Name: Zentli
Address: 1813 Dempster St, Evanston, IL, 60201
Telephone: (224) 999-7486

Zentli

Super GemEvanston (suburb) · Mexican Community-sourced, unverified

📍 1813 Dempster St, Evanston, IL 60201

Zentli takes its name from the Nahuatl word for corn, and the concept follows through -- every dish on the menu is corn-based, built around house-made blue corn tortillas.

★★★★★ 4.8 via Google

Super GemChicago Exclusive Gem$$

The cheese enchiladas with mole have a real depth to them, and it's the dish that's kept this Evanston spot busy for years.

📈 Scores in the top 99% of Chicago Exclusive Gems on ChicagoSpecials.com

Founders Marcos Rivera, Alfonso "Piloto" Nieves Ruiz, and Danny Howard spent three years developing the idea before the pandemic pushed the opening to December 2022, and they asked their own mothers to help shape a menu that felt both new to Evanston and genuinely nostalgic for Mexican-American diners. Vegan and vegetarian options aren't an afterthought here -- they're a real focus, not a token section. Weekend brunch (enfrijoladas, pambazo, sopes con huevo) gets singled out by reviewers as some of the best breakfast in the area, not just a decent Mexican-food version of one.

It's not on OpenTable, so calling ahead beats assuming a table will be there. Google has it at 4.8, with 142 Yelp reviews backing that up. No happy hour or discount surfaced in the research -- the corn-forward menu is the actual draw.

What to Know Before You Go

💡 Worth Knowing

4.8 stars — explicitly called a hidden gem; genuinely creative vegan/vegetarian dishes, not an afterthought.

Hours

MonClosed

Tue-Thu 5-9PM

Fri 5-10PM

Sat 11AM-3PM,5-10PM

Sun 11AM-3PM,5-9PM

📅 Reservations not available 🥡 Takeout unconfirmed 📞 (224) 999-7486

Amenities & accessibility

🚶Walk-in only

❔Takeout: unverified

❔Wheelchair access: unverified

Location

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Zentli

Zentli takes its name from the Nahuatl word for corn, and the concept follows through -- every dish on the menu is corn-based, built around house-made blue corn tortillas.

Specials at Zentli

Zentli

Zentli