XOCO

Wow! Bacon Ice cream!?. Stumbled across this restaurant... soup and sandwich shop really... I found out afterwards it's a owned by a celebrity chef-- but eat here for the food, not for the name. It's concept is "Mexican street food" and it's amazing! It's like spicy, gormet sandwiches! And they have bacon topped ice cream! I ordered some out of curiosity...and bite after bite I kept trying to figure out "is this really bacon? No, it's carmel..wait, maybe it is bacon?" But whatever it was tasted awesome! Next time I am back in Chicago I will absolutly be back again!!…

just great. there is too much great things to say about this place I dunno where to start. By far, the best cubana sandwich in the entire state! the smell is divine, the taste heavenly, the portion is enough to make me happily full. good chips & salsa too. fabulously yummy muffins, one of the best empanadas in town. can't rave enough about this place. i highly recommend it to friends and anybody who asks about a good sandwich place…

Amazing Sandwiches. Like with nightclubs, amusement parks and Pink’s Hot Dogs, I’m just too old and cranky to stand in line with fellow hungry humans. But after eating at Xoco, I would wait patiently behind the herd. So badly did I want to rip Xoco apart. Seeing those lines out the door all but wrote the intro for me. IN ALL CAPS. Such a line is a non-starter. So I woke up at an ungodly 10:45 AM and hit lunch by 11:00. I ordered a Cubana sandwich (which I was hoping was the more digestively-affectionate version of a Cubano if you catch my drift) and my partner-in-dine ordered the Jamon but without the Prosciutto. Used to such bizarre order contradictions I said nothing when suddenly the server offered to put the Prosciutto on the side. “Not many Prosciuttos are made in America” she helpfully explained and since I was clearly into eating pig she would be remiss to let me pay for a Jamon and not get the key ingredient. I didn’t want to get into specifics of what was meant by “Made in America” since American Prosciutto is akin to American Champagne so we patiently took our seats and waited for our meals.

And waited. And waited. Could it be that this was the reason behind the line? Most likely. My companion, who was, by this time, a Xoco veteran insisted we order chips and salsa which we completely devoured by the time the sandwiches arrived. But arrive they did and splendid was their sight. And smell. And taste. Both sandwiches had a delicious coating of black bean paste, avocados and cheese. The Cubana had pork loin and bacon while the Jamon was supposed to have the venerable Prosciutto which came instead on a plate. A big plate. With a lot of cuts which made me wonder if the Jamon was typically 5 inches thick. No matter. It was absolutely divine. The payoff was worth the wait. And the $30 tab.

So as much as I regret not being able to shove Xoco down Balyess’ apron like I did with Trotter in his high of price and devoid of taste To Go venture, I stand convinced once more that when Bayless puts his name on something, right down to the mass-produced salsa at the grocery store, we should expect nothing short of excellence. Sir, if I had your autograph, I’d eat that too.

Love,

Mealschpeal com…