Lefai K.
Yelp
Finally got a chance to visit the CTA -- Chicago Taco Authority. Located on busy Irving Park Rd, not too far off the Kennedy junction, there was decent amount of street parking, if you don't mind trying to parallel park while cars are coming at ya. Street parking, is not free, but this is Chicago. There is some parking on the adjacent side street, but beware as most are permit parking, considering this area is close to the Blue Line and Metra.
Chicago Taco Authority, if you haven't guessed yet, plays on the Chicago Transit Authority theme. Their menu is sectioned-off by tacos, burritos, salads, sides, etc with CTA lines to denote the categories. The overall CTA theme is pretty clever and quite honestly is what drew me to this place, with the name alone. On the high-seat bar tables along one side, they put up a tiny window wall decor to mimic as if you were sitting on a CTA train.
CTA offers fresh cucumber water dispenser for all your hydration needs and a salsa bar with a variety of salsas include Mild, Hot, and Pico. All salsas are made fresh as I saw them preparing the pico. My favorite was the pico. Call me boring.
I went ahead and ordered the following:
Steak taco -- a classic taco. It came with carne asada, cilantro, and raw onion. Somewhat dry, compared to the other tacos, but was ok. Probably my least favorite out of my order, but still good
Shrimp taco -- Cajun shrimp, coleslaw, two big sliced avocado pieces, chili aioli. This one had a huge amount of coleslaw, but it was really good
Fish taco -- grilled fish, with cajun seasoning, heaping amount of coleslaw, Chihuahua cheese, cilantro aioli, and flour tortilla. This was very flavorful, but honestly, too much coleslaw for me
Chicken tinga taco -- Pulled chicken in chipotle adobo sauce with jalapeño coleslaw, avocado, and chilli aioli. Really good. The meat was very moist and juicy. One of the best chicken taco I've had
Brisket taco -- braised shredded beef brisket, iceberg, radish, queso fresco, and house salsa. Came in a nicely crunchy taco shell. Probably my absolute favorite
Elote -- Corn, mayo, cheese, chili powder, and lime. They mixed it in a bowl fresh. The gold standard.
Order your food at the front, give out your name and they'll call out your name once your order has been freshly prepared.
BATHROOM REVIEW: Located near the back, there's a single-person bathroom for men. Unlike the CTA subway, the inside of this bathroom was super clean. There was a motion detection paper towel, so no fear of touching anything. I was extremely pleasantly surprised at how clean it was. The tile and everything reminded me more of a Chipotle bathroom. Sit or squat? Sit!