So I’m such a fan of Rick Bayless, the chef. WAY BEFORE he ever showed up on The American Iron Chef – though don’t get me wrong: I watched that! We’ve been cooking from his cookbooks like this and thisfor years. After exploring his books, that’s when I found out he had a show on PBS – I still don’t think I’ve ever seen it. But I knew he had restaurants here in Chicago, and since I travel here periodically, get to go to Frontera. But tonight, we went to Topolombompo, the upscale sister restaurant at the same location. As my friend said, “it’s like sitting in the special back part of the restaurant where you get to try all of the chef’s secrets.”
What’s really fantastic is that we did the Chefs Tasting Dinner, with slected wines to match each course on the tasting menu. Sommelier Jill Gubesch had done an amazing job, pairing the meal, and stopped by our table to talk about the wines. I feel like I’m on some weird wine expedition because I watched Sideways on the plane ride here…but that’s another story…My favorite wine was paired with Tamales de Amarillo, and it was a 2002 Rudi Pichler “Terrassen” Gruner Veitliner Smaragd from Wachau, Austria. Jill has some great tips on pairing wine with Mexican food here.
Last summer I had heard a great story on Splendid Table that was about Rick and the burgeoning wine country in a valley in Mexico, not far from Ensenada. In the area known as the Valley of Guadalupe they are producing some amazing wines. You can read more about the Fiesta de la Vendimia here.
It’s like my birthday celebration just keeps goin’ on! Too nice.
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