A cantina serving Oaxacan tlayudas, house-brewed beer, and a menu built for kids as much as their parents opens Wednesday at 7700 Madison Street in Forest Park, occupying the same storefront where the craft brewery Casa Humilde shut its doors in March. The new spot, called Sendero, brings together the founder of Casa Humilde with the executive chef behind Chicago's acclaimed Istmo and a beverage entrepreneur known for Chicago's michelada scene, betting that a broader cantina concept can succeed where a beer-focused taproom could not.
Sendero is described as a new cantina venture from the teams behind Istmo and the former Mexican brewery Casa Humilde, according to Eater Chicago. Casa Humilde founder José López joined forces with Istmo chef Carlos López Muñoz on the project, and the pair are joined by Juan Sánchez, a brand marketer formerly with the craft michelada company Big Mich, and restaurateur Juan Carlos Covarrubias, who is also behind Xurro and Raizes. López parted ways with his brother and former business partner Javier, according to the outlet, though the dossier does not detail how that split unfolded.
The name Sendero takes its cue from the Spanish word for road, and López told the outlet the idea is to create a place to keep culture alive through food and music. “It reminds you of your tía's house,” López said, describing the atmosphere the team is aiming for inside the space.
From Craft Beer Taproom to Family Cantina
The 7700 Madison Street address has cycled through several identities over the past decade. Exit Strategy Brewing Co. operated there for eight years as Forest Park's first craft brewery before closing in October 2023, with owners Chris and Katherine Valleau citing burnout and a saturated craft beer market, according to the Forest Park Review. Casa Humilde moved in next, holding a public preview in August 2024 before permanently closing this past March 1 after less than two years as a standalone brewpub, per the Wednesday Journal's reporting on the closure.
Casa Humilde itself had roots inside Chicago's West Town, where it debuted in 2019 as a founding partner of District Brew Yards, becoming the first Latino-owned brewery to join the collective beer hall. Hoodline covered the opening of that West Town venue when it launched in April 2019 as a self-pour beer hall. José López had built industry experience before starting Casa Humilde by working in distribution for Chicago's Hopewell Brewing Co. and Omega Yeast Labs, according to StarChefs.
A Menu Rooted in Oaxaca
Chef Carlos López Muñoz, a native of Oaxaca and a former professional soccer player in Finland, trained at Le Cordon Bleu Oaxaca and worked with Rick Bayless and Carlos Gaytán before helping open Sendero. He also serves as executive chef of Istmo, the Lakeview Oaxacan restaurant that opened in July 2024 and quickly drew recognition as one of Chicago's top new dining spots. At Sendero, López Muñoz revived his father's salsa recipes and is sourcing asiento, a rendered pork byproduct, for the restaurant's planned Oaxacan tlayuda.
The menu also includes appetizers, comfort food staples, and taco options, alongside wings finished in salsa macha and maracuyá-habanero sauces. Shareable plates round out the offerings, and the restaurant has built in a kids' section on the menu, a deliberate nod to the family-friendly ambitions of the space, which also includes baby-changing stations in every bathroom.
Beer, Cocktails, and a Distribution Play
Sendero brews its own beer, offering a lager, an IPA, and a nonalcoholic beer on draft, alongside other beer brands and a shareable caguama, the 32-ounce Mexican beer bottle format. The bar also pours Mexican wines from different regions and agave-forward cocktails, plus classic, piña-mango, and michelada negra micheladas. Sendero's beer is expected to be available on draft and through wider distribution starting in October, with the team planning to distribute its beers beyond the restaurant itself.
That distribution ambition leans on Sánchez's background. He brings an established distribution network from his time with Big Mich, a Chicago brand that has been a staple vendor at the Chicago Michelada Festival in Pilsen, and he oversees Sendero's programming, including live music, DJ sets, lotería nights, and watch parties for major sporting events. Sánchez described the concept simply: Sendero is a modern cantina with great-quality food, he said. The team also plans to grow Tazita, a wholesale coffee brand, according to the Eater Chicago report.
Preserving a Piece of Casa Humilde's Identity
Despite the concept shift, Sendero preserves much of Casa Humilde's existing furniture and character, and it keeps in place a mural depicting an immigrant leaping over a border fence, portrayed as el valiente. The mural was created by Chicago-based artist Alma Domínguez, whose partnership with the Casa Humilde team dates back to 2019, when her work was the first featured on the brewery's rotating tap-wall gallery at District Brew Yards, according to Guys Drinking Beer.
The space also has enough screens for viewing from virtually every angle, catering to the sports-watching crowd Sánchez's programming is designed to draw. Sendero sits along Madison Street, Forest Park's primary downtown dining corridor, home to dozens of independent restaurants and bars and reachable via the CTA Blue and Green lines and I-290, according to the Gagliardo Group.
Hours and Opening Details
Sendero opens Wednesday, September 9, at 7700 Madison Street. Its hours will run 4 p.m. to 10 p.m. Wednesday through Thursday, 3 p.m. to midnight on Friday, noon to midnight on Saturday, and noon to 10 p.m. on Sunday, per the restaurant's published schedule. For a corridor that has seen a craft brewery come and go and a brewpub's brief two-year run end abruptly, the arrival of a broader, kid-friendly cantina marks another turn for a storefront that has rarely stayed still.
