A community anchor that has welcomed four generations of Mexican immigrants and Chicago families is facing the imminent loss of its longtime storefront. For more than 60 years, La Casa del Pueblo Taqueria has operated in its Pilsen location on the strength of a longstanding relationship with the property owner built on a simple handshake and promise. Now, the current landlord has asked the family to leave abruptly.
La Casa del Pueblo’s roots in Pilsen stretch back to the 1960s, when Martha Saucedo and her mother, Maria Sanchez, began preparing and serving Mexican food from a small kitchen inside the La Casa del Pueblo Supermarket, owned by Jerry Lombardi, grandfather of the current property owner. After a fire affected the grocery store, Lombardi proposed to rent the new restaurant space to Saucedo and her family. From there, La Casa del Pueblo Taqueria became a fixture in the neighborhood, serving generations of Pilsen residents and visitors.
The restaurant’s history is deeply connected to the immigrant communities that shaped Pilsen. Like the Saucedo family, Lombardi was an immigrant. His Italian family’s grocery business grew alongside the neighborhood’s expanding Latino population, and La Casa del Pueblo similarly became part of the community’s evolving Mexican-American identity.
Today, more than 30 families depend on La Casa del Pueblo Taqueria for their livelihoods. Closing the restaurant in the months leading up to Christmas would mean displacing those workers and leaving them without employment during the holiday season.
Attorney Homero Tristan is guiding the Saucedo family in its effort to remain open through December 26. Despite their desire to remain in their longtime Pilsen storefront, the family has already secured a new location in Berwyn. Their goal in fighting the eviction is to remain through December 26, so they can properly transition their operations to Berwyn, notify their long-term customers of the move, and give their employees an opportunity to continue with them at the new location or secure alternative employment.
Tristan & Cervantes is proud to use our practice to advocate for our clients when their businesses, livelihoods, and community ties are at stake.
To read the full article, visit: https://www.chicagotribune.com/2026/09/26/la-casa-del-pueblo-taqueria-closing-pilsen/
