Macondo Chicago

Macondo is a fair-trade Colombian coffee and (gluten-free) empanada shop founded with the intention of educating the city of Chicago about Colombian culture. At Macondo our mission is to act as a point of reference where Chicagoans can experience and enjoy Colombian culture through food, music, and of course, the richest coffee in the world.

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What does Macondo mean?

Macondo is the name of the fictional town in the novel "One Hundred Years of Solitude" by Nobel Prize-winning Colombian novelist Gabriel García Márquez.

We named our humble coffee and empanada shop in tribute to García Márquez, whose world-wide fame and recognition have allowed people from dozens of other countries to see that there is much more to Colombia and Colombian culture than what is portrayed on the news and in Hollywood movies.
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Our Coffee

Juan Valdez CaféReale
We are proud to be the first food service establishment in Chicago to be serving Juan Valdez CaféReale. Juan Valdez is Colombia's most internationally-celebrated coffee brand and is owned by the Federación Nacional de Cafeteros de Colombia, a farmer-owned cooperative which funds social programs in small coffee-producing communities throughout Colombia.

Macondo Organic Coffee

Macondo also proudly features an organic Colombian private label house coffee which is being sourced especially for us by our partners at Metropolis coffee.

We also feature Chicago's only singe-origin organic Colombian espresso blend.

Colombian coffee beans by the pound from various micro-regions of Colombia are also available. All of the offerings are either fair trade or direct trade and a majority are also organic.
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Our Empanadas

What is an empanada?

The empanada is the emblematic street food of Latin America. It is a turnover with a shell made of either wheat or corn flour filled with an endless possibility of ingredients which is then either baked or fried depending on the region. From Patagonia to the Caribbean, there are as many different variations as there are countries. Our empanadas are prepared and served in the Tolimense style, from the Tolima province of Colombia. In this region empanadas are made with a corn flour shell and fried (Macondo uses exclusively non-trans fat vegetable oil).

Macondo also proudly boasts and empanada menu which is 100% gluten-free; making it the only empanada-focused business in Chicago with a Celiac-friendly menu.

Macondo will have at least 7 different variations at any one time (both sweet and savory), with options for both carnivores and vegetarians. An empanada order at Macondo consists of two small empanadas (which makes sharing easier) and comes with a free serving of our traditional Colombian hot sauce, ají.
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Macondo Music

Ask any Colombian what they love most about their culture, and the response you will hear the most is: Our food and our music.

Well at Macondo you can find both. We offer a hand-picked selection of traditional and contemporary Colombian, Afro-Latin and World Music CDs. We proudly feature the debut release of the official band of Macondo, Grupo Rebolú (preview the entire CD at target="_blank">www.gruporebolu.com ).

Macondo Music also co-sponsors a variety of live Afro-Latin music and cultural events around Chicago, primarily through our partnership with Sound Culture, Chicago's premier independent world music and cultural programming organization.

Visit www.soundculturechicago.com for a full schedule of world music programming at Las Tablas and around Chicago. Additional support provided by www.arteyvidachicago.com and www.worldfusionchicago.com

In addition to presenting live music, Macondo Music is a free event consulting service specializing in providing live music for private events and educational programs.
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Find us on Facebook!

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