Topolobampo

Rick Bayless is one of my favorite chefs. Last night ate at Toplobampo… everyone needs to eat here at least once in your lifetime.
The food is beyond words. Oh and the Topol Marguerita you’ve got to have its so smooth and delicious… It and the meal is magnificent and everything you expect and more.
Everything was served in a beautiful timed interval with the exact prefect portions.
Everyone who calls themselves a Chicagoan needs to eat here at least once in your lifetime.
Me I’m gonna be back several more times
Thank you Chef Bayless for as perfect a dining experience as I could ever expect to have !!!
From the appetizer to dessert phenomenal !!!

Ok this was our first trip to Chicago so I wanted to hit a few killer places. Now have been watching Rick Bayless for many many years now. I have a book maybe 2 so I knew one of his restaurants was going to be on that list. I tired to get in with Fontana I could not get reservations. I did get one at Tolo… that one. It also came very well recommended from a couple of trusted Unilocal friends. I’m so glad we ate here and not any of the other ones on the Rick Bayless block. This one is more upscale original Mexican foods. Upscale is really and understatement. We walked in after waiting for a bit. We were early so they kept our real reservation time. First off our servers Jessica and Marcos deserve a real pat n the back for they really made our experience so much better. After all I am a little quirky and picky (kind of) about my food. Ok food was amazing front to back. I went with the tasting menu and the wife went for a few of the regular menu items. We started out with a vegetable chorizo and a Wahockin chip with some of the best guacamole that I have ever eaten. I don’t eat guac but this was delicious. We moved onto a vegetable dish with sweet peas, fav beans and some eatable flowers. Oh yea it also had some onion ash kind of blown on the dish rim. I tasted it with my finger and it had a spice to it. I questioned it and Jessica went and found out how they did that. I will leave them their secret. We quickly went into the razor clam dish and a spicy shrimp and a crab n ancho broth. Next up was the soft shell crab and I had the marlin dish. both were very tasty but mine fish was over. She received the walleye next and I the beef tongue with a black bean broth with also white beans and a house made cheese. these dishes were so out of bounds good with the deepness of flavors. Next up for me was the suckling pig dish. Damn that’s all. Linda was next up with a 28 day aged rib eye with a dark mole. She was bound and determined that she was getting this mole. After watching Rick make it over the years and now she is sitting in the restaurant and she wanted it. My wife pretty much gets what she wants from me. This was a fantastic dish cooked perfectly and the 28 ingredient mole was stunning. We finally hit the cause we were getting really full. She received a panna cotta that just melted in your mouth. I got the broken rhubarb tart with a sesame ice cream and some rhubarb crispy. in all it had to one of the most fantastic meals that we have eaten as a couple and it’s the beginning our anniversary weekend. Bravo

Delicious food
Great service
Happy family birthday
One criticism: the restaurant was *freezing* cold. So cold that I wore a coat throughout our amazing feast.

My fiancé brought me back for my birthday this year, and it was just as beautiful of an experience. Our server, Chiago, was fantastic, giving us in depth descriptions with each course and wine pairing, and also providing us with numerous and wonderful cocktail recommendations. All of our food came out in a timely fashion, and each dish wowed us. We were greeted by both the sommelier and the manager, and they all wished me a very happy birthday. Our server was also very knowledgeable and patient when it came to answering my many questions about everything from how a specific dish was prepared to Rick’s personal art collection.
Overall, the whole night was an absolute delight.
My only wish is that I had more room in my stomach and money in my wallet to visit Topolo more regularly.

Very authentic Mexican. Great flavored with all the sauces, 29 spice mile was superb. Ceviche was nice and so was the escabeche. The best depressed I ever had was the mango with sweet something sauce. Best ever.

I was pretty excited to come here on Cinco de Mayo only to be let down when it all came to be. Having the Rick Bayless name attached to the restaurant made me believe I could go in with certain expectations about the quality of the food and service. Not to mention the fact that it is considered fine dining so you also have expectations in that regard. After the first course I was aching to get out of there, which is the opposite experience you want after dropping $ 300 in a restaurant.
Let me start off with the reservation. I showed up 5 minutes early with my wife. I was surprised to see that Topolobampo was attached to Frontera Grill and they shared the same reception desk. I go up to the hostess to let them know we are here for our reservation. She tells me it should only be about 10 more minutes. I’m thinking to myself ok, I guess it’s not a big deal but I’m used to a fine dining establishment keeping their reservations. So I ended up waiting a half hour past our reservation time to get seated with zero explanation to what’s going on. The whole time I’m standing in the waiting area that happens to be the entrance to Frontera also. The delicious bowls of guac and chips being paraded past me as they are delivered to their tables, teasing me. Every minute that went by made me less eager to give them my money.
I’m finally seated and of course there’s no apology or explanation for the wait, definitely not anything complimentary to make up for the wait. The Wife and I order some drinks, no recommendations from the server, another thing I expect in «fine dining». I get the paleta margarita and the tequila old fashioned. I’ll give credit where it’s due and the drinks were done well but could be stronger. I’m just thinking to myself, I hope a delicious bowl of chips comes my way while we wait even though I knew it wouldn’t since it was «fine dining».
I went with 5 items off the 1941 tasting menu. I was going to get the 7 item tasting but like I said earlier I was reluctant to give them my money. We received the first dishes and got very brief explanation on the dishes. One was a Tamale which was good but nothing memorable. The best part of it was the texture of the maza, which was light and spongy.
After the first dish I was expecting the next one to come out in about 10 minutes since that’s typically how these things go. I waited another half hour for the next dish to come out, which was the crab chileatole. It was a small piece of crab with a veloute like sauce. Not sure in what world that takes 30 minutes to prepare. In the mean time I was long done with my drink after our first dish but our server just didn’t want to come to our table. Over a 3 hour meal he came about 4 times. We honestly thought about cancelling our next courses due to the agonizing experience.
We waited a good 20 minutes after our desert was done before we the server to ask for the check. We gave a full tip because I’m not into stiffing people unless they are explicitly rude or something, even though he didn’t deserve it. The food was good but honestly, if I leave feeling like I’ve gotten more flavorful food at a mom and pop Mexican place, it wasn’t worth it. The food doesn’t displace the quality of service that you receive. Maybe I just caught them on a bad day, but I’m not going back to find out.

If you want to try it, save some money and try their lunch menu. I wasn’t as impressed as everyone seems to be.

Three takeaways: food poisoning, mismanagement, mediocre food.
I have been to Michelin-​Starred restaurants in the US, UK, and Germany. If nothing else, I have always been impressed by what well-​run business operations they’ve been. My partner was thrilled about our reservation, which he made four months in advance. He’d wanted to try Topolobampo for 6 years, since we’d both lived in Chicago. If you’re going to take someone’s credit card with a $ 200 forfeiture risk for cancellation, you’d better not seat them 35 minutes late. And you’d better not blatantly lie 15 minutes in about «pushing tables together» when it is patently untrue. And when you send out your Maitre’d, he’d sure as shit better not act ANNOYED and make a total roundabout non-​apology. That part was flat out insulting.
We were offered champagne and an appetizer in an attempt to rectify their challenges. Except they forgot to take it off the bill until we pointed it out. And I encountered our server reminding that rude Maitre’d about that piece of the bill and he seemed pretty annoyed that we had raised the issue at all. (The restroom is awkwardly positioned such that you encounter staff-​staff encounters unintentionally) When our server came and grabbed our check, she said «Oh yeah I’m sorry we were supposed to take care of this» before we said anything and we honestly thought they were going to comp our meal because things were so bad. Two of the courses were imaginative (almond cake dessert and the soup) and delicious and three were hard to palate: Carne Asada, Sturgeon, Tomato.
Our steak was garbage. It was tough, and cold, and this was their signature dish. Also, on two occasions, a server came and attempted to pour sauce on a dish and nothing came out. I was kind of grossed out that they couldn’t even keep straight where sauces were in their kitchen.
The somm, while very sweet and very knowledgeable forgot that one of us did not like sparkling wines, and proceeded to bring a sparkling wine pairing and charged full steam ahead. Additionally, after telling her that he did not like one of the wines, she proceeded to bring one guest another exactly like it with the next course. Granted, she and our waitress were maybe the only thing we liked about our meal.
Finally, my partner got violently ill after our meal and proceeded to vomit for 12 hours after our meal. I know this to be the sole cause because we had shared every meal that day until dinner. We won’t be back to Xoco, Frontera, Topolobampo, or sadly, even the Tortas Frontera shop at ORD. This was hands-​down one of the worst dining experiences of my life, especially given the cost.

***Rick Bayless’ Topolobampo delivers upscale Mexican cuisine with ingredients, flavors and preparations you will have a hard time experiencing anywhere else***
While I have never walked away from Topolobampo blown away like I have with Chicago’s more progressive and contemporary restaurants like 42 Grams, it is a restaurant I keep coming back to. There are several reasons. One is that they are constantly changing their menu and posting beautiful photos of that new menu on their website. The second reason is that while Topolobampo might not boast the how-​did-​they-​do-​it food presentations, the restaurant delivers truly interesting and unique flavors that I just have not experienced elsewhere (it also seems to be getting more delicious and ambitious each year).
Topolobampo is a Mexican restaurant, but it is definitely a fine dining one with upscale tasting menus showcasing the types of proteins and presentations you will not see at other Mexican restaurants. You can build your own tasting menu of 3, 5 or 7 courses. You can also go with their Perfect 7, which showcases their newest dishes that often focus on a period of time as well as a specific region of Mexico. You can also mix individual courses from the Perfect 7 with the rest of the Topolobampo menu for a balance of classic and new. Weighing heavily on the Perfect 7 is the way to go, but you will find interesting food everywhere on the menu
My recent visit to Topolobampo might have been my best experience here so far. The savory courses were amazing. It started with a luscious porridge of sweet corn and cactus, which was then topped with sweet and succulent king crab, sea beans and perfectly ripe avocado. There was also a great epazote corn tamal that was moist and rich. It was topped with a combination of beans and great shiitakes and morels. There was also a pumpkinseed chile sauce that provided an amazing amount of heat.
The next savory course featured perfectly grilled and moist langoustines, which sat on creamy and sweet sunchoke and coconut purée. There was also a nutty, sweet and rich sunflower seed mole that revealed the skill Bayless has with sauces, which build and change as you taste. The next course featured my favorite sauce of the night – a sweet and spicy cherry ancho sauce that was constantly transitioning back and forth from sweet to spicy. It accompanied duck breast, winter spinach and crispy fingerlings.
The final savory course was the only misstep. It was venison, which featured great garnishes including white and orange sweet potato. There was also a petrified sweet potato, which had a great dehydrated and chewy skin. The course also showcased fiddlehead ferns – a spring ingredient you will often find in Chicago. The venison though did not quite work. It had a dry jerky like quality, which would have actually worked if it was not for the venison being over salted. Most of the garnishes on the plate were sweet so maybe this is what the kitchen was going for, but I found the salt level to be overwhelming.
I have always loved desserts at Topolobampo and even though their excellent pastry chef has since moved on, my first dessert showed some real promise. It consisted of warm and moist olive oil cake as well as other savory ingredients like candied beets and beet chips. There was also a good and rich chocolate sorbet.
The second dessert was a letdown. Crepes filled with a warm chocolate sauce was a standard at Topolobampo, but it has been replaced with a modern version that does not really work. The crepes are now stacked and filled with a rich dark chocolate mousse. It makes this dessert the kind of rich but all too simple dessert you can easily find at other fine dining restaurants. I really hope they bring the warm, comforting and made to order crepes back because it was a true standout.
Service was very good – polite and friendly. Prices are high, but Topolobampo is less expensive than some of the more progressive restaurants in Chicago like Grace and 42 Grams.
There are not many fine dining Mexican restaurants in the U.S., and the ones I have been to cannot match Topolobampo. Topolobampo is the rare upscale Mexican restaurant that perfectly integrates luxury ingredients to elevate the dish as opposed to making it just feel like a standard dish with a fancy ingredient thrown on top that does little except for raising the price tag. Topolobampo is also the rare restaurant that produces sauces worthy of the many ingredients used and the time it takes to produce them. Like the restaurant itself, Topolobampo’s sauces constantly evolve in flavor and depth to produce a one of a kind taste experience while also lingering with you long after it is gone.
Topolobampo is in a busy area of River North and parking is hard to find.

We were visiting Chicago and thought this would be a great opportunity to visit Rick Bayless’ flagship restaurant. We opted for the 5 course tasting menu, which lets people create their own meal using any item on their menu. This is a brilliant idea and should be adopted by many other fine dining establishments.
The featured menu this month was «Mexico City 1491», featuring pre-​Columbian ingredients and techniques. No domestic animals, no dairy, no eggs, no wheat, and no refined sugar. We put together our five courses using some items from this menu and some from the regular menu, which is grouped into sections such as «ancient», «bold», «complex», and «luxurious». While the three of us chose some of the same items, our tasting menus ended up being very different.
After some debate, we decided to go with the wine pairings, which cost $ 75/​person — more expensive than if we had gone with individual glasses or a bottle, but with such a varied menu, it greatly enhanced our experience. Some of the wines were outstanding and were not anything we would have chosen on our own. I should add that they also offer wine by the glass in either 6oz. or 3oz. pours, which gives diners the option to sample a greater variety.
We started off with cocktails: blood orange margarita, mezcal paloma, and a Topolo margarita. All were excellent. My only regret was passing up the appetizer featuring a trio of ceviches.
Rather than go through a laundry list of what we had (everyone will have their own preferences in this wide selection of items), I’ll just point out some of the highlights:
Coctel Campechano 2.0 — a great seafood cocktail, but which left me longing for the overlooked ceviche appetizer.
Unexpected Tomato — a mezcal-​infused tomato, cooked with a variety of complex ingredients and flavors. Very tasty and very unique.
Sopa Azteca — a dark broth made with chiles, chicken, avocado, cheese, and cream. Very deep flavors.
Langostinos, Birth of Mole — from the 1491 menu, grilled Langoustines in a complex mole sauce. Nice presentation and paired with a wine from the Canary Islands.
Venison, Guaxmole — from the 1491 menu, venison with sweet potato purée and another complex sauce. Totally original.
Duck + Cherry — Duck in a sweet cherry sauce. Perfect combination.
The Carne Asada in Mole Negro w/​Foie Gras was the one item we all ordered and was easily the highlight of the meal. It is apparently regarded as their signature dish and for good reason. The mole is full of rich, deep, and complex flavors. The meat is perfectly cooked. It’s probably one of the best things I’ve ever eaten.
Caramelized Natilla — a caramelized custard with coffee and cocoa flavors, with a dash of blood orange crema. Luxurious, just like the menu category suggests.
Chocolate from the Tropics — from the 1491 menu, a dark chocolate bean cake with coconut and avocado sorbets. I couldn’t believe how moist the little chocolate cake was, especially since it was made without eggs or dairy.
Overall, a delicious and memorable meal. The service by all the staff was impeccable and or main waiter was particularly charming, especially in his descriptions of the wine and dishes which we were served. The versatility of menu options greatly enhanced our experience, and while our meal was a bit expensive, compared to other places of this quality, it could be considered a good value. Next time we’re in Chicago, we may come again.

Came here for dinner! My boyfriend and I both had the three-​course tasting menu, total of six dishes. Then a dessert, which we shared. But the waiter gave us an extra complimentary dessert! Service was great, and our waiter was very knowledgeable about the menu.
Although they have options of build your own 3 or 5 tasting menu or the perfect 7 tasting menu, you can actually order as many as you like. You can choose anything from the menu. An extra course is $ 14.
Dishes I recommend:
Coctel campechano 2.0
Chilaquiles verdes
Duck + cherries
Carne asada in mole negro

I was actually surprised to find a mediocre rating for Topolo. We were meeting back in Chicago with my good friend and needed to find a place for a double date. The year before, we emptied wallets for Alinea but I was looking for something a little more low key. I’ve been wanting to try Topolo ever since 1^st season of Top Chef Masters. So even though I hesitated seeing the 3.5 star rating, decided to booked this place, if only to «check it off my wish list».
So we didn’t start off on the best of terms. My friend called to move up the reservation a little and the lady over the phone said ok, but the host stand had no idea. They didn’t seem too accommodating at first, but was able to seat us after 15min, so didn’t end up being a huge deal. Rest of the night was smooth sailing from there.
First of all, I love the design of the menu (not how it looked, but how you dine). There is a long tasting menu for $ 120 but also an extensive a la carte menu. But the nice thing is that everything on the a la carte menu (minus supplements) are essentially the same price. You simply decide what and how many dishes you want and pay that amount. While it says «3 dishes, 5 dishes for this $$» etc, you can actually pick as few or as many as you want. You can even take things off of the tasting menu! Plus everything is divided by flavor profiles. The whole process is made easy (except deciding which ones to order! But our waitress was very helpful).
To be honest, I did not have a single less than excellent dish. Seafood cocktail/​ceviche (Coctel Campechano) was a refreshing start but with a kick. The Tamal was creamy. The Lobster cooked perfectly. The signature Carne Asada in Mole Negro was just as I had dreamed, it’s rich and complex in flavor. Adding the foie gras for only $ 10 seemed like a steal. I honestly don’t remember which dessert I got and I think we ended up sharing among the table anyways, but everything was delicious. Everything was beautifully plated and presented, and the service spaced out all of our courses just right, so that no one was waiting for long even though we all ordered a different number of courses. (I’m really not a fan of those obligatory tasting menu for the whole table or nothing rules…)
It was almost midnight when we eventually headed out from the restaurant, full and content. For someone who have always preferred taco trucks and «authentic» hole in the wall places for Mexican, Topolobampo exceed my expectations. And to add to that, both my husband and my friend’s BF independently said that they actually liked this place better than Alinea… It’s hearty, comforting nouveau-​Mexican at its best, and not too damaging on the wallet either.

If it wasn’t for the bland guacamole, I would have given Topolobampo 5 stars. A splash of lime juice or salt would have done a lot for the winter guac.
Came for Restaurant Week with some girlfriends and was very happy with my meal. Topolobampo offers a similar option everyday during the week— Topolo in 60, essentially to get you in and out under an hour during the workweek, for $ 25.
The ceviche was awesome– flavorful, zestiness served on tortilla chips. I went with the chilaquiles and won out of the group. The girls who went with the ivory char and suckling pig were served sad portions of food for anorexic girls. Granted, the server did tell us that this tasting menu typically are half-​portions, but they really meant it (except for the chilaquiles, which were really filling)!!
My favorite course was the dessert– crepas con cajeta— crepes filled with plantain and topped with carmelized plantain ice cream. Succulent!
Service was great, fun atmosphere and overall very pleased with Topolobampo.

Gimmicky northwest Mexican food
Like for real? Can u make northwest Mexican food more what it’s not? by the way I’m from topolobampo Sinaloa I know 1 or 2 things about ceviche which actually was the only good thing I tasted here,
I currently live in freaking New York City, I know things about fancy restaurants, so disappointed sorry

As I wasn’t ready to dish out the money for a full dinner here just yet, I decided to stop by and take advantage of their lunch special. For $ 25 I was able to get an appetizer, entrée and dessert, which is a bargain at a place like this. Even though these are ½ size portions, it was the perfect amount of food and I left the meal completely full.
I started out with the classic ceviche, which was fresh and had wonderful flavors (I highly recommend). This was followed by the carne asada, which I thought lacked flavor and the mole sauce didn’t live up to the hype from the waiter. I finished my meal with the cajeta brownie sundae.
The ice cream was delicious and the chocolate/​vanilla combination balanced each other perfectly. As far as drinks go, I paired my meal with the Topolo Margarita. This was shaken tableside and was one of the best margaritas I’ve had.
The service was incredible, with the staff being both attentive and knowledgable. However, I wasn’t blown away enough by the food to justify coming back for the dinner tasting menu.

Not bad, but doesn’t live up to the hype. I’d rather take XoCo, which is another Rick Bayless establishment.
In all fairness I came here for lunch, so they had a limited menu and the food was average at best. The service is great and everyone is friendly. The cocktails are well crafted.
Overall I have no desire to go back, which is rather unfortunate. I don’t understand why people reserve this weeks in advance. Maybe you’ll have better luck than I did.

This is one of my more difficult ratings. OK, it’s a bigger deal for me than it is for you but, at least you know I consider these things. I didn’t know enough to have expectations but they rapidly grew as the reservation time approached.
The service is top drawer. The food is incredible. And small. And expensive. So, herein lies my quandary… was it a great meal… experience…value…
It was (he repeats) incredible food but I did leave wondering whether it was worth it. I can give 5 stars to a dive or deluxe, high end meal. This was, for me, 3 stars. To get 5, I need to smile when I see the bill.
Glad I ate here. Had a great time. For the price, will probably try a competitor next time.

Best hidden deal in town is the $ 25 three course lunch tasting menu.
Outside of the meal we started with an order of guacamole and house margaritas. That Rick Bayless, he does really know how to make guacamole. We have regular arguments in our house because everyone claims that they make the best quac. Well people just give it up, Rick has the belt hands down! House margaritas are still great and happily don’t kick me when I get now. I mentioned to our waiter that I had problem in the past and he said that they had fixed that problem and they have!
As mentioned, we ordered the three course lunch tasting menu. For my appetizer I had the ceviche. Three tortilla chips piled high with luscious ceviche. Tart and sweet all at the same time the small pieces of fish just danced in my mouth hitting all the right notes. For my main course I chose the asada with black mole. It was great! The steak was done to perfection and the mole sauce was incredible. My dessert was the Mexican chocolate brownie sundae which might seem child like but is really complex and fun all at the same time.
My only complaint would be that when our waiter was describing the menu items, he spoke quietly and quickly. It was very difficult to understand him and he wasn’t inviting enough that one felt comfortable asking him to repeat himself.

By all accounts, I should dislike Rick Bayless. He has disparaged Tex-​Mex, my Texan people’s bread and butter, on more than one occasion. His churros cost the same as Disney’s for about half the serving size. His idea of perfection is 72-​hour, slow-​cooked mole instead of 5-​minute, crockpot Texas queso (a.k.a., the unbeatable combination of Velveeta and Ro-​Tel, with Wold Brand chili if you’re feeling bold and want chili con queso!). Also, his brother is blowhard Skip Bayless.
Despite all that potential animosity, I can safely say that Mr. Bayless makes some downright, down home, all that and a bag of Tositos chips, flat out excellent Mexican food. The choriqueso torta at O’Hare is a saving grace, the Frontera in Macy’s on State a Loop lunch oasis, the churros and hot chocolate and XOCO a gluttonous after-​dinner, pre-​Three Dots and a Dash snack, and the carne asada at Frontera Grill a hunky piece of man meat. But Topolobampo… that’s basically perfection in a meal.
Topolobampo shares a space with Frontera, with Topolo embedded behind a hidden door like a shrouded, magical dining place. The feel is decidedly more intimate than Frontera, with a meta-​prix fixe menu and prices to justifiably complement. There are three menu options: a choose-​your-​own five course, c-​y-​o three course, or the seven course prix fixe. The wife and I did the fiver, which is plenty sufficient.
First, we started with a couple mescal cocktails. Mine was the Oaxacan Gold, combined with a tangy pineapple and lime plus luxurious Mexican vanilla. Fantastic stuff. Your choice of fancified margaritas are also available.
I sadly did not save a copy of the menu, so I don’t have the verbatim rundown of the menu. The two staples, which we got, are the carne asada and the sopa azteca. The carne asada is strongly recommended and is considered Topolo’s signature dish, partly because of the perfection of the steak, but mostly because of the slow-​cooked Oaxacan black mole. Just the sauce has about 5 times the ingredients of an entire Tex-​Mex enchilada plate. It’s amazing, though pound for pound, Frontera Grill’s carne asada provides much more bang for the buck.
My personal favorite dish of the evening was the goat barbacoa, goat cooked two ways and both excellent. I may be biased, since I’m a sucker for goat, but this was the highlight of the evening. I also really dug the torta de elote dessert, a corn cake that was entirely too good considering my general apathy towards sweets.
Basically everything we ordered was tasty and delicious, and it’s almost disappointing that in just a month, everything has basically been turned over besides the first two mentions. The wife loved her «entrée» pick, the black cod. The fresh flavors of Baja is entirely refreshing, and most early dishes have the whimsicality and vibrant flavor of the taquitos. Though purists might recommend the prix fixe, I personally think it’s downright fun to pick various selections from the different sections, particularly with a sig other to split with.
All in all, Topolobampo is a top 10 Chicago restaurant experience in my book. As far as fancy pants dining goes, it comes in second only to the incomparable Alinea.

Lunch review.
For those who don’t know Topolobampo, this is Rick Bayless’s flagship restaurant. For those who don’t know Rick Bayless, he’s a world renowned chef who won 1^st place on Top Chef Masters on Bravo TV. This is his restaurant. and in Chicago, it’s been the talk of town before the appearance of the 3* michelin restaurant, Alinea.
I’m a big fan of Rick Bayless. I have tried countless items that were distributed through William and Sonoma such as his Margarita and Sangria mix. It’s decadent and never have I been disappointed with anything associated with Rick Bayless. That being said, my expectations were quite high because I had a great experience at Tortas Frontera, his upscale fast casual restaurant.
Prior to dining, I did my research and decided to try their lunch menu. It was generously priced at $ 25 for a 3 course menu. I found it strange that pricing was so cheap from a restaurant run by such a world renowned chef. As I was ordering… I figured out the catch, each serving size is 2oz (including your main meal). The server then tries to upsell you with a full portion entrée, which is more expensive. I was mildly annoyed by this upselling tactic and I really didn’t think Rick Bayless had to do this considering his reputation. I could only imagine how pissed off people will be if they ordered this considering how large portions are in Chicago.
I eventually ordered:
1. Yucatecan Ceviche– blue shrimp & calamari in a mango habanero & lime juice. I have not once tried a ceviche I liked. The flavoring on this was spot on with a hint of mango that sweetens, the habanero that makes it a tad spicy, and a hint of lime that completes everything. I have to admit this was the best ceviche I had in my life so far (still not a fan of ceviches but I respect this version).
2. Carne Asada– the ribeye was out of this world. This has to be the best carne asada I had in life and the best meat that I ever had going into a carne asada. The meat was cooked spot on and the quality exceeded rib eyes that I had in any national chain steak restaurant (and certainly any rib eye I had in DC). The flavoring was subtle and yet complex. There were no overpowering spices and the flavoring came from the Oaxacan black mole sauce.
I can see why so many people have gripes with this restaurant. The food portions are small and this is a Rick Bayless rendition of Mexican food. He gravitates towards subtle notes of seasoning and spices, which deviates significantly from the overpowering spice found in mexican food. I’m certain many will criticize this and will view the food as «Americanized» version of Mexican food. As for myself, I absolutely loved it. This is exactly what I was looking for when I went to visit Mexico… only to find extremely greasy lard based food with subpar ingredients (even at the most highly touted restaurants). I give my two thumbs up to Rick for the wonderful food, the wonderful experience, and fantastic service. He knows how to deliver and it shows!