Sunday, April 05, 2009

Have you heard the one about the parking tickets?

(This is not a joke.) The one where I got 6 parking tickets in a period of about 4 weeks? Two of which were for having "smoke" tinted windows? Suffice to say I figured it was better for my wallet (not to mention my stress level and the feeling of being targeted by those parking ticket cops) to simply have the tinting removed rather than risk additional tickets.

Three hours and $90 ("If you pay cash we won't charge you sales tax..." says the guy as he pockets my $90 cash) later, my windows are clear as the day I drove my Honda Accord off the lot a little over 2 years ago.

But getting to the point of the post, the tint shop I chose to use happened to be in an area of town that I'd been meaning to visit: Pilsen. Pilsen was to be the embodiment of this California-bred girl's dreams. What dreams, you ask? Well, I'll tell you: good Mexican food. Suffice to say I've been disappointed with the Mexican food I've had since moving to the mid-west. But Pilsen, I'd been told, would fix all that & satisfy every craving. Essentially, "Welcome to the Mid-West's Mexico." So even though it was only 10:30am when I dropped my car off for what was supposed to be an hour long procedure, I decided it was lunch time.

But alas, although this food was indeed better than other places I've had since last August, it was no Rudy's (Oh, Rudy's, how I miss your bean & cheese burrito, no salsa!) or La Adelita (your enchiladas - one chicken, one cheese, no rice, extra beans!). There's just something different about the way they do Mexican food out here in the land-locked mid-west states. Not quite sure what it is, but I sure do miss my Mexican fix. (Even the canned pinto beans are different. They don't sell Sun Vista. GASP!)

But getting to the real point of this post: after eating an early lunch I wandered around Pilsen and snapped a few. A lonely chair sitting beside an alley dumpster caught my particular interest.
PilsenAlleyChair
Pilsen15
With many old, interesting buildings, colorful graffiti and other Mexican restaurants for me to try out in search of the best Mexican food in Chicago, I'll be back with a purpose.

PS. If you curious about the parking tickets, they were for the following offenses: no Chicago city parking sticker, parking on a curb (that had been covered with snow when I originally parked, and was revealed to be a curb when it melted), "abandoned vehicle" (after it'd sat parked in the same spot for 8 days. 7's the limit), expired California plates (I had my IL plates but didn't have the wrench needed to replace them), and, of course, the 2 (2 weeks apart) for tinted windows. Fun!

6 comments:

Creative Mama said...

dude. that sucks. no fun.

Lauren said...

What a racket!! They don't cut you any slack. That must've cost a fortune! Do they offer financing!?!?!

Sorry you had to take off your Cali Tint job. But, it sounds like it was a good decision. I wonder if you're # of tickets will decrease significantly when you get those Illinois plates on. Perhaps this has all been a nasty Anti-Californian targeted attack by some angry parking officer who was picked on as a child living in Orange County or something? ;-)

Here's to a ticket free April.

L

Molly W. said...

1. I TOTALLY miss California's Mexican food, Ireland has none of it!
2. The ticket situation is RIDICULOUS! Unreal.
3. Cool pics, love that chair.
4. I miss you.

DeniseMarie said...

Losing easy access (or any access at all, for that matter) to GOOD Mexican food is one of my biggest fears about eventually moving away from California. Every time Denver friends insist they've found a good Mexicaon restaurant, I try it and confirm for myself, once again, that it's barely one step above Del Taco. (General rule: If the place uses pre-made taco shells, it's NOT good.) Now that he's lived here a few years, Matt's also become a Mexican food snob.

Want me to bring you some Sun Vista when we come in a couple of weeks?

Kristin said...

I love the chair pics and I am so sorry about the tickets...maybe that was just a bad month or two!

Abby... the Oregonian said...

i agree with lauren, get your cali lisence plates off and you will not get targeted for as much stuff. i used to get flipped off all the time before i switched to my oregon plates. people hate us calis, go figure...

glad you found some satisfying mexican food. i am with you though... oregon is the same, they suck at mexican food.