Rick Bayless: life after winning Top Chef Masters

[Jenise]

From the Chicago Tribune:

So, on the occasion of launching his third River North restaurant Tuesday, a Mexican street-foods counter joint called Xoco (pronounced SHO-koh), Bayless was on hand cooking in the open kitchen, in full view of the public, who helped turn a garden-variety restaurant opening into a camera-ready red carpet premiere.

It has been only a few months since Bayless, a name already known to foodies, gained mainstream recognition. He can thank Bravo TV and the six episodes of "Top Chef Masters" that included him. Bayless walked away with the $100,000 grand prize for his charity, Frontera Farmer Foundation.

From there, nightly customers went to 700, up from about 400, said spokeswoman Jen Fite. Additional phone lines had to be installed, up from about 30 to 60. The wait at Frontera Grill and Topolobampo Saturday was four hours.

The article went on to discuss his general shyness, and to my amusement referred to him as having become "the most photographed chef since Rocco Di Spirito." Some won't remember him, but years ago a bunch of us here were wondering why in the heck Rocco was getting so much press and wishing aloud that it would stop.

First, Rick Bayless (whom I've had the pleasure of meeting a couple of times,albeit briefly) has a very warm personality and a real dedication to what he's cooking and creating. Second, he is held in very high regard by his peer chefs and foodworkers and events people he gets involved with. I'd classify him as a nice guy deserving of the praise he's getting.

Third, Rocco diSpirito didn't exactly fare well when he tried to parlay his restaurant success with the vagaries of televised fame and fortune. HIs personality didn't play that well on tv (although it was fairly mild by Noo Yawk standards.

On the other hand, Rocco's meteoric rise was because he truly was doing some amazing things with food (and wine, let us not forget that). I still use some of his early Union Station menus. The man had (hopefully still has) a brilliant flair for food composition---exciting without being overly fussy or contrived, if you know what I mean. In those days it was lovely to experience his food concepts. Some chefs should keep their mouths shut and stay in the kitchen as much as possible though.

[Jenise]

Hoke, wasn't making fun of Bayless, although I can see why that wasn't apparent. I adore Rick--he's a great cook and a great human being. Rocco--well, not so much! He was quite full of himself there for awhile, and I never had any of his food to temper my thinking.

Hoke, wasn't making fun of Bayless, although I can see why that wasn't apparent. I adore Rick--he's a great cook and a great human being. Rocco--well, not so much! He was quite full of himself there for awhile, and I never had any of his food to temper my thinking.

Hey, no, I didn't think you were making fun of Bayless, Jenise. Sorry my post gave you that impression.

Agree with you about Bayless.

Also agree with you about Rocco. He did get full of himself---and it didn't look pretty splashed all over the tv. Sometimes you can be talented and handsome---and still be a total dick. He was all three.

I'm old enough that I still think of Chefs as people in the kitchen, not necessarily on the line, but at least thinking up recipes and being inspirational, and staying in command of things. Some chefs who become celebs don't do a very good job of being a celeb, and end up finally not doing a very good job of being a chef.

Rick Bayless is one of my heroes, a guy who has brought great recognition to one of the world's great cuisines, regional Mexican cooking. When I attended the Santa Fe Wine and Chile Fiesta many moons ago, he was doing a book signing at the main event. As I already owned all his books, I got him to sign my program instead. (It's the only celebrity autograph I've ever sought) Later, when he started his PBS series, I tried to watch every episode. Oh, yeah: I've eaten at Topolobampo and Frontera Grill a few times, too. Great man, good cook. I'm glad to hear that he's receiving more recognition.

Mark Lipton

I own his fine cookbooks and really enjoyed his shows on TV and I’m sure he’s a really great guy and all, but thus far his other food establishments are amazingly abysmal. I have been to both Frontera Grill and Topolobampo several times (only once by choice and my comments and reviews are on the old board) and they are probably the most over rated restaurants in Chicago.

Unless of course one likes being parked at the bar for an hour after the reservation time before getting your table, surly service, massacred food and being rushed out of the place because the server states important people are waiting for your table. And those are just the “great experiences” at Topolobampo. Frontera Grill is a whole different nightmare.

I’m sure he is an excellent chef and I am sure his patrons appreciated seeing him working the grill at his new place, but the quality will fall apart at his new place once he takes off on a new book or program signing tour.

He is a likeable guy and has created many wonderful recipes, so I hope he will not return to shilling for Burger King (or whatever fast food chain he was shilling for a few years ago) and will pay more attention to his restaurant endeavours.