At Pueblo Nuevo in Portage Park everyone is family, and the home-style food can’t be beat

“Doctor” Lulu is here to take care of you.

That’s what Lourdes “Lulu” Alvarez tells those who say they are feeling a little under the weather at Pueblo Nuevo in Portage Park, the Mexican restaurant she runs with her husband.

Though she doesn’t have a medical degree, Alvarez said some call her “doctor” because she has the remedy: a steaming bowl of pozole verde “para el corazon,” for the heart.

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Alvarez, 45, sees the people who walk into the intimate eatery, at 4342 N. Central Ave., as more than just customers. She remembers many by name and doesn’t hesitate to forgive a bill.

“Maybe it’s just the way I am, but you shouldn’t treat a customer like a customer, you have to treat them like part of your family,” Alvarez said in Spanish.

For nearly 13 years, Pueblo Nuevo has kept scores of regulars coming back, thanks to its quality, home-style food and convivial atmosphere. It has formed deep ties within the community, which in recent years has stepped up for Alvarez and the restaurant when they needed a hand.

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In 2022, Alvarez felt as if “her world was ending.” She underwent surgery to remove non-cancerous tumors that her doctors had discovered, forcing the restaurant to close briefly.

The family started an online fundraiser, and the community helped them collect thousands to help cover her expenses.

And during the COVID-19 pandemic, Alvarez said the restaurant survived thanks in part to a local who helped it boost its internet presence and take online orders.

“I thank them with all of my heart,” Alvarez said of her loyal customers. “We would be nothing without their support.”

Alvarez, though excellent in the kitchen, spends most of her time with customers at the front of the house while her husband, Joaquin Lara, 46, helps with the cooking.

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Their oldest daughter Esther Lara, 22, can be found behind the register, and their 9-year-old son, Omar, often distributes chips and salsa to tables. The couple also have a 16-year-old daughter named Jocelyn.

The eatery has earned a reputation for quality ingredients and tasty, no frills food. Last year, Eater Chicago named it one of the city’s essential Mexican restaurants, and Time Out included it in its list of the 32 best Mexican spots in Chicago.

Its varied menu features many traditional Mexican offerings, but the pozole was one of its first standout dishes. Alvarez, who’s from Leon, Guanajuato, prepares the restorative hominy-based soup in the style of that region, with vibrant tomatillo and green peppers. The recipe is her mother’s, who she says taught her everything she knows.

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“When people come and tell me they like my pozole, I call my mom and thank her for teaching me,” Alvarez said. The restaurant is also named after a town in Guanajuato.

Another popular dish is the pambazo (named after the bread it uses), a sandwich that shares some DNA with a Chicago classic: the Italian beef.

While the Chicago staple is typically baptized in roasting juices after the meat is added and before it’s served, the pambazo reverses the process. The bread is drenched in a red guajillo pepper sauce and then fried before it’s filled.

It’s traditionally stuffed with potatoes and chorizo, but can be made with different proteins which are then topped with sour cream, cheese and lettuce. The sandwich is a popular street food item in Mexico City, where Lara is from, but hasn’t crossed over quite like tacos or tortas have.

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Success didn’t come overnight for Alvarez and her husband, who’ve been together for 25 years. When they first opened, they’d try to lure people inside by handing out samples of their food to passersby.

“Look, come try my food,” Alvarez would say. “I’d give them an al pastor taco, I’d give them pozole. And that’s how the beautiful thing started.”

In the last few months they’ve added a version of mole sauce to their menu that though simplified, maintains its traditionally spicy, sweet and smoky flavors. Alvarez said the mole enchiladas have been flying out the door.

The food is what turned Patrick Georgett into a loyal customer, but he was more impressed that Alvarez never forgot him after he placed his first order seven years ago.

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“She remembered my name from Day One,” Georgett said, adding that eating at the restaurant now feels “like ordering from your friends, it’s not like ordering from a regular restaurant.”

Georgett, who lives not far from Pueblo Nuevo, introduced the spot to his parents, and it’s become a can’t-miss place for them whenever they’re in town from New Jersey.

The story is common among the restaurant’s loyal patrons, many of whom can be found on its walls. Christmas cards and notes with kind messages from regulars line the edges of a small rectangular mirror hanging inside.

Gabriel Rodriguez, a regular and Portage Park resident of 38 years, usually picks a table near the kitchen to chat with Lara and Alvarez. He said he’s glad to see the two doing so well.

“They deserve it, they are very good people,” Rodriguez said. “It’s a very good business, and they make you feel right at home.”

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