For our dinner in the Windy City, we decided to go to our tried-and-true favorite, Frontera Grill. We are big fans of the cooking style of Chef Rick Bayless. We have been to his three restaurants, Xoco, Frontera Grill and Topolobampo. The first one is for casual dining, where you can come and order a bowl of soup or torta with a cup of spicy hot chocolate. The wait time on Saturday is about 30-40 minutes. The last one requires a reservation 3 months in advance. You can't just decide to go there at the last minute. It has 3 different tasting menu. The whole experience takes anywhere between 1.5 - 3 hours. When we went there, it took us 3 hours. Yeah, it was crazy long for a dinner, but we really enjoyed it and time flies when you are having fun.
Back to our Food Tour 2012, we chose to have a late dinner at Frontera Grill. We got there around 6.30 pm. The wait time was one and half hour. We did not even get a buzzer or pager, so we went back to our hotel to play game and chat in our comfort zone. We went back to Frontera around 7.20 pm, and lo and behold, we waited for 15-20 minutes for our table. The wait time was tolerable, as we were not too hungry so it did not bother us that much.
When we have dinner here, we always start with guacamole and tortilla chips. This time is no exception, except that we ordered a different kind which is called the Pure Green Guacamole. It has green chile de agua, grilled green onions, roasted tomatillo, anejo cheese, and heart radish. It tastes different from the usual guacamole that we enjoy with serrano pepper, onion, garlic, and sun-dried tomatoes. Nonetheless, this guacamole was very good and we really enjoyed every bit of it. My husband ordered a glass of Jamaica Sangria and I ordered a glass of Fernet Pear Mojito to accompany our excellent starters.
We also love Frontera Grill's ceviche that is always fresh and has complex flavors. This time we came across a new ceviche that we have never tried before. It is called Jurel and it has fresh yellowtail, some coconut slivers, lime, and chile. This ceviche tastes amazing. It has so many layers of flavors that all work together, from the freshness of the fish, the acidity of the lime, the coconut, and the spiciness of the chile. They create a wonderful balance in my mouth.
After wonderful starters, we are excited for our entrees. My husband decided on sopes rancheros, one of the street food with four crispy corn masa boats filled with savory shredded beef, roasted tomato, avocado, homemade fresh cheese. They had the authentic Mexican flavorings that we craved for, and the different textures add depth to this entree. The crunchiness of the corn masa, the creaminess of the cheese, and the tender beef created a perfect balance.
I ordered mahi-mahi in Apricot Mole for myself. The fish was marinated in Adobo spices and it was served with red chile-roasted white sweet potatoes, Snug Haven spinach, and jicama-apricot mole. The sweet potatoes were so tender I could barely recognize them. The texture was more like butter and it just melt in my mouth. The apricot mole is really unique, it is close to red chile mole, but with some sweetness. I really love it.
After polishing both of our entrees, we were full and satisfied, but again, we did not want to miss the opportunity to taste a very unique flan. We ordered a duo of flan, the old-style caramel flan as well as a dark chocolate flan infused with ancho chile and served with bacon brittle. The classic caramel flan did not disappoint. The dark chocolate flan was interesting. The combination of chile and dark chocolate was simply wonderful, especially with the creamy texture and the addition of the texture of the bacon brittle.
Simply put, this is a very memorable meal. Every single component of this meal was astounding and we would definitely come back, given a chance. In the meantime, we will keep cooking dishes from his cookbook, Mexican Everyday.
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