Wallet: 7 credits
Table 12 · Party of youServer: the chef, actuallyNo. 0047

One chef. Three dishes.
Straight from the pass.

Every week we sit down with one chef and ask a single question: what three things should we order at your restaurant? They tell us. We print it — the dishes, the stories, and the recipes in their own words.

Chef approved

This week · No. 47Fired: Tue 07/28

Diana Dávila — Mi Tocaya, Chicago

"If tongue scares you, order the lengua anyway — it's the whole reason this place exists. And come on a Wednesday. There's a burrito the internet hasn't found yet."
— Diana Dávila, chef / owner
1.
photo · burrito suizo

Burrito Suizo

"The sleeper. Wednesdays only — steak, salsa ranchera, cave-aged Swiss."

Recipe1 credit
2.
photo · peanut butter y lengua

Peanut Butter y Lengua

"The signature. Braised tongue, salsa de cacahuate — eats like a Thai curry."

Recipe1 credit
3.
photo · flan de queso

Flan de Queso

"My last meal on earth. Cheesecake and flan in an argument — nobody loses."

Recipe1 credit

Read the interview Get all three · $10

House rules

How the money works

1 recipe, in the chef's words1 credit
1 credit$1
The pack — all 3 + interview audio$10

Of every dollar you spend on a chef's recipes:

80¢ → the chef20¢

We keep the 20¢. It pays for recipe testing, so the dish works in your kitchen, not just theirs.

From the newsletter

What a $19 plate of lengua actually costs

Diana opened her books. Tongue: $4.20. Salsa de cacahuate: $2.10. The person at the plancha: $5.60. The walk-in it all lives in: $4.80. What's left is thinner than you think.

See the full breakdown

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Previously firedNos. 44–46

No. 46 · Tim Flores

Kasama, Chicago — a Michelin star that still makes a breakfast sandwich, and why the line is the point.

No. 45 · Erick Williams

Virtue, Chicago — Southern food in Hyde Park and the real cost of hospitality.

No. 44 · Beverly Kim

Parachute HiFi, Chicago — a Michelin room reborn as a listening bar, and the bing bread that survived.

Interview No. 47Recorded at the bar, 3pm, pre-service

Diana Dávila
Mi Tocaya · Logan Square, Chicago

Twenty years in kitchens, nine as owner. We asked her the only question we ever ask: what three things should we order here? She didn't hesitate on one of them.

Her words. Not ours.

Pick 1 of 3 · The Sleeper

1. Burrito Suizo

"People think the lengua is the deep cut. No — the lengua is famous. The burrito suizo is the fine print: one day a week, Wednesday only. Steak, salsa ranchera, Swiss cheese aged in a cave. I will not explain the cheese. Come on a Wednesday."
Order it at Mi Tocaya · $18 · Wednesdays only — that's the point
Cook it at home — her recipe, tested1 credit

Unlock recipe

Pick 2 of 3 · The Signature

2. Peanut Butter y Lengua

"It's an homage to my uncle in San Luis Potosí — the most food-obsessed man I ever met. Beef tongue braised until it gives up, seared hard on the plancha, drowned in salsa de cacahuate. People say it eats like a Thai curry. If tongue scares you, order it anyway — it's the whole reason this place exists."
Order it at Mi Tocaya · $19 · ask for extra tortillas

She opened the books on this one

What the $19 pays forCostShare
Beef tongue, braised + trimmed$4.2022%
Salsa de cacahuate, produce, tortillas$2.1011%
Labor — braise + sear$5.6029%
Rent, power, the walk-in$4.8025%
What Mi Tocaya keeps$2.3012%

"People think a $19 plate means I'm rich. $19 of lengua means I make two-thirty if nothing goes wrong."

Cook it at home — her recipe, tested1 credit
Pick 3 of 3 · The Last Meal

3. Flan de Queso

"People treat flan like an afterthought. Flan de queso is cheesecake and flan having an argument — nobody loses. When we tested it for your site, converting it took longer than any dish on my menu ever has. It's the last thing I'd want to taste, period."
Order it at Mi Tocaya · $9 · save room, it's not optional
Cook it at home — her recipe, tested1 credit
Take the whole ticket

Diana's Three — The Pack

All 3 recipes, tested for home kitchens✓
The full interview — 24 min audio✓
The lengua economics, line by line✓
Total$10 — $8 goes to Diana

Get the pack · $10

CheckoutOrder No. 0047-P

Diana's Three
The Pack · Mi Tocaya, Chicago

Burrito suizo — recipe + her notesincl.
Peanut butter y lengua — recipe + economicsincl.
Flan de queso — cheesecake-flan hybrid, convertedincl.
Interview audio, 24 min, uneditedincl.
The Pack$10.00

Where your ten dollars goes:

$8.00 → Diana$2.00

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80¢ of every credit you spend goes to the chef whose recipe it is. Always.

What "tested" means

We cook it before you do

Restaurant recipes are written for a brigade and a 900° plancha. Every recipe here was re-scaled, cooked in a normal home kitchen — electric coil stove, standard oven — and signed off by the chef before we sold a single copy.

Test kitchen passes (this pack)4
Chef sign-offDávila ✓
The GuideChicago, IL

What to order in Chicago,
according to the people cooking it

Every dish below was named by a chef we interviewed — either from their own menu, or when we asked "where do you eat on your night off?" No stars. No reviews. Just what the kitchen would order.

AllNorth SideSouth SideLate nightUnder $15

12 dishes · 8 kitchens

Mi Tocaya — Peanut butter y lengua

$19

Logan Square · picked by Diana Dávila (her own No. 1) — braised tongue, salsa de cacahuate. Eats like a Thai curry.

Interview No. 47 →

Kasama — Longanisa, egg & cheese

$12

East Ukrainian Village · picked by Tim Flores (his No. 1), seconded by Diana Dávila on her day off: "I get in line like everybody else."

Interview No. 46 →

Virtue — Blackened catfish

$28

Hyde Park · picked by Erick Williams (his No. 1) — Carolina Gold rice, barbecued carrots. "The gumbo pays the rent; the catfish is the thesis."

Interview No. 45 →

Lula Cafe — Pasta Yiayia

$16

Logan Square · named by three chefs unprompted — brown butter, cinnamon, feta. On the menu since 1999.

Named in Nos. 44–46 →

Parachute HiFi — Baked potato bing bread

$14

Avondale · picked by Beverly Kim — the cult dish that survived the room becoming a listening bar. Wednesdays.

Interview No. 44 →

More cities as we book more chefs. Next: Milwaukee (No. 52), Detroit (No. 58).