Antique Taco's Staggering Mushroom Tacos | Chicago

We weren't even excited about the mushrooms.

Tamarind-glazed carnitas, tempura-battered fish with smoked cabbage slaw, and curry- and ancho-rubbed chicken with honeyed yogurt: These were the tacos that intrigued us.

Each performed admirably, but the underdog was the star. With three varieties of local mushrooms sautéed with garlic and thyme, tucked into a flour tortilla with wilted kale, pickled vegetables and cilantro crema, the staggeringly flavorful mushroom tacos ($7) at Wicker Park's Antique Taco are not to be missed.

The petite restaurant from husband and wife Rick and Ashley Ortiz is down the street from the neighborhood's perpetually buzzing Big Star. But the new taqueria has a style of its own. Supplement a taco spread with raw kale salad ($8) studded with spicy peanuts and queso fresco, corn salad with corn chips ($7), or guacamole ($6) garnished with zippy pickled peppers.

After a second round of those superlative fungus tacos, we left with milkshakes ($4) in hand, sipping the banana-vanilla-almond blend through striped paper straws.

A return visit is in order, this time for Ortiz's non-taco offerings, like masa biscuits with lobster gravy, a mole poblano meatball sandwich on a crusty bolillo roll, and strawberry-rhubarb paletas for dessert.

Antique Taco, 1360 N. Milwaukee Ave.; 773-687-8697 or antiquetaco.com