2012 - Mercadito Sunday Brunch

After a lovely walk around downtown Chicago, including finally seeing Millennium Park (it's only been open since 2004), it was time for our Sunday Brunch at Mercadito. Given our night out at Tavernita, we had decided in advance that we'd order the Perfect Hangover Cure - which is 3 items to share + 1 drink each. I had also read earlier that week for the month of April, if you go to Sunday brunch and order the hangover cure and show them your receipt from drinks the night before you got a free order of Chilaquiles! BONUS!

For our drinks, Mark ordered the Pepino el pyu - tres generaciones blanco, cucumber, lemon, hoja santa, cumin salt. Very tasty. Sue ordered a Bloody Mary - vodka, tomato, salsa inglesa, lemon, spices. Also very good, nice spicy edge. For our second beverages, Mark ordered maria sangrita tequila blanco, tomato, cucumber, orange, chile verde, pomegranate. This was a riff on a Bloody Mary, but made with tequila instead of vodka and the addition of the pmegranate juice, gave it a slightly sweet note. Sue ordered a mango mimosita - cava, mango, green chile. The addition of the green chile really added an interesting note, not very spicy, but a little something that made you think about it.

For our food we started with the (free) chilaquiles - corn tortilla chips, oaxaca-chihuahua cheese, crema fresca, tomatillo sauce. Good flavor, they also have an option of topping with a fried egg. May try that next time.

Then we moved on to the tacos - 2 different kinds - Carne - rosemary marinated skirt steak, potato-poblano rajas, avocado-tomatillo crema, crispy manchego and pastor - chile ancho rubbed pork, grilled pineapple, chile de árbol salsa . Both of them were really good. Hard to pick a favorite. They also served the tacos with a side of black beans and rice.

Finally we had the Huevos con Carnitas - scrambled eggs, pork carnitas, tomatillo pico de gallo, ancho salsa. While the flavors were good, we felt it really needed some textural contrast. Plus, to be honest, we were getting full.

Definitely would go back - even for the brunch. Highly recommend the tacos. And drinks.