Frontera Grill chef Rick Bayless Frontera Grill

Frontera Grill

445 N. Clark St. (W. Hubbard St.)
Chicago, IL 60610
312-661-1434
Map
Cuisine: Mexican
Chef Rick Bayless hasn’t lost his touch at this topnotch, wood-grilled sister to adjoining Topolobampo.
Openings: Lunch Tues.-Fri., Dinner Tues.-Sun., Brunch Sat.-Sun.

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Frontera Grill, Chicago, IL


Frontera Grill Restaurant Review:


This is one smooth ride across Mexico’s culinary landscape, and it has become a mecca for food lovers in Chicago. The menu blossoms with diverse, beyond garden-variety Mexican dishes. Eating here, in fact, can be downright educational. Chef-owner Rick Bayless is big on sustainability and knows Mexican flavors and foods and how they should come together. Check out the innovative seafood bar where the selections are ever changing. Start with the sweet corn tamales prepared in banana leaves or the classic queso fundido made with artisanal Jack cheese with Mexican oregano, roasted peppers and homemade chorizo. Follow that up with wood-grilled rib steak, black beans, plantains, sour cream and guacamole, or the slow-grilled duck breast in pine nut mole. Be sure to ask for the monthly changing menu, which highlights hardwood-grilled dishes, and consider just coming for snacks --- there's a corn masa section just for that. There are first-rate margaritas and a selection of Mexican beers, too. The service is just fine, and the décor --- with its whimsical Mexican artifacts --- is colorful.