Chow Street Bliss

The Maxwell Street Flea Market in Chicago is home to some of the best Mexican food you can get. The aromas of steak tacos, quesadillas, and grilling corn filled the air as the kids and I meandered through the flea market today. Finally, we could resist no longer and we headed over to the booth with the longest line (because we figured it probably had the best food) and ordered steak tacos (me), a cheese quesadilla (Cat), and a steak quesadilla (Sean). We waited for what seemed forever as we smelled the heavenly aromas and watched the steak grilling.

Finally, our number was called and we grabbed our food and headed over to the parking lot to sit against the fence and chow down. The tacos were pure heaven and rivaled the tacos I’d enjoyed in the “Little Red Truck.” In Mexico, the meat was perfectly seasoned and the tortillas had been cooked from scratch at the booth. I washed my tacos down with a Coke in a glass bottle and I thought I was full until I found the booth selling corn on the cob. I couldn’t resist and the corn tasted amazingly good, despite the butter dripping down my chin.

Walking down the street eating amazingly good food, I was reminded of my trip to Suzhou, China and the satay that we’d eaten walking down the street. It was January and there were street vendors standing around the Temple of Mystery grilling yummy smelling meat over an open flame. Although we were a little worried about what the meat would actually be, we decided we’d live on the wild side and we stepped up to the booth. Luckily the vendor spoke a little bit of English so we were able to order chicken and beef satays. Despite our trepidation, the satays were warm, spicy, and wonderful and we were glad we’d taken the risk and tried them.

I’m sure there are people who never eat street food as they’re worried about sanitizing everything, sickness, etc., etc. etc. To the naysayers I’d say, that there’s a risk with everything you do and if you walk past the street vendors to the nearest five star restaurant, you could be missing out on some of the best and most blissful eating around.