El Charro Taqueria

I found El Charro when I was recently tipped off by my geologist friend Amanda that there is a Mexican market in town. I went to check it out and was pleasantly surprised that it is also a taqueria. What is a taqueria, you ask? And how is it different than any other Mexican restaraunt? Well, I'm glad you asked.

Taquerias are usually self-serve type restaurants where you order at a counter and bus your own table. They usually have minimal decor (it was especially minimal at El Charro) and sometimes more minimal menus than other Mexican restaurants. Taquerias usually have things like tacos, burritos, tortas, gorditas, and sometimes have a few (or many) entree style dishes (platillos).

As far as a market goes, El Charro was not too impressive. They didn't have much that you can't find in the Mexican aisle of Meijer. They did have some meats that you possibly might have trouble finding elsewhere.

I ordered one of my favorites, a burrito with milanesa ($4.99). Milanesa is a little like chicken-fried steak. It's thin pieces of steak that are breaded and fried and then chopped into bite-sized pieces for the burrito. Now, I must preface this review with the fact that I have high standards when it comes to milanesa burritos. My burrito contained refried beans, iceberg lettuce, and tomatoes in addition to the milanesa. I think it also had some sort of cheese. The cheese was not very good, the tomatoes were not that great (they are out of season to be fair) but the milanesa itself was very good.

I also ordered horchata ($1). Horchata is a little like sweetened rice milk spiced with cinnamon and other spices. The horchata here was maybe a little on the thin side, but still delicious.

I'll definitely have to come back and try the tacos, gorditas, and perhaps some of the weekend only specials (tamales, posole, and something else I can't remember).


As far as taquerias go, ehh not that great. As far as Mexican food in Chambana goes, not too shabby. Pretty impressive for a town with only about a 2% Latino/a population.

El Charro
55 E Green St
Champaign, IL 61820
(217) 337-6647

Blog Transformation

Hi everyone, Eric here. Just letting you know that I'm thinking of turning this blog into a food blog--at least a partial one. I like the style of Ebeth's blog and might make mine into something like this.

This potential change was inspired most recently by my discovery of a taqueria in town. That's right, Champaign, IL, a city in the middle of Illinois with only a 4% latino/a/hispanic population, has a taqueria. And it looks like a pretty good one to boot. They've got milanesa, lengua, barbacoa, and al pastor. They've got gorditas, tortas, posole, tamales, tacos, and other good stuff. Expect a review of a milanesa burrito soon.