El Quijote Restaurant

I am sitting at my desk right now eating a frozen pizza. This is a four-​for-​$ 4.00 frozen pizza and it is far superior to anything on Lindo Guadalajara’s buffet.
The first thing we saw was the hot dog soup. Picture — if you will — old cream soda used to boil chunks of hot dogs and hamburgers. Throw in some onions and other identifiables and you are close to getting this hot dog soup.
At the point where we were asking the «waitress» what was what — we should have hit the door — but you don’t get where we are by being afraid of orange sludge with green chunks of something that might have been peppers — might have been old jelly beans (a pre-​Easter offering).
Then there was the mucosa/​pepper/​egg combo that — gratefully — they were out of. We were treated mostly to the mucosa in the steam table pan.
«What’s that?» I asked as I lifted the lid off of the next pan.
«Pork» she said her eyes filled with uncertainty.
I swear it was my missing gym shoes — the ones I left on the North Avenue Beach on March 7. The scraped off the sand and dropped them into tomato juice.
In the midst of this carnage where the biggest — most awesome chocolate dipped strawberries. There they were — little ironic dessert pieces. I got my money’s worth right there.
I won’t go back without a gun to my head.
Even then it would have to be a really big gun…

I wish I could give 2 ½ stars. I’ve been here once before for takeout and it was pretty good. My husband picked up tacos for us a couple of weeks ago and I almost asked him to take them back. I love pastor tacos done right and these were all wrong. Soggy, greasy, the meat was fatty and slightly burned and the cilantro was just nasty. We also had the carne asada tacos and they were just ok.
Maybe they were having an off day, but I can’t excuse tacos al pastor that were that bad.

Don Quijote used to be my favorite thing ever. It was the first meal I ate after getting married (wedding dinner not included) and my first meal of 2009. I reaaaally liked it, even getting excited when JN wanted to go to Carol’s because that meant I would be getting tacos al pastor that night. Wahoo!
Anyway, Don Quijote is no more. The space is now called Lindo Guadelajara (complete with picture of sombrero’d smiling cactus!) and obviously I had to go explore! It is now much brighter (borderline blinding) and louder in here. Did they paint the walls? I don’t know. It is more yellow seeming.
The menu has changed slightly — no more tamarindo, more soups, homemade tamales, and lengua (that’s tongue, gringo). I am happy to report that my beloved taco al pastor has remained the same. Porky, greasy goodness with lots of onions. Nom nom nom! However, the salsa they bring out is not as spicy and that made me sad… because I liked to put it on my tacos. Now when you order the taco dinner, you also get sour cream (totally unnecessary, please do not put these on your tacos, you will make Yanyao cry) and pretty terrible refried beans (the Don Quijote ones were most delicious)…BUT 3 delicious tacos and rice! The pork tamale is quite excellent too.
However, my newest discovery/​favorite is the caldo de pollo (chicken soup). It was a cold rainy night and I needed hot liquids, preferably savory ones. The chicken soup here is so flavorful and I really love how rustic it is… with big pieces of cut up vegetables (carrot, potato, zucchini, corn!) and chicken (dark meat, bone on, amazing). The bowl is HUGE and you also get rice and tortillas with your soup. If you’re one who likes all your food off the bone and cut into pretty little pieces, this may not be the soup for you.
So now my LG meal will be: caldo de pollo, 2 tacos al pastor, 1 medium horchata. (i.e. I will be back very soon).
Still open 24 hours and now accepting CCs when you spend over $ 7!

Once home to El Quijote, Lindo Guadalajara has now occupied the corner of Lawrence and Clark for the past 5 months or so. While the place may look exactly the same, the new owners have spruced up the food without sprucing up the prices.
The burritos no longer consist primarily of how-​long-​has-​this-​been-​in-​a-​can refried beans, and the salsa is medium spicy. Also this incarnation serves horchata.
A reliable late night taco dive.

Went here for the Mexican Buffet. $ 6.95 all you can eat. Awesome. The real deal, subsequently returned 4 times in a two week period. I’m holding off so as not to overdo this one. Went back for a 5^th time and the buffet was empty. I almost had a breakdown and knew that I needed some time away from El Quijote.
I judged this buffet by several different criteria:
1. Color: every color possible: red, green, yellow, etc from sauces and vegetables.
2. Flavor: its Mexican, flavor is required. Simple food, damn this was good.
3. Texture: beef tongue and pork tripe not for the squeamish but awesome. Roman emperors and medieval kings in Europe ate this stuff up. Step on to the thrown and treat your self like the royalty you know you want to be.
4. Meat: the variety of animal species present on the buffet line was impressive. You could have up to 4 different animals in one sitting. Piss off PETA and get your caveman on.
6. The variety of animal parts of a particular species on the buffet line was intense. During one of my visits I had chicken wings, chicken gizzards, and scrambled eggs. This felt more like a course in evolutionary biology than a meal. Got a a side of PhD with my chicharrones.
7. $ 6.95! Less than $ 10 bucks with a tip. Give the buffet a try good eats.
Forget about it. This place sucks. Don’t mess up the lack of ambiance with your presence.

Dropped in here after watching the Blackhawks game at a buddy’s house and was befuddled at seeing a sign on the wall indicating that they had buffets. Mexican buffets?! Now that’s something you don’t see everyday. El Quijote is open 24 hours a day and I have often passed by without stopping in. This particular day I could not resist dropping in considering how late it was.
I quickly ordered a burrito and a Gordita to go and had a great Horchata while I waited in this empty restaurant. I glanced up at the giant menu on the wall and saw your basic Mexican menu, I should have asked if they would have made me a shrimp taco or shrimp burrito.
I got home and the food was still warm, the Gordita was very bland, but luckily they gave me plenty of green sauce to give it some flavor. The burrito was stacked with meat but I do not know what cheese they used. El Quijote is not as delicious as some other places I’ve gone to, but it is open any time of day. I will have to go back there sometime to try their cheap Mexican buffet.

24 hour Mexican food, right around the corner from my apartment. Don’t judge a book by its cover– the «ice cream parlor» sign above the restaurant disguises some decent food inside. Good prices as well.
Chorizo taco was great, juicy, hit the spot. Teeny tiny little thing, but thats not uncommon. The gordita al pastor I had was a superstar– gigantic, stuffed with cheesy porkey creamy goodness. I’ll have dreams about it now, i’m positive.
Also, El Quijote offer a $ 6.95 all-​you-​can-​eat lunch buffet Monday through Friday. Call and check for hours/​days.