There’s been a lot of freakishness forced down our throats by the idiocracy in recent times, but amid it all you may still remember this whopper:

Albany Park, for example, and its neighboring north-side enclaves remain (for now) a safe place where the professional taquero can thrive in America. A case study: on a side street off one of the busier thoroughfares in this part of the city, there’s a family who each weekend set up a tent along the sidewalk, sheltering a table and chairs, coolers, cold drinks, a salsa bar, and a gas-powered comal on which the patriarch of the clan griddles piles of hissing carne asada, al pastor, cesina, and chorizo con papas. The smell of warming corn tortillas and caramelizing meat casts a spell that’s palpable for blocks. People who don’t even live in the neighborhood drive their cars to this corner, line up under the tent, and wait patiently to place their orders with a teenager scribbling in a spiral-bound notebook.

If you find the tacos at El Santo overbuilt, you’ll probably quail in the shadow of those at the CHICAGO TACO AUTHORITY in Irving Park. I don’t know many people who harbor positive feelings about the el or the bus, so it seems weird to enter a public transportation-themed environment in pursuit of pleasure, and yet there’s a compelling reason to stay provided by the overhead menu. It has several options taped over and discontinued, and there’s no printed menu either; I was told the six-month-old shop is continuing to develop new taco disruptions, some of which are just as avant-garde as El Santo’s. There’s the Bloody Mary, for example, fat bacon-wrapped shrimp drenched in a tomatoey pico de gallo with cucumbers and shaved celery, and the beef brisket taco, served on a tostada with radish and iceberg lettuce. But I was more taken with CTA’s traditional offerings, like a pleasingly greasy chorizo con papas and a solidly executed carne asada with chunky nugs of caramelized steak, crisp onion, and bracing cilantro.

3352 W. Foster 773-649-3114 elsantochicago.com

Chicago Taco Authority 4219 W. Irving Park 773-282-8226 facebook.com/Chicagotacoauthority

Tomatillo Taco-Ville 2943 W. Irving Park 773-654-1350