Doña Olga and don Alfredo, who came to Chicago from Boyacá, Colombia, opened this Portage Park outpost with their kids so the Northwest Side and the near suburbs didn't have to drive across town for real Colombian baking. The day starts at 7am with breakfast that Colombians abroad actually miss: calentado with stirred rice, beans and potato under eggs and an arepa, tamales Valle del Cauca style wrapped with beef, chicken and pork, and changua, the milk-and-egg soup that converts very few outsiders and delights every Bogotá native in the room. Lunch brings trancao colombiano, sobrebarriga in creole sauce and guisado de costilla, while the appetizer list is a greatest-hits run of $2.50 empanadas in four fillings, papas rellenas, aborrajados with guava and cheese, carimañolas and salchipapas.
Then, because this family does not believe in lanes, there's pizza, thin crust or deep dish, including Colombian-style pies like the Hawaiian and a Tropical topped with cherries, raisins, plum and pineapple. It's open every day until 9pm, cheap, generous, and a short ride down Irving Park.
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