Chances are if you drive down Halsted Street in Pilsen, you won’t even notice the building.
It’s a two-story gray home with no visible signage indicating it’s a buzzy new cocktail bar.
But like most buildings, this one also has a story to tell.
What we know is the building at 1700 S. Halsted St. was built before the Great Chicago Fire. A Chicago Tribune story mentions it was once a barbershop and family home.
Fast forward to 1983: Miguel and Consuelo Oceguera purchase the building. Downstairs, it’s a pool hall. Upstairs, it’s where the couple raised their Chicago-born children.
When Emidio Oceguera was 10, he daydreamed that one day, he would own the building and turn it into a community gathering space.
While his siblings went into government, Emidio went into the restaurant business, including general manager at Chicago Cut Steakhouse. The pool hall owned by the Ocegueras would also become a restaurant—for many years, it was Tacos Palacio, serving the dishes of their Jaliscan heritage.
Then the pandemic hit. Tacos Palacio closed. Here was a chance for Emidio Oceguera to turn his childhood home into a restaurant he could call his own. It would be called Cerdito Muerto.
In this week’s Food Guy segment, watch the story of how Emidio and Consuelo Oceguera—along with chef Becky Carson—are taking traditional Mexican cooking and pushing the gastronomy forward for a new audience.
Swing by to try their dinner Wednesday through Saturday.
