ModMex 2015

Several years ago, Rick Bayless formalized a practice he'd had since 2007 of underwriting a scholarship for a Mexican-American student to attend the culinary arts program at Kendall College. Over time, it has grown and the scholarship is now full-tuition for two students. He invites in several guest chefs (and guest mixologists), each responsible for a course based on a theme of Bayless's creation, and sells tickets which go toward the scholarship. In the past, he's had such guest chefs as Curtis Duffy and Alex Stupak as well as numerous stellar chefs from around Mexico. The event includes day-long activities at Kendall (food and drink, talks, cooking demos, tastings, etc.), at which all of the chefs take part, as well as the benefit dinner. As Bayless noted at one point, he considered the dinner (it was held on September 13) an introduction and lead-in to Chicago Gourmet, happening this very weekend.

This year, only the third in the series, the line-up included Javier Plascencia (Misión 19, Tijuana), José Ramón Castillo (Que Bo!, Mexico City) as well as Johnny Clark and Beverly Kim (Parachute, Chicago). His guest mixologists were Eryn Reece (Death & Company, New York City) and Erick Rodríguez (Almazecalera, Mexico City). The dinner takes place on a Sunday night when the restaurants are otherwise closed and tables are set in both Topolobampo and Frontera. Our rough count estimated about 100 places. There are two-tops (we presume they're set aside for long-time supporters and important folks), four-tops, and several communal tables.

Our take: a great cause--Bayless has always been a tremendously publicly minded and generous man. A fun (and a loud) evening. Mostly great food. The theme, by the way, was Mexican classics and the challenge, not surprisingly, was to see what kind of twist or take each chef could bring to such storied dishes. Bayless chose the chefs, assigned the dishes, and we got a benefit. Bayless introduced each course briefly and then let the chef who was responsible for the course explain what he did and why he did it. The only thing we missed was Bayless's promise that the chefs would circulate while their course was being served and answer questions and chat with the diners. Never happened that we saw; though we did ask to speak with Johnny Clark and Beverly Kim and they came out promptly, answered our questions, and were a pleasure to talk with.


Here's the menu for the evening:



Amuse
A cheese and [can’t recall]-stuffed zucchini blossom.


Ceviche
For my money, probably the best dish of them all, and that's high praise indeed given the terrific level of performance. Diced avocado and jicama on the bottom and top quality fish on top. As Beverly Kim said, more an aguachile than a ceviche but scrumptious no matter what you called it.


Black Cod a la Veracruzana
Yet another stellar dish; perfectly cooked fish, wonderful sauce...even the chive flowers on top made a noticeable and notable contribution. Altogether a great course.


Goat barbacoa, Chicago mole
Both the Lovely Dining Companion and I agreed that this was the one clunker of the evening. The goat was fine but the Chicago mole, while a nice idea in conception—everything hyper-local—simply didn't make it in execution. Not much there to the mole and while it may be a great idea to emphasize local ingredients, the notion of adding Malort, frankly, wasn’t a good one. The result was not a particularly enjoyable flavor. So too, although black walnuts may sound intriguing in theory, they’re not so wonderful in practice. At least not in this mole. Just not an pleasurable course...and a big disappointment given the other accomplishments of the evening.


Crepas con cajeta
Out of this world. The LDC is not the world's biggest dessert fan and I can't recall the last time I heard her rave so much about a dessert. For me, this dish is usually both a litmus test of a chef's abilities and something, if done well, that I absolutely love. I can't find a single thing to fault in this performance. Textures, nuance, contrasts, just about everything and anything you would look for in a dessert was on this plate. LDC's only question: when can we fly to Mexico City to visit this restaurant?!

All in all, a very worthy cause, a great idea, and a very nice evening out. No question that this even bears contributing to again next year!

Thanks for giving us insight into what the big dinner was like. We went for Bayless' demo in the morning and liked it a lot. At so many demos like this, it's less about learning the recipe and more about picking up tips from the little side comments regarding technique, selection of ingredients and so on.

Whatever one may think about Bayless in terms of being, at worst, a sellout and peddler of "fancyfied"' or too "cheffy"/"nonauthentic"/"rich gringofied" Mexican food (a view I don't share) or perhaps more charitably, simply an overenunciator of ingredients ("EHH-PAH-ZOH-TAY"), the man has a real heart for Mexico and Chicago (and, at a minimum, he provides an interesting lesson on the limitations of promises of a shared gene pool when viewed in light of his brother). Good to see him supporting local youths in this way.