Carnicerias Jimenez

I can’t vouch for the taqueria/​restaurant part of this establishment (although I have heard it is good… and it looks good!), but I can for the grocery part.
If you’re cooking some authentic Mexican food at home, this is a good place to stop. They have good dairy and produce sections, as well as a nice panaderia. You can even watch people making the bread through a window! I am a fan of some of the hispanic candies that you can’t find in your usual Jewel or other grocery stores. They have them here! And obviously the meat, lots and lots of great meats!
Overall they have a nice variety of products at good prices. We spent a decent amount of time just looking around to see what they have.

Carnicerias Jimenez is located inside of a Mexican grocery store. I was able to peel into the big parking lot, leap out of my car, and find a place in line for a Chile Relleno taco.
What? No Chile Relleno? You’re all out? So disappointing. I ordered a Carnitas taco, which was very good (should have ordered two) and a Chicken taco. The chicken taco was disappointing; the chicken was bland and dry.
Ericka A., taco crawl extraordinaire, was hoping for the Lengua taco, which they were also all out of. It was peak lunch hour, so I guess neither of us should have been that surprised — the line for food was constant.
There are a few tables and booths, but they were all taken by the time I’d arrived. Most families didn’t seem to linger for long after they ate, but as I previously mentioned, the line for food was constant!
I washed these down with a «Limonada,» which is limeade and not lemonade. It was refreshing but not sweet enough in my opinion. The ladies ladle the limeade out of a five gallon bucket, and they don’t add ice, so it isn’t cold either.
This was the first stop on our Taco Tour, but after trying some tacos at other places, I’d have to say that Carnicerias Jimenez was just okay for me.

There are a number of things to love about Jimenez. For starters, it’s a Mexican supermarket that also has a butcher/​meat market, in house bakery, and a small restaurant. My wife is Hispanic, and she gets all the products she needs to make authentic meals here at the right prices. For non Hispanic groceries we typically go to Caputo’s down the street. This is our destination for all things Hispanic.
Now if you are here to eat, you are in the right place. The price of their food is cheap, as it should be, all the ingredients are in the supermarket. Almost everything is made fresh every day. If you want an alternative to the American breakfast of pancakes or the gut rot breakfast sandwich at McDonalds come to Jimenez and try a torta de jamón y huevo con todo. It’ll make you start out the day right. For lunch or dinner, tacos and burritos are staple here, and you can’t go wrong. Look at their specials and try something that you otherwise wouldn’t. English and Spanish are both spoken with ease (for the most part) so no worries for us gringos.
Try it out… you won’t be sorry!

Nothing special. The produce is poor. Aisles were not clean. The meat is average with average prices. Liquor selection sucks. They have a tiny eat-​in area which is very expensive for where you are. I can get 20% — 25% better pricing at a decent restaurant with nice atmosphere. The prices for non-​food items is through the roof with a crappy selection. The bakery seemed the best part of the store. Also the guy behind the meat counter had a lot of difficulty understanding English. Major turn-​off! I want to get in and out without needing a goddamn translator. This is a emergency-​only place.
Whomever gave this place above 3 stars either is friends with the owner or has never gone to a above average grocery store. Also some people rated the overpriced eat-​in area only and NOT the grocery store. I question their reviews considering Ive been here 6 times and there literally is no one in the seats eating and no workers at the counter.
Bottom line: IF you live in walking distance its a OK place but there are MUCH better places to go for groceries very close where the prices are better, the meats and especially the produce is FRESH and I dont need a translator to communicate that I want a freakin’ pork shoulder!

This place is amazing. Fresh, cheap groceries. Lots of ethnic stuff. I cannot wait for a good excuse to buy whole fried tilapia for $ 2.99! Fresh fried pork rinds? YUM. The bakery is extensive and the food court gives you a run for its money. I’m not sure how Taco Bell competes with this.

Cheap amazing tacos and groceries all in one place.
I got the Carne Asada and Al Pastor tacos (uploaded picture to the picture section) and they were very delicious. The meat was not too dry or too greasy. Very flavorful. Tacos are surprisingly easy to screw up at certain places but here they know what they are doing. They also have a smattering of other Mexican dinner options and delicious ice cream.

First-​My qualifications 1. I am 2^nd generation Hispanic 2. I have been in food industry for 20+years (Sanitation) 3. I have lived in Chicago Land all my life and not many Tex-​Mex restaurants I have not visited. Pepe (Owner) has built a nice business with his Supermarkets & Taquerias. Thier stores are filled with wonderful fresh & inexpensive produce. Only to be outdone by thier Taqueria which has many Tex Mex inexpensive yet taste exploding meals. Do yourself a favor before going to next Jewel-Dominick’s adventure and take a littlle trip to Addison. You will not be disappointed :-)

I won’t try to pretend I’m an expert when it comes to authentic Mexican cuisine, but I think my credentials of having visited Mexico (Tijuana) once on a partial day trip with my entire family speak for themselves. And while I’m not normally one to toot my own horn, I’m pretty sure Rick Bayless is keeping tabs on this almost-​expert of south-​of-​the-​border eats.
**Note: This review is strictly for the little restaurant inside of Carnicerias Jimenez, as I a feverishly focused on eating my weight in Mexican food for a recent taco tour organized by the always on point Ericka A. **end note
I’ll be honest and say that while the ordering process for someone like me who doesn’t know enough Spanish to get through the mixing instructions for instant Abuelita was a bit stressful, it did end up all working out and for an incredibly nominal fee I was able to chow 2 chile relleno tacos (the only veggie taco option that I could translate well enough to know it was meat-​free), the largest size horchata they offer, as well as a really bizarre colored multi-​fruit yogurt cup that looked like bad cafeteria food but tasted like sweet, super fruit heaven.
Beyond being cheap and the food being pretty darn good, the real thing that won me over on our Saturday afternoon tour was the full live mariachi band playing in the restaurant against the backdrop of a ridiculously giant mural of a sailing clipper ship. Absolutely made my meal and ruined me for all other future tacos. Why have just any old tacos when I could have Carnicerias Jimenez tacos with a simultaneous pirate/​mariachi serenade? My point exactly.
Another high point was when my food order came out, I began to eat, and then saw the little old guy who made my tacos come out from behind the kitchen, walk up to the mariachi band mic, give the band a look, and then belt out a Pavarotti-​esque balled is Spanish with full backing from his mariachi amigos. I have to say that I hate when people use the word ‘epic’ all willy nilly, but this was a seriously gangster moment that I’ll never forget. Talented tacos, through and through.

Stop numero 3 on the UYE: Lake Street Taco Tour and by far the best atmosphere on the whole tour.
When you walk in the taqueria/​restaurant is to the left. There’s a huge menu painted on the wall above the kitchen, so needless to say, you can’t miss it. Everyone on the tour went up, ordered, sat and waited for their order to be called. Pretty simple. I finally ended up choosing some barbacoa. The best choice of my LIFE! haha ok I’m exaggerating a bit but you get what I’m saying. It was just so juicy, warm and tasty (please check my pic out). I also ordered some jalapeños and cebollitas. The jalapeños were so hot which in turn made them go perfectly with the barbacoa.
While I was sitting there enjoying my perfect barbacoa taco, there was a band setting up (again, check pics out), of course I went up and asked for a pic cause I’m dumb like that. Then they started playing and it was very entertaining. To top it off, the cook came out and handled that mic like a boss! lol No joke, he was pretty good.
Some people veered off to the panaderia for some churros, mexican cookies and bread. Smelled and looked delicious. I’ve visited Jimenez before to buy bbq groceries. Their prices are comparable and their produce and meat selection are decent.
I will continue going back with friends and family to enjoy the delicious tacos and «guisos» that Jimenez has to offer, as well as the entertainment.

It is no secret that I love a good Carniceria. Really, when people say things like, ‘You can take the girl out of the hood but you can’t take the hood out of the girl,’ they are really talking about me. Living in predominantly Mexican neighborhoods on the southside for almost 10 years, you kinda get used to a certain kind of grocery store and the Jewel’s just don’t cut it after that.
First, produce at a carniceria is always better. Seems like they sell a lot more of it and that inherently makes it fresher. Learn the Spanish names for your favorites. Try out some things like tuna’s. Trust me, it is not what you think, it is worse or better depending on what your taste buds like.
Second, a carniceria ALWAYS has awesome cuts of meat. And if you know the spanish words (see above) for the cuts you want, even better. They had chivo (goat) on the sign but the meat looked like steak, I called them on it and they confessed they had some frozen in the back but those were indeed BEEF steaks… cool. Butchers KNOW meat. A good carniceria will always give you the best cut they have. The ground beef I got was the freshest I have had in a very long time. It is really hard and very easy to mess with ground beef. Fresh always tastes fresh. Sounds easy, but it’s not.
Third, a carniceria will always have good prices on staples. The essentials. Eggs. Milk. Cheese. Cereal. You know the stuff you have to buy anyway…
CJ has a nice selection of other ethnic foods as well, some from Brazil, Portugal, other Latin American countries but also Asian and some Indian foods as well. Things you will never find anywhere else. I got this weird purple corn drink, haven’t tried it yet but it was $ 1.59 so I am not out much…
I spent about 40 bucks and got about twice as much as I would have gotten at any other ‘regular’ chain grocery store. I heart my carnicerias and will continue to shop at CJ!

This review is for tacos only. My mom lives in Addison and she needed to go to CJ because they were having a sale on bottled water. Yes, I’ve tried to talk my mom into becoming more environmentally conscious and investing in a filtered water pitcher. She’s not having any part of it. Sorry mother earth, I tried.
After loading up a cart with water, I ventured over to the little restaurant area and ordered up some al pastor tacos and a side of rice for good measure. Of course the tacos were served with your traditional chopped onion, cilantro and lime. Grilled jalapeño & sweet onions along with a red salsa accompanied the tacos. The al pastor was really good. I mean, like really good. I cannot express to you how happy I was to discover that there ARE in fact good tacos to be had in the burbs!
The grilled veggies were also pretty great (even though I felt like I burned my face off eating that jalapeño). The salsa was also really good. If you ask, they will give you a container of the salsa verde as well… which I did. Both sauces had a good kick to them. The rice was also solid. This place may not look like much, but they are serving up some great tacos here. I know where I’ll be going my next trip out to Mom’s. Speaking of…
I am almost grateful for my Mom’s obsession with bottled water. While it’s not good for the environment, without it I may have never ventured into CJ putting an end to my quest for good tacos in the burbs. Sorry, mother earth. We will work on reducing our carbon footprint some other way.

After reading Aimee M’s review and seeing her many check-in’s at this place… I just HAD to try it! And since I was having a foodie kind of day… today was THE day to try it! The first thing you hit is the produce section which is just okay for me… but a plus was that they had Hass Avocados which my father in law grows in Mexico so I HAD to get some of those! =] A lot of the other produce was either unripe or just didn’t look that good, but the peppers were amazing so I got some of those too. I then headed over to the meat section which just had a normal Mexican style selection. As I made my way back to the front I passed a small prepared pre-​packaged food section with chicken, cebollitas, etc. and all the Mexican cheeses.
The last two standout sections are the bakery stocked with all the traditional Mexican pastries and breads and the little restaurant. Oh. that restaurant… They have a pretty big menu but I was just going for the tacos that Aimee talked so highly of in her review. I got carne asada and al pastor. They came with lime, and a few cebollitas and a grilled jalapeño. Also cups of red and green salsa. And while I was waiting for my food to take home, Max kept saying that he wanted ice cream and I, of course, just told him no over and over. But the SUPER nice lady behind the counter asked me, in Spanish, if she could give him a little. Really!!! SO nice of her to offer that and Max was VERY appreciative! I let him have it since that lady was too nice to turn down! =]
Ok…the tacos… both were phenomenal! The meat had nice little charred edges and the pastor was SO juicy and really just perfect! The salsas were some of the best that I have had at Mexican restaurants, too. I can’t wait for Fred to get home so he can try them and let me know what he thinks, but I don’t think he will be anything less that satisfied! I will DEF be back for those tacos and that awesome customer service!

If I visit an ethnic grocer, it’s usually an Asian grocer (I’m Asian, that’s what I do).
But a project had me searching for Strawberry Crush in the glass bottles (damn you Pinterest!) so some friends suggested I check out local Hispanic grocers. I found my Crush (yay!) and so much more at Carniceria Jimenez!
Firstly, nice produce section. Very fresh and organized. Can’t say it was much cheaper than Mr C’s down the street, but they had a nice selection – especially peppers! Secondly, great butcher selection with beef, pork and chicken. The ready to cook fajita and taco meat looked really good (and fresh) as did the short ribs. Thirdly, the panaderia – freshly baked items from cakes, cookies and breads, a carb lovers dream! I got some freshly made tortillas and they were still warm when I picked them up! The aisles had a great array of staples – beans, rice and spices caught my eye.
And lastly, the little food court/​cafeteria. Some of the best tacos I’ve ever had.
I had the Carne asada and the Al pastor. Fresh to order, warm corn tortilla, delicious and flavorful, juicy meat. I love salsa verde and their fresh salsa verde is damn delicious. There’s heat – my lips were burning for a while. But it complements the tacos so very well. I love that they serve it with a grilled mini onion and a grilled jalapeño on the side. Super cheap and super good.

Get the carnitas meat from the back deli by the pound to take home and impress your friends! Soooooo good!

I’m the kind of guy who knows just enough Spanish that it gets him into trouble. See, I go into a place like this where the majority of people are Spanish-​speakers and I get all my phrases ready to go so that I can demonstrate some modicum of respect and fondness for their language and then all that comes out of my mouth is a garbled mess of English that doesn’t really sound like anything.
Thankfully, the people at Jimenez are beyond friendly, even to us gueros who try to impress by completely failing to speak their language.
Carniceria Jimenez is just an excellent store. It’s focus as the name implies is on its very large selection of meat (carniceria means butcher shop, see, I do know that much). The prices is on it are typically excellent and you can find everything from your basic cuts of beef, chicken, and pork to the more exotic entries like tongue, chicken feet, and ox tails.
The rest of the store has your standard Mexican grocery fare. If you’re looking to try to put together a homemade Mexican-​style meal, you’re bound to get plenty of authentic ingredients here. Especially excellent are the homemade flour tortillas which are just the fluffiest, most flavorful discs of carbohydrate goodness you’ll ever find.
While that’s all well and good, let’s be honest, there are plenty of stores in this area that carry authentic Mexican groceries. Two things set Jimenez apart. One is the excellent taqueria. The food there is just fantastic. I’ve had samples of their tacos and actually sat down to a nice carnitas torta on fresh bread and other homemade ingredients. The other is that aforementioned service. The cashiers, the guys at the taqueria, the guys at the butcher counter, and especially the sample ladies (they’ll call you from halfway across the store to try what they’ve got and it’s always so good). Everyone’s so nice and willing to help.
And they’ll totally forgive you if you accidentally call their mother a monkey sandwich.

Meat, meat, meat. And more meat.
After all, a carniceria is a meat market, first and foremost. That’s not all Jimenez has, of course. They have a decent-​sized produce section, canned, refrigerated and frozen goods, a deli, a bakery (panaderia) and a taqueria. Oh, and a travel agency. (What? Yes.)
But they also have a lot more meat than you see at your average grocery store. Everything from pre-​marinated fajita meat (plus onions & peppers) to thin-​sliced ribeye, all manner of beef, pork and chicken, cow’s feet, chicken feet, pig’s feet, organ meat… you get the idea.
Great prices, too, on most of it. Big signs in Spanish and English, so there shouldn’t be much of a language barrier.
Things you should absolutely buy here: Meat. (duh.) Mexican cheese. The bestest homemade tortillas ever. (Located near the meat case.) Mexican soda/​sugary drinks. (They have an impressive variety.) Salsa & guacamole. And delicious homemade food from the taqueria.
While this won’t quite replace the nearby Caputo’s in my heart, it will be an excellent resource for great cuts of meat and homemade Mexican delights.
(P.S. There also was a guy in the parking lot selling socks out of a shopping cart. I cannot say whether he’s a regular fixture or not!)