from real family homes.
- She's kind of a role model, I think.
You don't have to dumb things down.
It's like, come on, people.
Catch up.
Here's the food, I know it's awesome, enjoy.
- [Bill] I spend an awful lot of time
on these American roads eating in restaurants,
traveling from place to place for this job.
But it's restaurants with heart like Mi Tocaya
that keep me excited and pushing on to the next destination.
(acoustic music)