 "Photo: Andrew Chen")
When I came to UIC my good friend, Vijay Kamaraj, showed me the New Maxwell Street Market on 548 West Roosevelt Road. The market reminded me of the shows in Travel Channel where street markets are commonplace at exotic locales like Thailand. For students living in the dorms on the weekends, the street market could be a welcoming change of pace.
The top two reasons for routinely going to the street market every Sunday from 7am to 3pm are Mexican food and everything you may or may not need at a very reasonable price. The market spans the length of Desplaines Avenue - lined out with vans, foldout tables, food stands, and vendors.
There is a mass of people and pets walking up and down the street. I also found the market to be very family friendly from the kids running around to big family gatherings at their favorite food stand. The frenzy of activity can be likened to a crowded football game.
Churro vans constantly make new batches of churros either served plain or filled with strawberry/vanilla filling for $1.25. Tamales the size of your face cooked in banana leaf with sour cream and green chili sauce for $3. They even have specials like three tacos of your choosing and a drink for $5. For being so cheap in price, they are in no ways cheap in homemade quality. At one stand, you can easily see one woman pressing dough into perfectly round tortillas, while another flips them on and off the hot griddle with her hand. I can't help but to admire their commitment to homemade food. Then I noticed the other things I can buy around me.
The selection of items you can buy range from the typical to the bizarre. To put into perspective, the items I found include: toothbrushes, power drills, tires, jewelry, luchador masks, scarves, an Xbox, steel-toed boots, dried fruits, fresh produce, mamba music, dvds, a large monkey wrench, military uniforms, lucky bamboo, notebook paper, sweaters, hand bags, Star Trek action figures, makeup, ski masks, T-shirts, portraits of Jesus, T-shirts with the portrait of Jesus and many more. I know I'll be back again.
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