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Coco
2723 W Division St between Washtenaw and California Aves
(773-384-4811).
Xavier Nogueras thinks that Paseo Bourica–the stretch of Division Street between Western and California–could be the Puerto Rican version of Greektown. And that's exactly what he's afraid of.

"You have Greektown, but the neighborhood isn't Greek," he laments. "Humboldt Park is gentrifying real fast."

Nogueras, along with hordes of other Puerto Ricans, fled the neighborhood in the '90s, when its deterioration seemed unstoppable. But when he recently returned, he noticed that there were no upscale restaurants on Division. "Chicago has the second-largest Puerto Rican community in the country...it made no sense to me," he says.

So he grabbed José Allende (owner of the former Café Allende), and, even though they "didn't know what we were going to get ourselves into," opened Coco about a year ago, serving both classic and contemporary Puerto Rican food in a slick setting. Of the classics on the menu, mofongo–stuffed mashed plantains that Nogueras asserts is Puerto Rico's "oldest dish"–is the star. "There's only one way of making it," Nogueras explains. "You can't use technology." The green, savory plantains are fried, mashed in a wood mortar with pork rinds, cilantro and garlic, then stuffed with everything from chicken to crabmeat.

Though business has been on an upswing since Coco got its liquor license, Nogueras says it could be better. "We're doing our best to market, but there's only so much our budget will allow," he says. "We're going to fight to stay here, and hopefully little by little people will know about it. We want to keep at least Division Street as a reminder of our history here."–David Tamarkin