Rick Bayless Louisville Appearance

Rick Bayless, Chef/Owner of Chicago restaurants Frontera Grill, Topolobampo and Frontera Fresco, will be at the Louisville Macy's this coming Saturday Nov. 3rd at 2:00 P.M. He will be demonstrating recipes, offering tips and have samples of his food for nibbling on. He will also be autographing copies of Great Gatherings, a cookbook by Bayless and other members of the Macy's Culinary Council. Seating is limited. If interested call Macy's @ 423-3320 and reserve your spot.


Disclosure: I do not work for, nor have I shopped at, our Louisville Macy's. I am all about carting home free recipes and eating samples of tasty food, though!

Thanks, Ed. Like you, I am all about carting home free recipes and eating samples of tasty food.

I wonder if he'll be stopping by Burger King for some of the "Best BBQ around."

Funny.....we were at Frontera on Saturday for brunch and our server mentioned that "she didn't know where chef Bayless was today". I told her that he was in Louisville! LOL! Man, that was an awesome Saturday brunch they serve. We got there when it opened (10:30) and it was packed in 20 minutes We also enjoyed Riva down at the Navy Pier. We were REALLY disappointed in Cafe Spiaggia. Way overrated and a mediocre meal and SLOWWWWW.

Rick Bayless is the most entertaining chef presenter I have ever witnessed. I was not aware of his television show, but I will search for it. That said, I thought the food was a near bust.

He began with a Mango Guacamole. The problem was with the mangos, totally green! Guacamole with hard, crisp bites of mangos doesn't qualify as a tasty nibble in my book. If I had been entertaining at home, this would of stayed in my kitchen. However, the idea sounds tempting and I may try it but I definitely will use ripe mangoes.

The second offering was a Grilled Shrimp with Mexican "chimichurri". That was superb! I can't wait to replicate this dish.

He ended with Tomatillo-Braised Pork Loin. The recipe notes that "the meat will feel rather firm (not hard) to the touch, and cutting into the center will reveal only the slightest hint of pink. My piece of pale pink pork, served on a plastic plate with plastic fork, was impossible to cut with the fork. So like everyone else in my row, I took the whole piece up to my mouth and attempted to bite off a piece. Some people were able to succeed; I was not. I did notice that in my row, no one took a second bite! This too would not have left my kitchen. I would rather have served Spam!

Now to be fair to Rick Bayless, he was doing the demonstration and a Chef Alan cooked the tasty samples. However, even though the audience was told at the very beginning the Bayless had just won a very special James Beard award that made his restaurant the very best, number 1 in the nation, I will not be going there on my next trip to Chicago.

Now to be fair to Rick Bayless, he was doing the demonstration and a Chef Alan cooked the tasty samples. However, even though the audience was told at the very beginning the Bayless had just won a very special James Beard award that made his restaurant the very best, number 1 in the nation, I will not be going there on my next trip to Chicago.

Gayle- I understand your frustration considering all the hype, but please don't judge a chef by a public demonstration. Every chef has very funny/sad stories about cooking for an audience. These involve equipment that doesn't work, wrong or poor quality ingredients, and inept local help. James Beard once had to cook on top of two upended irons when he discovered he had no hotplate.
I've been to Topolabampo/Frontera several times and have never been disappointed. Life is too short to bypass his truffled duck empanadas.
Do yourself a favor and give Rick a second chance on his own turf- I think you will be happy you did.
If you sit at the bar you can eat off both menus which is the best of all possible worlds.

Sorry to have missed this. We started behind the curve on Saturday and never caught up. Hope to see you soon, Gayle so I can copy your recipes.

Funny.....we were at Frontera on Saturday for brunch and our server mentioned that "she didn't know where chef Bayless was today". I told her that he was in Louisville! LOL! Man, that was an awesome Saturday brunch they serve. We got there when it opened (10:30) and it was packed in 20 minutes We also enjoyed Riva down at the Navy Pier. We were REALLY disappointed in Cafe Spiaggia. Way overrated and a mediocre meal and SLOWWWWW.

wow, I had reservations at Spaiggia when I was in Chicago a couple of weeks ago, and I bagged it at the last second. We opted oysters at Hugo's Frog Bar instead and steaks at Rosebud. Sounds like I made the right call.

Now to be fair to Rick Bayless, he was doing the demonstration and a Chef Alan cooked the tasty samples. However, even though the audience was told at the very beginning the Bayless had just won a very special James Beard award that made his restaurant the very best, number 1 in the nation, I will not be going there on my next trip to Chicago.

Gayle- I understand your frustration considering all the hype, but please don't judge a chef by a public demonstration. Every chef has very funny/sad stories about cooking for an audience. These involve equipment that doesn't work, wrong or poor quality ingredients, and inept local help. James Beard once had to cook on top of two upended irons when he discovered he had no hotplate.
I've been to Topolabampo/Frontera several times and have never been disappointed. Life is too short to bypass his truffled duck empanadas.
Do yourself a favor and give Rick a second chance on his own turf- I think you will be happy you did.
If you sit at the bar you can eat off both menus which is the best of all possible worlds.

Bayless' restaurant may be great. But that does not excuse a crappy demo. He put his name on it and he is making money off of it. Bad ingredients and inept help should be something he takes care of before hand.

Bayless put his name on this ... he is responsible for it. Sloppy work by the head chef. Didn't check the ingredients or the cooking.

I do not agree that the responsibility solely lies on Chef Bayless' shoulders. Sure these were his recipes, but he did not cook what was served to us. Personally I really enjoyed the crab ceviche, the mango guacamole, and the chimichurri shrimp. The pork dish was just completely terrible. I found it cold, chewy, and virtually flavorless. That being said, I have extra copies of the recipes which were provided if anyone is interested (Ed?). Does anyone know if Saints serves that Crab Ceviche?

I have a question -- did the pork dish have mushrooms in it and if so, where they ok? We supplied the shiitake and oyster mushrooms.

I must admit, I am not familiar with the chef other than what I have read on his website. For someone that believes in cooking seasonally and using locally available products, I don't understand the choice for the Mango Guacamole - neither mangos nor avocados are locally available produce for Louisville ANY TIME of year.

I will say, though, that I was rather impressed with the Frontera Farmer Foundation and the fact that a chef/restaurant believes in local produce so much that they provide loans for local producers.

from the website: "The Frontera Farmer Foundation was established in 2003 to attract support for small Midwestern farms. Rick and Deann Bayless, founders of Frontera Grill and Topolobampo, along with the restaurants’ staff, created the Foundation out of their concern for struggling farmers and the importance of local produce to the vitality of Chicago’s culinary culture. Small local farms promote biodiversity by planting a wide range of produce, are more likely to operate using organic practices, and add immeasurably to the fabric of their communities. By their artisanal approach to agriculture, these farmers insure the highest quality of food."

Hi Rebecca,

You asked, "did the pork dish have mushrooms in it and if so, where they ok? We supplied the shiitake and oyster mushrooms." Well, no. He forgot to add them. He did say that he usually forgot to incorporate at least one ingredient every time he did a demo. Once he realized that he forgot to add the mushrooms, he did spend some time discussing the difference flavors and uses of shitake and oyster mushrooms, but at no time did he give credit to you or your farm. (I was sitting next to Linda B. and the moment we saw the mushrooms, we poked each other saying, "I bet those are Rebecca's mushrooms.") As Dan L. said, Chef Alan's version of the Tomatillo-Braised Pork Loin was virtually tasteless. I think he probably forgot your wonderful mushrooms, too.

Gayle --

Thanks for the reply. While I am sad to hear that the mushrooms were "forgotten," I am glad that there were no negative comments about them.

The really sad part is that as most of our chefs can tell you, our mushrooms have been in limited supply because of a nearly complete loss of all crops in August and September. Couple that with the loss of our only 2 employees -- Billy and I have been working non-stop to bring our production numbers back to where everyone is getting their mushrooms every week. We made the difficult decision of supplying the shiitakes for Rick Bayless because of the type of event and the fact that he believed in using (and supporting) local growers.

I would like to thank EVERYONE for their support and understanding during these past few months. Without the true friendships we have formed, it would be very difficult to keep going during these difficult times. Thank you to ALL of our loyal chefs/restaurants/owners!

A couple of points to make relating to previous messages-
First, Chef Rick Bayless is one of a few pre-eminent authorities on Mexican Cuisine in the U.S. He is a cookbook author, teacher, lecturer, travel guide for culinary enthusiasts, farmer, and restauranteur etc.... I doubt he selected or prepared the ingredients for the demo. I believe his primary goal was to promote his book and share his philosophy for cooking- seasonal, local, and organic when possible. Often times the venues where these chefs appear choose and prepare the recipes from the book being promoted. I would not hesitate to visit his restaurants if in Chicago except maybe Frontera Fresco which I believe is in Macy's.

One other note- Cafe Spiaggia is not Spiaggia. The Cafe is just that, Spiaggia is the Four Star dining venue...