North suburban restaurants offer kosher spin on Mexican cuisine

CHICAGO (CBS) -- When you want tacos, you have many choices in the Chicago area, but in the northern suburbs there are a couple restaurants where you might find some things missing from the menu.

The owners of La Casa De Isaac & Moishe want it that way.

"Normally, al pastor is made out with pork, but we don't use pork. We use beef," owner Isaac Nava said.

You won't find pork on the menu, because Nava is Jewish.

"My parents converted, and they raised 12 of us, and since then we just followed those principles," he said.

The restaurant also is closed on the Jewish sabbath and Jewish holidays.

"Money hasn't been a thing that will make us lose our principles," Nava said.

Nava grew up one of 12 kids in the town of Huitzuco, Mexico, near Acapulco.

"My little town, it's on the map, but nobody knows Huitzuco, even though it's a beautiful, beautiful town," he said.

He came to the United States in 1986 at the age of 15.

"Growing up in Mexico was hard, because most of the community, the people who lives there, they don't anything about this religion," he said.

After working several jobs in the restaurant industry, Nava and three of his brothers opened the first Isaac & Moishe location nearby. In 2009 they opened the grocery store and restaurant in Highwood.

They also have a restaurant in Highland Park, and now Nava is planning to convert the Highwood location into a full restaurant, but the one thing that won't change is his faith and the Jewish principles he grew up on.

"That's who we are. That's what we do," he said.

Nava has become well known in the area from his current restaurants, the previous restaurants where he worked, and from festivals where he serves up tacos, burritos and other Mexican specialties.