Is Carbón Mexican Grill Still Open? Food Paradise Update (Chicago, IL)
Food Paradise, Season 9 Chicago, Illinois
Current status
As of October 2026, Carbón Mexican Grill is listed open on carbonmex.com, reviewed by our team on September 7, 2026; not yet independently confirmed through direct contact.
What the source shows: The business's own site had an HTTP last-modified header of August 18, 2026, current 2026 page-text references, a working online-ordering system, and posted current weekly hours. How we decide a status →
- Episode Season 9, Episode 12
- Address 300 W 26th St, Chicago, IL 60616
- Now called Carbon Live Fire Mexican Grill
- Website carbonmex.com
- Show map
© OpenStreetMap contributors © CARTO
What happened after Food Paradise?
In the Season 9 episode 'Best Mex', the show featured Carbón Mexican Grill, a Chicago restaurant serving tacos, burritos, and bowls cooked over a live fire. The restaurant, now operating under the name Carbon Live Fire Mexican Grill, is located on West 26th Street in Chicago and also runs a separate cantina concept, Carbon Cantina. According to the restaurant's own website, last modified August 18, 2026, the business lists current 2026 weekly hours, running Sunday through Saturday from roughly 10:30 a.m. to 11 p.m., along with an active online-ordering system for pickup and delivery. The site markets the restaurant as the 'Best Mexican Restaurant in Chicago' and lists catering and employment pages alongside its current menu. No independent source describing a closure or relocation was found.
The episode
Also in Season 9
Season 9: 70 of 100 still open · 6 renamed, moved or under new owners
-
Ep 11DCity Smokehouse
Open -
Ep 12El Pinto
Open -
Ep 12El Tepeyac Café
Open -
Ep 12Fonda San Miguel
Open - Closed
-
Ep 12Taco Guild
Open -
Ep 12TacoLu Baja Mexicana
Open - Open
Nearest restaurants
-
Pleasant House Bakery (Pleasant House Pub)
Food Paradise
Relocated -
Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives
Closed -
Best Thing I Ever Ate
Closed -
Honky Tonk BBQ (The Tonk Chicago)
Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives
Renamed -
Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives
Closed -
Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives
Open
Before you go: Businesses change fast. Always confirm directly with the restaurant — call ahead, or check its own current website or social media — before making plans around anything on this page.
Sources we checked
- carbonmex.com https://carbonmex.com/
We work hard to keep every status accurate and dated, but restaurants change fast and our sources aren't perfect. If something here is wrong — a status, a name, an address, anything — tell us what you're seeing and where you saw it, and we'll check it.
Record fp-0633 · checked by Cal Marchetti.