A Foodies Dream Come True

[sshaw10060]

I am in Chicago this week for a conference, but I don't have a lot of free time. The one thing I knew was that if I was coming to Chicago I was going to eat at one of Rick Bayless's restaurants. For those of you that don't know who he is Rick Bayless is one of the best chefs in America and specializes in true Mexican food with a refined twist. Most recently he won Top Chef Masters.

Before leaving home I had lined up a friend to join me on my trip to to culinary Mecca, but when it came time to leave there were 12 of us. When we got to Frontera and announced we had a party of 12 we were given on of the "are you nuts" looks by the host who said to give him a minute. While we were waiting a party of 2 came in and were told it would be a 2 hour wait. Three minutes later we were seated at two tables right next to each other. Don't ask me how that happened.

We proceeded to have one of the best meals ever and by far the best Mexican ever (and I grew up in TX). As I am headed back to the hotel after dinner we round a corner and there coming out of a side door is the man himself RICK BAYLESS I suddenly revert to a pimply 17 year old and stammer out a hello and tell him about how much we enjoyed dinner. He proceeds to ask exactly what we ordered and talked about the inspiration for each dish and said he was glad we had such a great time. How cool.

Just goes to show that even if you're famous you can be a nice guy.

 

[Dale-Not-Chip]

Lucky lucky lucky.

I really want to eat at his resturant after wathing Top chef masters.

He seemed like a nice guy.

 

[robind]

That is so cool, I really enjoy watching him. I was hoping after watching him on Top Chef Master that he would be on the next Iron Chef competition.

Glad you had a great time, I would have been so excited to meet him too.

 

[PrincessBetsy]

That's awesome!! Glad you got to meet him and had a fantastic dinner.

 

[Tonya2426]

Sounds like a pretty perfect evening for a foodie.

 

[wdwscout]

That's a great restaurant!
And what a terrific ending to a perfect meal- I'll bet you're glad you got up the nerve to say "hi"!

 

[BriarRosie]

Geez, if I had known a DISer was going to Rick's place, I would have invited myself to come along!

I've eaten at Frontera, and yes, it is fantastic. I met Rick at the Food and Wine Festival at WDW of all places. It was in 2003 maybe, when F&WF had an event called a Lunch and Learn. Guest chefs were scheduled to give a demo of a 3 course meal, with wine pairings, and we had recipes of items he made.

I joked with him that I was from the Chicago area, and that I had traveled 1000 miles to have him cook for me.