gaobest

ooh so awesome!! Sounds so great.
do you guys make your own tortillas? I buy mine at Safeway but several friends have insisted that they’re easy to make and that once I start making my own, I’ll never buy them again. I like making guacamole but I’m not sure if I want to make my own tortillas.

JBord

We don't, but I've heard what you have. I guess the two pretty weak reasons for not making our own are 1) I don't want to buy a tortilla press, and 2) we eat a lot of wraps instead of sandwiches. It's nice to have a tortilla ready to go for a lunch wrap.

corky

You don't need a tortillas press to make flour tortillas...a rolling pin is fine. I have made them and for sure not worth the time or mess. Store bought tortillas are absolutely the way to go for convenience and consistency and taste. If you are truly a gourmet, find a tortilla factory or Mexican restaurant that sells fresh. Making them one at a time at home was just not worth it for me--they are not hard but I have a small kitchen and don't like getting flour all over or devoting a lot of counter space to the rollout etc.

JBord

Yep, that sounds about right! We do have a rolling pin . I never thought about buying direct from a tortilla factory...aren't they pretty much the same as we'd get in the store (not like the national brands, but we have a lot of local places here in Chicago that sell in stores)? Maybe fresher when direct? Still, probably not worth the trouble. I love the restaurant idea, may have to try that option some time.

corky

Well a tortilla factory (at least around here) makes them fresh daily. I guess it is the difference between buying bread at a bakery or the grocery store. I mostly use tortillas to put stuff inside and roll up--grocery store ones are fine for that. If I do get some from the tortilla factory I am likely to eat them all with only butter that same day (which is also why I don't buy bakery fresh baked bread).
I do not have a rolling pin so had to borrow one from my neighbor. In the past I have just used a wine bottle.

chgoeditor

I suspect other cities aren't fortunate enough to have local producers like El Milagro. They are the gold standard in my mind and I think they turn over really quickly in supermarkets, so I don't ever worry about them not being fresh enough. But I'm always bummed when I go to the store and they only have national brands available that feel like cardboard. No thank you!

BTW, just realized El Milagro had a couple taquerias in Little Village and Pilsen....I may need to check one out.

JBord

Yeah, we buy those when we know we're having tacos. But we buy the Mission tortillas just to have around for lunch wraps and stuff like that. They last longer in my experience. When I've had freshly cooked tortillas at one of those restaurants where they make them all day long, they're pretty fantastic. I don't know that we'd ever be able to buy those here other than with a restaurant meal in Pilsen or Little Village. Perhaps one of the Mexican grocery stores would make them in house?

gaobest

Planned Monday supper:
king crab legs with optional toppings
mixed green salad
Raw organic celery & carrots & cucumber
steak fries

chgoeditor

I'm not sure where we'd buy them. Have you have been to Birrieria Zaragoza? One day I counted and they have more people in their kitchen than they have seats in the restaurant. But the woman who makes their tortillas rocks! Unfortunately they don't last more than a day or so. Some things are better enjoyed fresh. (For annoying who's not from Chicago, this is a roast goat place that literally has about 7 things on their menu and each one is perfection.)

Jaimito Cartero

Fresh flour tortillas are nice, but unless you use them right away, probably not worth the time or trouble. I bought a dozen very large from one of my favorite restaurants for $6-7 recently. They were very good, but started to decline rapidly after a few days. Corn ones are a bit different.

I prefer the brand at Costco. 2-3 dozen medium size for under $4. Don’t need refrigeration, and are good for 2-3 months. Quality is very good. Especially if you pan toast them a bit. I take them to SE Asia when I go for months, and they are far and away better than anything I’ve ever been able buy there. One brand, with almost egg roll thin tortillas, has 10 small tortillas for $2-3. And the brand name is Ratitas, which always gives me a chuckle.

corky

Flour tortillas lasting for 2-3 months?? That is crazy---what is in those things? Are these in the bread aisle?
At the grocery store, I buy Mission flour tortillas & since they come in a pack or 10 or 12, I freeze most of them with no loss of quality that I can tell.

chgoeditor

I don't eat flour tortillas, but really don't want to buy anything that should be "perishable" and lasts 2-3 months.

gaobest

in Sf, they’re in the bread section. I think the brand in Sf is Guerrero but I might be confusing myself as it’s also a street name.

while feeding salad to my baby, we realized that olive oil & red wine vinegar is a fun dressing for them. Very fun.

corky

Costco Chicken Tortilla soup
doctored up (it doesn't need doctoring)
grated cheese, diced avocado, cilantro and sour cream

Nightcap: chocolate/orange martini

teddybear99

Chevy's was a restaurant that would make fresh tortillas right before bringing out the fajita dishes. It was a big machine in the middle of the restaurant that would take a small ball of dough, flatten it and then "toast" on both sides efore emitting it out on the other side. They would have someone man the machine and collect the finished tortillas in a paper wrap that the servers would pick up when bringing the fajita mix to the table.

Are they still in business? One in Hollywood, FL closed many years ago and was converted into a Red Lobster which is still open.