If there’s anything that brings Latinos together, it’s food, dancing and music.
This year’s selection of sustenance and refreshments at the third annual Sueños Music Festival in Grant Park represents a glimmering variety of cultures from Latin America, the Caribbean and beyond. The festival opened Saturday and closes Sunday.
Festival attendees looking for grub can find over 30 food and beverage options beyond typical festival foodstuffs like funnel cakes and hot dogs.
There is undoubtedly something for everyone — from traditional Mexican items like tacos and elote (corn) to more global options such as Japanese-inspired chicken teriyaki bowls ($15) from Kamehachi and tikka masala tacos (two for $11) from Tandoor Char House. Several food tents also offer plant-based or vegan options.
Melba Serrano, owner of Lito’s Taco and Empanada House in Lincoln Park, is dishing out four flavors of Colombian-style empanadas. Attendees can pick from chorizo cheese, chicken and rice, beef and rice and spinach and cheese.
“This company, it’s a small business, but the food comes from the heart,” says employee Miriam Ottman.
They also offer a foot-long quesadilla for $12, and filling options include beef tinga, chicken tinga and roasted vegetables.
Jibaritos with a twist are available from Smash Jibarito for $15. It’s a burger patty topped with sauteed onions, pickles, sweet aioli and American cheese, smashed between two thick-cut and flattened slices of green plantain. Hand-cut potato chips are served on the side.
A smash burger jibarito from Smash Jibarito is on the menu at Sueños Music Festival this year.
Ambar Colón/Sun-Times
And no good Chicago party is complete without pizza and Italian beef. Connie’s Pizza is selling slices of deep dish starting at $9. They’re also offering a special pizza fuego for $10, a deep dish slice loaded with spicy chorizo, chipotle sauce, jalapeños and cheese.
Frannie’s Beef is selling its namesake sandwiches for $10, Chicago dogs for $9 and loaded fries for $8.
With a dedicated section for micheladas — a Mexican drink made with beer, tomato juice and lime and rimmed with sticky tamarind candy — festival-goers have at least six different micheladas to choose from between $10 and $24.
That area of the festival grounds, called “Munchies y Miches,” also has a variety of dessert items, ranging from ice cream and donuts to gummy candies and Latin pastries like mini guava pastelillos.
Boriken Cakes owner Rachel Díaz explained that her shop’s cupcakes are considered bizcocho mojadito (moist cake), a specialty cake found in Puerto Rican bakeries. The cupcakes at Boriken’s tent range in flavor at one for $7, four for $25 and six for $35: guava, coquito, piña colada, coconut, dulce de leche and more.
Boriken has two locations: Logan Square at 3313 W. Fullerton Ave. and Archer Heights at 5328 S. Archer Ave. More than five years ago, Díaz would sell her cupcakes at the Harlem-Irving Plaza mall in Norridge at a small kiosk before her tiny desserts went viral on social media.
The La Michoacana Premium tent has been a part of Sueños since the first year of the festival in 2021. The family business from Des Plaines has more than five locations across the northwestern suburbs.
They’re selling mangonadas for $8 (complete with the works: mango sorbet, lime, chamoy sauce and tamarind candy). Also on the menu are 9 different flavors of Mexican paletas or popsicles, four dairy-free (piña chile, lime, watermelon and mango).
“I’m excited to talk to people, you know, there’s so much diversity,” says employee George Hernández. “People [from] all over the country are visiting for this Latin Festival. I’m proud to represent my city.”