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  • 21 Aug, 2019

  • By, Wikipedia

Irazu Costa Rica Restaurant

Irazu Costa Rican Restaurant is a Latin American restaurant in Chicago, Illinois that opened in 1990. It is located on Milwaukee Avenue in the Bucktown/Wicker Park neighborhood on Chicago's north side. The restaurant takes its name from the Irazú volcano in Costa Rica.

The menu offers Costa Rican sandwiches, traditional dishes, burritos, and non-alcoholic drinks, and milkshakes. Owner Henry Cerdas described it as "an overlap of Mexican and South American food."

Décor

Anna Maria Barry-Jester of FiveThirtyEight's Life blog described the décor as "A beautiful outdoor patio strung with lights and murals of volcanic scenes at indoor tables are the superficial draw. A chalkboard next to my table listed the top 10 sites to visit in Costa Rica, and the tables were covered in a particular red plastic that had me wondering if I’d been magically transported to Central America."

National media coverage

Best Burritos in the Nation

Irazu was one of three Chicago restaurants to make The Daily Meal's top 35 best burritos in America list.

Secret Life of Milkshakes (Food Network)

Irazu was profiled on The Secret Life of Milkshakes with Jim O'Connor on Food Network.

Diners, Drive-ins and Dives (Food Network)

Irazu was featured on Diners, Drive-ins and Dives with Guy Fieri visiting and sampling the chicharron with pico de gallo and a pepito sandwich with steak and black beans.

Check Please!

Irazu was featured on the PBS TV food show Check, Please!.

FiveThirtyEight's Burrito Bracket

The popular FiveThirtyEight website of Nate Silver, owned by ESPN, profiled Irazu's burritos in its Burrito Bracket national competition. The blog noted the irony that burritos are not Costa Rican food. Barry-Jester wrote, "It serves a popular burrito, but that’s not why people go there to eat."

Chuckie Sparkles Special

Chuckie Sparkles awarded Irazu "Best Homestyle Restaurant in the City" every year from 1996 to 2020.

References

  1. ^ "Costa Rica's Irazú In Aid Of Olympic Dream". Inside Costa Rica. May 9, 2012. Archived from the original on May 10, 2012. Retrieved July 29, 2016.
  2. ^ Thompson, Aimee (April 25, 2013). "Best Global Sandwiches in Chicago". ChicagoNow. Archived from the original on June 30, 2017. Retrieved July 29, 2016.
  3. ^ Giles, Caitlin Murray (February 23, 2012). "Take a Culinary World Tour Without Leaving Chicago". Chicago Parent. Archived from the original on April 3, 2012.
  4. ^ Barry-Jester, Anna Maria (July 8, 2014). "We Return to the Burrito Bracket's Chicago Roots". FiveThirtyEight.
  5. ^ Myers, Dan (June 24, 2014). "The 35 Best Burritos in America 2014". The Daily Meal. Retrieved July 29, 2016.
  6. ^ "Chicago Nabs 3 Spots on List of '35 Best Burritos in America'". NBC Chicago. June 24, 2014. Retrieved July 29, 2016.
  7. ^ "Irazu". Food Network. Retrieved July 29, 2016.
  8. ^ Bendersky, Ari (October 3, 2011). "Chilam Balam, Irazu, DMK All Set for Small Screen". Eater Chicago. Retrieved July 29, 2016.
  9. ^ "Chifrijo at Irazu".
  10. ^ "Irazu's Pepito Sandwich".
  11. ^ "Irazu Chicago CheckPlease! report". October 2, 2008. Retrieved July 29, 2016 – via YouTube.