Somehow over the last four years I slept on Lakeview’s postage stamp-sized Cafe Tola. Maybe I just blinked and missed the tiny, 400-square-foot empanada emporium on the Southport corridor. Or maybe it’s because the neighborhood isn’t one normally associated with credible Mexican food. But the little place turns out some 700 of the savory stuffed pastries every day, co-owner Victoria Salamanca told DNAInfo in July. And when Salamanca and her husband, Gerardo, branched out onto hot dog holy ground—the Avondale space formerly occupied by Hot Doug’s—it was time to reckon with the couple’s nascent empanada empire. (The Salamancas are in the process of opening a third, even larger location on Southport.)
Cafe Tola Loncheria y Tacos, 3324 N. California, 773-293-6346
