Los Comales On Collins Street: Ferak Food Column

JOLIET, IL - One of the absolute best things about the Joliet area is the wide variety of quality local restaurants. Last week, I wrote about the new OMG Pho Vietnamese restaurant on Route 59 near the Shorewood Target store. On Thursday, I paid a visit to the east side of Joliet, to the Los Comales restaurant at 510 Collins St.

It's my understanding that a great number of people on the east-side of Joliet patronize Los Comales, during the day and at night. But it's a place I had never visited, mainly because I was gone from the Joliet area for nearly 20 years, until moving back two summers ago.

Los Comales has been around for Joliet since 1998, its business sign proclaims.

Now, I see why.

My visit to Los Comales left me absolutely convinced that this is one of the finest authentic Mexican restaurants on the east side of Joliet.

I would definitely come back here with my entire family.

For people unfamiliar with Los Comales, it is near the intersection of Collins and Ohio Streets.

It's an extremely clean restaurant. Service is exceptional. You can just tell that the people who work here take enormous pride in their restaurant and the reputation of Los Comales.

There are a lot, I emphasize a lot, of selections on the menu. There are gorditas. There are tostadas. There are quesadillas. There are burritos. A sign in the window proclaims that Los Comales has the best tacos in town.

There is a breakfast platter. There are daily specials for $8.99. But I chose none of those.

Someone told me that the steak here is excellent, and I'm always intrigued by authentic Mexican steak, so that's what I ordered.

My entire meal that you can see in this photo below was priced at $10.50, before tax.

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Although they are not visible in the photo, my meal also came with five flour tortillas that I put to good use.

How much food was on my plate?

Even after I parceled up portions for the five flour tortillas that I devoured with ease, I still had three decent sized pieces of steak left over.

For those, I used a knife and fork.

All said, for the price that I paid, this steak meal that I ordered at Los Comales was a steal.

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Now that I have experienced Los Comales, I will plan to make a return visit - next time for the tacos.

If you love quality authentic Mexican food, and haven't visited the east side of Joliet lately, a trip to Collins Street - just a few blocks south of the world famous Old Joliet Prison- would be worth your time.

To learn more, check out the website for Los Comales here.