For a few years now, I've been driving by a restaurant when I venture over to Park Ridge to get dinner when I stay out near O'Hare Airport on my trips into Chicago. It was a Mexican restaurant along Prospect Ave. that had a colorful sign and a facade that looked like it was the entrance to a Mexico mid-city square. I don't really know why I hadn't stopped in before, but I was in the mood for Mexican one evening when I was in the area and decided to have dinner at Hay Caramba!.
Bulmaro “Bull” Saavedra grew up in a small village in the Mexican state of Guerrero, about halfway in between Mexico City and Acapulco. Admittedly a poor student while growing up, Saavedra had wanted to move to the U.S. since he was a youngster. When he finally got the chance to move to the Chicago area in 1973, he ended up going to work at a tool & die/metal fabricator. His bosses saw some potential in the young man and they sent him out to Triton Community College to take classes in the school's Machine Tool Technology Program. The experience was nothing but positive for the formerly poor student. Saavedra barely knew the English language when he first went to school, but the classes he took gave him a better grasp of the language and helped further his vocational education.
Bull Saavedra's girlfriend in Mexico - Josephine - followed him up to Chicago and in 1975 the two were married. While he was getting a steady paycheck at the machine shop, he and Josephine would talk about running their own little Mexican restaurant at some point. Their dream came to fruition in 1986 when the couple opened a small restaurant - Texco - on the northwest side of Chicago. The couple really didn't know what they were in for running a restaurant with all the regulations, taxes, and health code hoops they had to jump through. It finally took them six months of starts and stops to finally get to a place where they were able to keep the doors open on a regular basis.
For the first three years, Josephine was the primary person in the restaurant and Bull continued to work in the machine shop. He would help his wife out after work and on weekends in the restaurant. But after about three years, business got to a point where Bull could quit his factory job and work in the restaurant full time.
The couple wanted to start a family and they thought that living in Chicago probably wasn't the best place. And with all the regulations of running a restaurant within the city limits, they felt a move to the suburbs would be for the best. The Saavedra's settled in Morton Grove and found a spot for a restaurant in nearby Park Ridge. In 1991, they opened a new restaurant in a small place in a shopping center on Euclid Ave. behind the famed Pickwick Theater in downtown Park Ridge. Bull Saavedra named his new place "Hay Caramba!" which basically translates into English as "Holy Cow!" - the catchphrase used by Harry Caray, the television play-by-play announcer for the Chicago Cubs, which was Saavedra's favorite team.
Almost from day one in Park Ridge, the Saavedra's were making money in their new restaurant and before long there were lines of people coming out the door and lining up down the sidewalk on some evenings. After 14 years in their little place, a larger space on S. Prospect in Park Ridge opened up. The Saavedras moved Hay Caramba! to that spot in 2005. (see map) They now had two children - Marlene and Michael - who literally grew up in the restaurant business with their parents. In fact, Marlene was the bartender/server the evening I was there!
I pulled up to Hay Caramba! around 7 p.m. on a weekday evening. It was cold and had snowed the night before and parking spaces on the street were all full. I circled the block and found an open parking spot on Courtland Ave. next to the Park Ridge Community Church. It was a quick half-block walk from my car to the restaurant.
Quite actually, the restaurant is rather nice, one of the most ornate Mexican restaurants that I've encountered in the Midwest. It actually reminded me of some of the more upscale Mexican restaurants I've found in Phoenix and Southern California. With numerous lighting fixtures hanging from the ceiling, it was certainly well-lit in there.
The stately dining room featured plaid table cloths on the heavy wooden tables. There was a a balcony that overlooked the dining room. The vaulted ceiling in the middle of the room gave it a feeling that you were eating in an open courtyard.
As nice as the dining room was, I figured the bar area would be more my calling that evening. With subdued lighting and a more laid-back feeling, I took a seat at the bar. As I said, Bull and Josephine Saavedra's daughter Marlene was manning the bar that evening and she welcomed me as I sat down. She handed me a food menu and asked what I would like to drink. I immediately ordered a margarita. I have to say that the margarita wasn't all that great, at least for me. I'm spoiled when it comes to margaritas as most of the ones that are made in restaurants feature a sweet and sour mix. I make mine with a shot of top shelf tequila (we primarily use Herradura silver at home), a shot of Grand Marnier or Cointreau, one ounce of juice from a squeezed lime, some agave syrup, and a splash of water. It's all mixed together in a shaker with that's filled about half way with ice cubes, then poured over ice in a glass. My wife will not have a margarita unless she can get one made the way I make them at home. And, unfortunately, if we're in a place where those types of margaritas are available, they're pretty expensive.
Marlene did bring out a basket of chips and some salsa to go along with my margarita. The chips were somewhat fresh and the red salsa was very good. It had a cool taste on the front end and a spicy bite on the back.
The menu at Hay Caramba! is what I would say is typical of Mexican family restaurants. Enchiladas, taco plates, burritos (burros at Hay Caramba! because they're so big), and fajitas were the primary items on the menu. They had skirt steak platters along with grilled chicken dishes. Seafood items included grilled salmon or tilapia, and sautéed butterfly shrimp. Some of the appetizers were interesting including a catfish ceviche; grilled shrimp, octopus and catfish served with a cocktail sauce and pico de gallo; and a house-made guacamole. Hay Caramba! also had combination plates, Mexican-style soups, and egg dishes on the menu.
Honestly, I looked at a couple things that evening - they allowed tacos to be ordered a la carte and the shredded beef birria and the pork al pastor tacos were enticing. But I ended up getting the chile verdes enchiladas. I had a choice between ground beef, chicken or cheese-filled enchiladas and I went with the ground beef. A side of refried beans and Mexican rice came on the side. I didn't want another margarita, so I got a bottle of Sol beer to go with my meal.
And I have to say the enchiladas were good - not exceptional, but good. I asked Marlene if I could get a side of the green sauce on the side and she said, "Absolutely!" There was a lot of the green sauce on top of the enchiladas to begin with, but I ended up putting more on and then used what I had left to put on the rice and to dip my remaining chips into.
I've had better Mexican food in the Chicago area, but the meal I had at Hay Caramba! was more than passable. First of all, it was a nice setting - a very clean and elegant setting for the dining area. The bar was nice and laid-back, and I have to give a shout out to Marlene Saavedra - the daughter of the owners of Hay Caramba! - for taking good care of me during my visit. Hay Caramba! was good - not great - but good Mexican food.