Bocadillos – Merendero Bocadillos

Yeah, this place is definitely closed, despite the website still being active. To Jamel’s comments, all I can say is that I live in the area and I didn’t know this place existed. There is an overabundance of Mexican restaurants in the area, literally a stone’s throw away in any direction and the majority of them serving the same old boring stuff over and over. Don’t get me wrong – we each Mexican food twice a week and we have our favorite places to order out from, but after a while you’re starved for something different to try. Merendero Bocadillos never advertized in any of the local papers, never sent out flyers or door-​hangers, or never set up booths at some of the local carnivals or fests. If it weren’t for me searching through Unilocal,I would have never learned about the neat concept and would have kept on thinking that it was one more restaurant serving the same old, same old.
I can’t tell you how great I thought the idea was and then visited the (still) active website to learn more about it and got even more excited, only to read on that the place was probably closed and then verified that by calling the number (disconnected) and actually driving by to see that it’s now named Davila. I even pulled up the menu for Davila, hoping that someone had simply bought out the previous owner and was continuing on with the concept, but no such luck. Just more of the same old stuff.

I thought this place was a riot. You have to get drunk to get a full meal. Right on. The tortilla soup was excellent. Some of the other stuff — not so much. Probably because by the time you get past the first couple of courses, you’ve already had a few drinks.
Anyway it was quite the unique concept — never saw anything like it before or since — and I believe it is closed for good now. Oh, well.

I gave this place 5 stars. Pay attention. I ate there over a year ago. It is not in Unilocal’s database, further leading me to believe that the people in Chicago really don’t have a clue sometimes. The fact that it took me 6 months to find information about this place online is just crazy.
The Concept: Free food. yep. Free food. OK you stuck up prissy people, just stop reading because if you were worthy, you would already know what I am about to say. The fact is, if you don’t know, you just.well.don’t deserve to know. As for everyone else…
This place is GREAT! Its mexican with a twist. You go and you order drinks. Think 5 drinks. Each drink gets you food. There are five menus and your first drink gets you something off the first menu. The second drink gets you something off the second menu. And so on and so on. On some days there is a live band. There was a woman making salsa and guacamole in front of us. Of course, she gets tipped. By the time you are done, you are happy as hell. Bring a group. It was great. They have great drinks. You will not even care about food after a while. Thats right, live a little. Seriously.
It saddens me that this amazing gem is not popular there because they have one of the most amazing restaurant concepts I have ever encountered and it leads me to conclude either there is some ethnicity factor at play or that the stuck up people of Chicago just don’t do anything off the beaten path. I was taken to this great place by a Mexican friend who is an attorney. Either way, bring a group to have fun with and you too will probably love this place. If it does not change your life, your life probably wasn’t worth saving…