Word is finally out on central Mexican sandwich
This is a story about how equal portions of parental advice and patience can be a delicious thing.
It starts with Tony Anteliz Jr., owner of the six-year-old Humboldt Park eatery Cemitas Puebla, which sells a crispy Mexican sandwich called the cemita.
(Chris Sweda/Sun-Times)
Word of the sandwich, not likely to be found outside of central Mexico, has not only spread across the Chicago area but across the country this year, thanks to local publicity and a feature on the Food Network.
Though the always smiling Anteliz hasn't had a day off in months now, he isn't griping. He remembers the trepidation of starting the business and the lean early years.
About eight years ago, Anteliz was a 22-year-old graduate of Loyola University with a history degree who was trying to decide whether to join his family's chain of travel agencies or apply for a research job at the Discovery Channel or PBS.
But his real dream was opening a sports bar with his father. His dad cautioned him about the aggravation of dealing with drunks.
"Then he said 'Why don't you open a taqueria?' " Anteliz recalled recently.
Concerned that taquerias seemingly sit in every other storefront, Anteliz balked, but his father persisted.
The young Anteliz, his father thought, could introduce Chicagoans to the cemita, a sandwich that hails from the central Mexican state of Puebla from where their family emigrated.
"I thought, most people are from Northern Mexico, from Durango . . . and I told him 'People don't know [cemitas].' He said 'You're going to let them know about it,' " Anteliz said.
Indeed, the first years were tight. Folks would come for the tacos and burritos, and they would ask for french fries and gyros, even though the latter two aren't on the menu. But the centerpiece of his menu, the cemita, was ignored.
He'd make them anyway, slicing them up for customers to try. Little by little, word began to get out about the crunchy sandwiches at Cemitas Puebla, 3619 W. North.
Today, Anteliz sells out of the cemitas daily -- 320 on weekdays and 500 on Saturdays and Sundays.
The $6 sandwich begins with a slightly sweet, crunchy sesame seed bun made by a local baker who went to great lengths to replicate the bun Anteliz brought back from his family's native Puebla.
All eight of the cemitas on the menu, ranging from ham to pata, or cow's foot, are accompanied by a schmear of avocado, a smoky homemade chipotle sauce and white string cheese known as queso Oaxaca. Anteliz said the big favorite is the milanesa -- a breaded and butterflied pork chop.
The sandwich received a blast of publicity earlier this year from the Food Network's "Diners, Drive-ins and Dives" show and, before that, the chat site LTHForum.com, where so many of Chicago's successful but little-known neighborhood restaurants get that first glimpse of the spotlight. The site's membership even voted Cemitas Puebla to its Great Neighborhood Restaurants list this year.
Anteliz is just grateful to get the word out about these sandwiches. Oh yes, and he's grateful for his father's advice.
Curious about an unusual edible or kitchen tool? Want to share some mysteries in your own cabinets? E-mail the Food Detective at ldonovan@suntimes.com.