Big Star, the Wicker Park taqueria from Paul Kahan’s One Off Hospitality group, has been loud and crowded and completely itself since it opened in 2009, and it shows no signs of calming down.
The place sits on the corner of Damen and Wabansia, with a big covered patio that fills up fast on any night above fifty degrees. Inside, it’s dim and a little sticky, with honky-tonk on the jukebox and a bar that does serious whiskey work. The vibe is deliberately dive-adjacent, which either charms you immediately or makes you want to leave. Most people are charmed.
I go for the tacos, which cost between four and six dollars each and are genuinely, stubbornly good. The pork belly taco — carnitas style, with pickled red onion and salsa verde — is the one I’ve ordered probably thirty times. It’s not trying to be anything other than what it is. The duck confit taco is richer and probably the more interesting choice if you’re only getting one. Get the esquites too, the warm corn salad with cotija and chile, especially if you’re splitting with someone. It’s the dish I always wish I’d ordered more of.
The queso fundido is worth ordering when you’re still figuring out what else you want. It arrives in a cast iron skillet, bubbling, with housemade chorizo folded in, and it disappears fast. Tortillas on the side. This is a place that takes its snacks seriously.
The drinks situation: their frozen margarita is simple and cold and exactly right for summer on that patio. The whiskey list is long and mostly American, and the bartenders know it. I’ve had good conversations about bourbon here that started with an order and went sideways for twenty minutes. That’s the kind of bar it is.
Waits are real on weekend evenings — plan for forty-five minutes to an hour if you show up at seven on a Friday without a reservation. They do take reservations now for parties of six or more, but smaller groups are generally walk-in. My advice is to arrive around five-thirty, get a drink at the bar while you wait, and settle in. Or go on a Tuesday. Tuesdays are a gift.
The neighborhood is worth noting: this is the thick of Wicker Park, near the six-way intersection at Milwaukee and Damen and North, which means you can walk to half a dozen other bars within two blocks if the wait pushes you out temporarily. But most people stick around, because the patio has picnic tables and the drinks keep coming and the whole thing has an energy that’s hard to manufacture.
Spending around thirty to forty dollars per person covers tacos, a shared snack, and a couple of drinks. It’s not cheap for tacos, but this isn’t really a taco stand — it’s a full bar program with tacos attached, and the combination is what makes it work. They’ve been doing this for fifteen years and the kitchen hasn’t coasted. That’s the honest reason to go.
