Artisanal Mexican Sandwiches--Rick Bayless's next project
Artisanal Mexican Sandwiches--Rick Bayless's next project
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Artisanal Mexican Sandwiches--Rick Bayless's next project
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Post #1 - July 10th, 2008, 9:56 pmI don't *think* there's a thread devoted to this yet. This looks like it has great potential (from Chicago Dish):The Frontera Empire Strikes Back
Why didn’t Rick Bayless think of this sooner? The chef-owner of Frontera Grill and Topolobampo (445 N. Clark St.; 312-661-1434)—and America’s ambassador of All Things Mexican—has plans to open a quick-service, artisanal Mexican sandwich place around the corner from his two showstoppers. Spurred by a tip from The Stew, we got Bayless on the horn for more details about the place, which is slated to open next spring.
D: Give us the basics. Please.
RB: It’s going to be a tortería with a wood-burning oven. We will be doing classic regional Mexican sandwiches, a la plancha. All artisanal products. All the preparations will be in the front window. We’re grinding our own chocolate from Mexican cacao beans right on the premises. Nobody is doing that.
D: What else?
RB: In Mexico and in Spain, they do hot chocolate with churros. We will be making that from 7 a.m. to 10 a.m. and from 7 p.m. to 10 p.m.
D: (drooling on phone)
RB: We will be serving homemade ice creams in all those crazy flavors that we do: lime, fresh corn, strawberry-buttermilk ice cream. And there will always be that Mexican chocolate ice cream available as well.
D: How did you get the idea?
RB: We were dreaming in the kitchen one day. I’ve wanted a wood-burning oven for a long time. We do lambs, pork pibil, and we cook them overnight, but in an oven. I’ve always wanted to do them like they do in Mexico: with a wood fire. Next, we had an idea for a place to make tortas, churros, hot chocolate, all the things we don’t have room for. Why don’t we put them together into a simple place?
D: Where?
RB: We’re taking over a furniture store called Champagne [near the corner of Clark and Illinois]. It will be built entirely LEED certified. You will walk up to a counter, but there will be seats. Communal seating.
D: When?
RB: I have never missed an opening day. I know two things: how to realistically plan, and how to work with the contractors to keep them on schedule. That said: We will be opening in April of 2009.
Can we just fast forward to April 2009?“Watermelon - it’s a good fruit. You eat, you drink, you wash your face.”
Italian tenor Enrico Caruso (1873-1921)
ulteriorepicure.wordpress.com
My flickr account
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Post #2 - July 11th, 2008, 7:56 amIs this going to differ significantly that Frontera Fresco in the Macy's food floor? I was never blown away by my torta there, and it was a bit pricey, if I can remember correctly, $7.99 for a watery conchinita pibil torta with flavorless beans, and no spice.
On the other hand, I think the woodfire oven could be fantastic, and all of its slow roasted porcine potential, is very exciting. We will see...He was night putting, Danny. Just putting at night
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Post #3 - July 11th, 2008, 10:24 amThis is going to be such a great lunch option in River North!! And breakfast too! Mmmmm hot chocolate & churro.....
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Post #4 - July 11th, 2008, 2:21 pmI don't think this will be remotely like Frontera Fresco. Homemade fresh churros coupled with great chocolate alone is a mind-blowing experience, even for those(like myself) who shy away from sweets. A very Mexican tradition. Throw in the burning wood and the proximity to the mothership, and we shouldn't be looking at upscale food-court.I love animals...they're delicious!
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Post #5 - July 11th, 2008, 3:42 pmFor what it's worth, Frontera Fresca is all right -- provided you stick to the soups and tamales. Everything else seems over-priced.best,
dan
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Post #6 - July 12th, 2008, 12:20 am
"Ssssssometimes, you just get the munchies, which, as they say in Pueblo, are los munchitos, like at [sharp inward breath] three o'clock in the morning after you've been [high-pitched whine] wwellllllllll [head shake back and forth] scooping the insides of your pimientos poblanos del diablo into a DELICIOUS MO-lay with toasted pe-PI-tos and a splash of [fades out] -
- well, I was walking through the highlands of Jalisco with my coyote and a family of thirteen dwarf Nayarit pes-cadores and [raised eyebrows] just stumbled across this still, really more of an - you could call it an [explosive] OUTBUILDING of some sort and the owner (his name was [head shake] Don Carlos Papagayo y Vejiga de los Treinte Virgenes) quenched our thirst with some raicilla he'd been fermenting from single raindrops run over a lightning-charred agave plant, so I took some in MI FLASCO, which is rattlesnake leather from Tabasco - I killed that snake myself in a molcajete [high pitched laugh, speeding up] and brought it back to put in [teleports] my MO-lay -
and [slowing down, quiet, ultra close-up] anyway this sense of hunger in the [laughing sideways] medianoche, and well, Lanie and I just decided we needed some SANDWICHES, really, BO-cadillos for, you know, when the "steam is escaping the temazcal" as my friend Melidia San-CHEZ would say in a [high pitched, fast] MELLOWER MOMENT, and, so, wwwwwweelllllllllllll I decided to open a little shop [cackling] and, well, you're all welcome - Bi-en-ven-i-dos - and maybe we can take a dip in my ce-NO-tay after the sandwich, no wetsuit needed [head rolling sideways like a bobblehead] so boo-aaaynnnn proVECHO, Chicago, and do join me on the corner after Frontera and Topolobampo are winding down; the new place will be open, I'd say, de las uno hasta las siete y media, que guapo para los churros y bo-cadillos!
(disclaimer: this is not definitively known to have been stated by Rick Bayless as possible rationale for the new sandwich shop. All affectations and idiosyncrasies were approximated by a celebrity impersonator. No Baylesses or rattlesnakes were harmed in this hypothetical recreation).
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Post #7 - July 12th, 2008, 6:56 amSantander wrote:
I killed that snake myself in a molcajete [high pitched laugh, speeding up] and brought it back to put in [teleports] my MO-lay -
You had me at MO-.
High art.
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Post #8 - March 22nd, 2009, 6:16 pmdanimalarkey wrote:For what it's worth, Frontera Fresca is all right -- provided you stick to the soups and tamales. Everything else seems over-priced.
We tried the Frontera Fresca at Old Orchard today. Ugh. It's still fast food, a restaurant with all processes broken down into simple components so random teenagers can run things. They were out of bread for the tortas so I tried a steak huarache, Mrs.Trpt had a mushroom quesadilla. With soft drinks the bill was over $20. The steak in the huarache was not detectable by taste, the dry cheese and arugula sprinkled over the top drowned out all other flavors. The tortilla was fresh but way too thin to handle the toppings. I'd prefer El Presidente's version for $2.50. The quesadilla was full of garlic, wiping out the other flavors. Definitely not worth the price. Nothing about it was in any way reminiscent of the Frontera. The ingredients were fresh, no reconstituted frijole mix or anything like that. The place had been busy (we were there about 4:30) but the tables were filthy, we had to clean them ourselves with napkins from the counter. Cooks and servers were all blank eyed teens who looked as if they would rather be anywhere else.trpt2345
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Post #9 - March 23rd, 2009, 8:53 amI like the ideas Bayless is talking about and the food offerings he'll be making available, especially so since our office will be moving within a two-block walk from there . . . at the end of this week. I miss Cafe Bom Bon in the Loop and the new Bayless outlet might be the replacement I've been looking for.
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Post #10 - March 24th, 2009, 12:05 pm
Santander. Comic gold!
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Post #11 - March 24th, 2009, 1:39 pmBill wrote:I like the ideas Bayless is talking about and the food offerings he'll be making available, especially so since our office will be moving within a two-block walk from there . . . at the end of this week. I miss Cafe Bom Bon in the Loop and the new Bayless outlet might be the replacement I've been looking for.
Unfortunately, I believe this new project has been put on hold until later in the year (and, reading between the lines, could perhaps be shelved indefinitely).Chicago Magazine Dish Newsletter wrote:Speaking of Bayless . . .
His tortas/churros/hot chocolate shop idea, which made us drool back in July 2008—and was slated to open around the corner from Frontera and Topo in April 2009—has been delayed until summer 2009. “We decided to buy ourselves some time, given the economy,” says Bayless. “We have our money lined up. Plans are all done. Let’s just see what happens.”
