De Cero on April 11, 2007 :: West Loop, Chicago

FeedBurner Staff at De Cero on November 9, 2006 :: West Loop, Chicago

De Cero Tacos on July 19, 2006 :: West Loop, Chicago

The FeedBurner office is located in the West Loop, which is cool, but sometimes difficult. It’s on Randolph which is where the fancy restaurant row is – think Avec, Blackbird, Meji, Starfish, Marche, etc. And then on the opposite end, there’s the train station just about right across the street which offers restaurants like Taco Bell and McDonald’s and Popeye’s. Sometimes it’s hard to find a happy medium.

One place that is our “go to” spot for an kind of celebratory lunches is De Cero. It’s a short walk, the atmosphere is really cool, and the food is great. I love the ala cart taco menu. When we have FeedBurner lunches we usually just preorder platters of tacos, but I’ve been there a few times, not in a big group, where each person just ordered 3-4 tacos. It’s fun trying the different combinations. My favorites are:

• vegetarian black beans, with garlic, avocado, cilantro, and crema
• battered shrimp, with cilantro, and avocado crema
• beef tenderloin tips, braised with mushrooms, tomatoes, and cilantro
• tres queso, with roasted poblano pepper
• ahi tuna, grilled medium rare, mango and habanero salsa

The only complaints I have are that sometimes the service can be slow, even if you call ahead and preorder. And also, the chips and salsa are not free and have to be ordered like an appetizer. Yesterday I was at De Cero with Greg and we got the guacamole instead of salsa and I noticed on the bill a 25 cent charge for tortillas? Was that our chips? We weren’t sure, but didn’t want to go through the effort of asking when it was only a quarter. Still, the quality of the food here really outweighs any complaints I have. I love it!