Mexican Food to Die For

Thursday night, John x3 (Johnnie, John B, and John J.) and I had dinner at the Frontera Grill, one of the Chicago restaurants run by famed Mexican cookbook writer, Rick Bayless. The restaurant focuses on creating authentic regional dishes made with organic ingredients. There are often long waits for a table, but the food is so very worth it.

We started our meal with chips and two kinds of salsa, then a superb combination appetizer platter. The cheese quesadilla "bites" (on the right) were the least satisfying element of the platter, although they were still good. The chicken taquitos with crema (at the back of the plate) were out of this world. All the fried tortillas tasted fresh and crisp with a deep, roasted corn flavor. The rolled tortillas provided a tasty wrapper for the delicious chicken--and the crema and cotija cheese completed the dish with a smooth, creamy finish. With each bite, an explosion of flavor engulfed my taste buds. I would never have guessed that I'd rhapsodize about chicken taquitos, but there it is. The fruit and vegetable salad (at the left) combined jicama, cucumber, and pineapple topped with citrus juice and spices (chili powder?). The crunch of the sweet vegetables was carried over into the ceviche (at the front of the plate) which, of course, also includes fish "cooked" in citrus juice. I had never tried ceviche before, but I have to say this dish was divine. This appetizer plate was really the highlight of the meal for me--and it was huge which meant that I had less of an appetite for the rest of the meal.

Since we ordered our meal after having consumed large amounts of appetizers, I decided to order two small plates rather than a full meal: queso fundido and sopes. I loved the queso fundido, melted cheese and chorizo topped with grilled onion and pepper. The cheese was warm and gooey and the pieces of chorizo gave each bite a burst of spicy flavor. What's not to love about melted cheese! I ordered the sopes because the menu description included the words "roasted tomato," a taste that I craved after the almost tomato-less appetizer plate. The sopes nestled the soft shredded beef mixture with the small piece of avocado. Although I liked the corn sopes and the tomato sauce, I wasn't quite as fond of the beef. Still, I quite enjoyed both dishes.

John B. ordered the carne asado bravo which he described as having a spicy, smoky flavor. He loved the sweet corn tamales with crema and the grilled green onion garnish. As I look at this photo, I want to go back to Frontera Grill and try this!

Johnnie ordered camarones. The shrimp were prepared with poblano chiles and squash on a bed of what looks like a tomatillo based sauce. Since he's been raving about Frontera Grill ever since, I can assume that he enjoyed his meal.

I save the best for last, the dish John J. ordered (that I wish I had!), the torta del elote. This corn tart included a mushroom like substance called huitlacoche, a fungus that grows on corn. John let me try a bite of this dish and it was amazing, earthy, "slightly bitter with a sour brassy flavor at the end" (to quote John).

The service at Frontera Grill was astounding. Multiple waiters helped bring food, fill water, bus dishes, etc. We never had to wait for anything, yet they were relatively inobtrusive. They definitely contributed to making our visit to this restaurant such a pleasurable experience.

None of the other restaurants we ate at in Chicago even came close to Frontera Grill's food. In fact, I didn't take any more pictures of food on the trip (not at Star of Siam--Thai--or Sayat Nova--Armenian . . . or even of Japanese Oriental Restaurant--Sushi/Korean--on High Street in Columbus where we ate before returning to Athens last night). As an aside, I loved the sizzling hot Dol Sot Bi Bim Bap at JOR with its rice, vegetables, beef, and fried egg. I also liked the spicy tuna roll and the seafood pancake. I even tried (and liked) kim chee and pickled turnip!

In any event, if I ever return to Chicago, I'm headed directly for Frontera Grill. As soon as I return to Fresno, I'm also cracking open the Rick Bayless cookbook I bought recently to try my hand at preparing sophisticated Mexican food.