Frontera Grill
After watching Rick Bayless win Top Chef: Masters in 2009 with his mole sauce, I made it a goal to eat at
one of his restaurants. I really admired
that the chef with the most positive attitude, least amount of competitiveness,
and best enthusiasm won.
I also think Rick Bayless has one of the coolest stories
about how he came to cooking. He was doing
doctoral work in Anthropological Linguistics in Mexico and got so interested in
the food that he turned to studying Mexican cuisine. The mole that won Top Chef was a recipe that he has been working on for years, fine
tuning and crafting.
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| Scarlet Wave |
One of the other things I really admire about Rick Bayless
is that while at this point in his career he could have just high-end
restaurants with impossible to get reservations, he hasn’t gone that
route. While in Chicago he does have a
high end restaurant, Topolobampo, right next door he also
has a mid-range restaurant, Frontera Grill, and a reasonable quick-service place, XOCO. This means that
you don’t have to be rich and affluent or break your food budget to get the
chance to try some really knock-your-socks-off cuisine from a James Beard Award
winner.
To start the meal, I had the refreshing Scarlet Wave,
limeade with Jamaica flower tea and Peychaud bitters. It is a beautiful magenta color that looks
bright and thirst-quenching. It is
fresh, tangy, and the bitters were a nice touch to offset the tangy lime. It was a great way of brightening the palate
and preparing for a spicy meal.
For the salad, I got the Jicama
Callejera, a salad of jicama, pineapple, and cucumber and seasoned with
lime and chile. The salad was a balance
of cool and warm and served in a banana leaf.
It is best to stir it to get the chile evenly dispersed and get to the
juice at the bottom.
For the entrée, I had Cazuela
de Tinga and Dennis had the Pato en
Mole Coloradito. Both dishes are
served with a bottomless supply of warm, homemade tortillas for making little
tacos. The Cauela de Tinga is pork shoulder that has been braised with
tomatoes, chorizo, and potatoes and topped with avocado and queso fresco. The braising made the pork rich and
tender. The chorizo gave spice and
heartiness, but didn’t make the dish greasy.
And, like the Jicama, the
hearty meat and tomato sauce was delightfully balanced with fresh cheese and
avocado.
The Pato en Mole
Coloradito lived up to its expectations and then some. Dennis remarked that the Oaxacan mole
coloradito, a harmonious blend of chocolate, nuts, and spice, is something he
could eat all day. The Mole also came with a side of ground Iroquois
corn that was cooked almost polenta style.
It was flavorful and a great conduit for the mole.
The meal made me admire Rick Bayless all the more. Eating the food reflects a great love of a
country’s cuisine and a need to share that love and fascination with
others. So, next time you are in
Chicago, stop by Frontera, have the
mole, and share an incredible celebration of Mexican cuisine.
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