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northbrooktower.com life & arts
the northbrook tower | May 16, 2019 | 35
Salt Creek Tacos offers new concept on the North Shore
Alyssa Groh
Contributing Editor
John des Rosiers knows
a thing or two about operating
a successful restaurant
on the North Shore.
As the owner of two
restaurants in Lake Bluff,
Inovasi and The Otherdoor,
des Rosiers decided
to venture out into Highland
Park and try his hand
at a third restaurant, Salt
Creek Tacos.
Salt Creek Tacos, 431
Temple Ave., Highland
Park, is considered the
middle child of all of his
restaurants.
“I wanted to do something
that slid in between
The Otherdoor and Inovasi,”
des Rosiers said.
The Otherdoor is a fastcasual
Mexican restaurant,
while Inovasi, which is
celebrating its 10th anniversary
this year, is an upscale
American restaurant.
“[Salt Creek Tacos] is
a little bit higher end than
The Otherdoor with an
added focus on every single
item being hand-made,”
des Rosiers said. “I also
wanted to do a place that
was focused on tequila, and
I think we put together a
hell of a good list.”
Running three completely
different restaurants can
be challenging, but it’s
something des Rosiers has
thought about for years.
“I had been thinking a
lot in the last couple years
about the places I want to
build, and what the market
needs,” he said. “I think
something like this is exactly
what a lot of people
are looking for, and what a
lot of people are going to
discover is what they have
been looking for. It’s a
place where everything is
high quality, but affordable
for almost anyone to come
in and eat.”
Salt Creek Tacos
431 Temple Ave.,
Highland Park
(847) 780-8186
saltcreektacos.com
5-9 p.m.
Sunday-Thursday
5-10 p.m.
Friday-Saturday
And in finding the middle
ground between his
other two restaurants, Salt
Creek Tacos is considered
a casual restaurant with a
twist.
“It’s not completely fast
casual and it’s not full service
dining, it’s kind of in
the middle,” des Rosiers
said.
Salt Creek Tacos runs
things slightly different
than most restaurants.
When guests arrive they are
seated at a table and mark
down their own orders on
an order form and bring
it up to the front counter.
Then, the staff will prepare
the food and drinks, and
serve it to guests.
The menu at Salt Creek
Tacos is small — on
purpose.
“I didn’t want us to get
distracted by doing too
many things, I wanted
to do a small number of
things really well.”
One thing Salt Creek Tacos
prides itself on it making
every single item by
hand. Des Rosiers said every
day he has three people
come in just to make tortillas
from scratch, which is
difficult, time consuming
and expensive.
Not only do they take
pride in offering handmade
menu items, they
place an added emphasis
on consistency.
“We want people to
come in and have a taco
10 days in a row and have
it exactly the same every
time,” des Rosiers said.
The grilled steak taco ($4) at Salt Creek Tacos features steak, cilantro, poblano salsa, pickled sweet onion in a
warm tortilla made in-house. Photos by Eric DeGrechie/22nd Century Media
The grilled chicken taco ($3.50) is made with chicken,
avocado, salsa verde, cotija cheese and radish.
“We kept it so that the
menu is easy and fast for
customers to read and order,
it’s easy and fast for us
to make it, it’s consistent
and it’s all done by hand
and it’s high quality.”
After hearing all about
the hand-crafted menu,
22nd Century Media editors
couldn’t wait to dive
in and try some of the food
from Salt Creek Tacos.
We started out with a
classic, house-made chips
& guac ($7). The guacamole
is freshly made
with a lot of flavor and the
hand-made chips are extra
crunchy and unlike typical
tortilla chips.
Next up, we tried three
of five of the taco offerings
at Salt Creek Tacos.
The smoked pork taco
($3.50), is made Veracruz
style with olives, caper, tomato,
sunflower seeds and
jalapeños.
The grilled chicken taco
($3.50) is made with avocado,
salsa verde, cotija
The smoked pork taco ($3.50) is prepared Veracruz
style with olive, caper, tomato, sunflower seeds and
jalapeno.
cheese and radish.
Grilled steak taco ($4)
is topped with cilantro,
poblano salsa and pickled
sweet onion.
After trying each of the
tacos it was hard to choose
a favorite — but one thing
was for sure, they all included
big, bold flavors.
Quesadillas, salads, esquite,
chicharrones and an
extensive tequila and mezcal
list are among some of
the items that round out
the rest of the menu at Salt
Creek Tacos.
Salt Creek Tacos does
not accept reservations,
but offers an online wait
list system where guests
can put their name on the
list and know how long
they have to wait for a
table, before they arrive at
the restaurant.
To view the Salt Creek
Taco wait list prior to arrival,
visit saltcreektacos.
com.