Rick Bayless: Chicago's only Mexican Chef?

"600 words by Esther J. Cepeda"

Faster than a speeding bullet at rolling flautas, more powerful a chef than thousands of Marias and Juans in Chicago, able to leap into halls of fame while wearing huaraches…look up in the sky! It’s a taco vendor, it’s a Mexican it’s…Rick Bayless!

That’s right, Rick Bayless. Salt-n-pepper goateed chef/owner of the Frontera Grill and Topolobampo. Author, TV superstar, James Beard award collector, soon to be the third inductee into the Chicago Culinary Museum and Chef’s Hall of Fame, and seemingly Chicago’s only Mexican chef.

Yes, in a town with at least a handful of hot Latino chefs and restauranteurs – and where 1.44 million of its 1.8 million Hispanics are of Mexican descent – when you look at all the Mexican chefs whose books are featured on bookshelves, are written about, talked about, or referred to as Mexican food experts in Chicago’s media, there’s no list – it’s just Rick.

Google around and you’ll see what I’m talking about: whether it be a comment on the use of store-bought, pre-made sopes, what hot chocolate to pair with your churros, or a description of Chicago’s Mexican culture, Rick’s da hombre. The book which greeted me at the front of my local Borders a few weeks ago said it all. There was Rick’s smiling face, topped off by the proclamation: "Authentic Mexican."

I’ve heard some conspiracy theories – don’t think Chicago’s Hispanics haven’t noticed the Bayless phenomenon – but as far as I can see there’s no one to blame. Well, maybe some unimaginative reporters, but…Bayless is just that good.

He is, if I may, a fusion of cultures and flavors – Oklahoman by birth, Mexican by heart – possibly our time’s best ambassador to Mexican culture, and absolutely not shy about the Bayless Mystique.

"Yes, certainly, through the years I’ve heard it. They usually say it to my face: ‘Who’s this white guy making Mexican food and capitalizing on us?’" Bayless told me in an interview last week. "But for every one of those, I’ve had thousands of ‘thank you for showing the world the real Mexico.’"

The man has seen more Mexico than me, my mom who was born there, and my dad who immigrated to Mexico as a kid, combined. On his show I’ve watched him cook fish over a fire pit in old lady’s huts, eat truly frightening things out of market carts, and identify cheese that all my life my family knew only as "white cheese." He knows his stuff and can rightfully claim to be a Mexican food expert.

As we spoke, his take on things made sense to me, a girl who never once made tamales or baked Dia del Muerto bread.

"Somehow people think that if you're raised by a family of a certain culture you'll have a mastery, it’ll be in your genes, and that’s not always true," he said, "and in a sense that’s such a small part of it."

Then he hit a touchy nail on the head: "For instance, if you want to write about mole, as a Mexican, you are obliged to say your grandmother’s recipe is the only one that’s the best, and if you were to go to another town and say ‘that mole is better than my grandmother’s’ you’d get run out of town on a rail! But it’s not a problem for me; because I don’t have that Mexican grandmother I can embrace all of Mexico, all the regions all the styles, and bring it all together in one place."

Which, I’ll admit, is another unique Bayless viewpoint: many Chicagoans think Mexico is just one homogenous Mexico and don’t recognize what us Mexicans know – that Chicago is full of Mexicans from all over that country, with some extremely distinct socio-cultural norms, and super-varied foods. Once here it turns into a pastiche that has created a multi-regional Chicago-Mex food scene that’s a little bit Yucatan, little bit Norteňo, a little bit lots of other things (heck, I don’t even know what other things, I’d have to call him back).

My take on Bayless as ambassador frequently clashes with others’, I know, but Latinos are living through tough times; there’s a lot of hatin’ going on with all the immigration talk. And here’s one guy literally devoting his life to changing those attitudes – not a bad thing.

"I can say [I reach] a lot of people that don’t see eye-to-eye with me politically, socially or anything. Yet when we’re at the table, cooking an incredible paella over a wood fire, we have the most amazing time. All of a sudden all the differences fall away," he said. "I can bring people to the table with really beautifully crafted food. As our country becomes more and more Latino, I think a real Mexican table is really going to be an important step in sort of bringing the cultures together – I can't help but think it will influence others to look at what Mexican culture has done."

Still, I’m bummed few Hispanic chefs are getting any love from the MSM – there’s certainly plenty to go around – but there’s something to that as well. Jeff Bailey, a former Chicago-based New York Times reporter put it into a journalist’s perspective. In a recent travel section feature, Bayless was only one of many, many Latino chefs, and other experts, he sourced for his story on Pilsen. Last month we talked about his Bayless quotes. "The type of people who get in [to stories] are those who truly help stories move along, have a particular knowledge and expertise," Bailey told me, "Bayless has all kinds of views."

So I asked Rick – who I bet you didn’t know provides highly competitive full-ride culinary school scholarships and internships in his restaurants for Mexican-American students who flock to Frontera Grill from all over the country – to give the aspiring Hispanic chefs in Chicago some pointers.

"First you have to do your homework – you have to learn the history." Bayless said. "‘This is just how my mother makes it’ – that doesn’t make a story. This is how it was created in this part of Veracruz, and it was made this way, with that from there…is the story."

"But it’s also really the flavors – you have to be a good cook, you gotta do all the rest of the work, and have a good personal story, and tell a good story about the food, and you have to have inherent passion for what you're making," Rick, who has no shortage of that, said. "People love to be around passion. It’s very important to talk about the food with this great verve."

"The passion is the main ingredient."

Esther J. Cepeda writes the "600 Words" & "Pregunta del Dia" columns, and is also the Chief Marketing and Communications Officer for the Illinois Student Assistance Commission. Her views and reporting do not necessarily reflect those of ISAC. "600 words" is a registered trademark of EeJayCee, Inc., Copyright 2008. May be reprinted with permission, contact eejaycee@600words.com

Comments

[Lisa P.]

I have never eaten at either of Rick Bayless's restaurants and have resisted buying his cookbooks (though I LOVE cookbooks --almost more than cooking).

I'm not Mexican, or even of Hispanic/Latino descent; still, I was always more than a little suspicious of a white guy being the most famous "expert" on Mexican food. Now that I know more about him, I can give Bayless his props, and think of him as the Julia Child of Mexican food --he takes the complex recipes and processes if Mexican cuisine and makes them something people will try. "Look, if that white guy can do it, I can too, maybe."

Personally, I would rather support my favorite neighborhood Mexican restaurant (in Melrose Park) that sells me the *best* fish tacos for $1.50 each. Now THAT is authentic Mexican!

But I agree, it's outrageous that there isn't one big name Mexican chef getting recognition and promoting greater diversity on the white-bread Food Network. Surprise, surprise.

Anthony Bourdain once did a show on the Mexican guys (amongst which there were probably a few Central Americans, but everyone got "Mexicanized"), all of whom work at his spot in NYC. Bourdain basically said that all the high-end, frou-frou food in the city is being cooked by guys just like his. Which, of course, makes the insult of invisibility on air all the more aggregious.

The restaurant industry would collapse without the labor of the overwhelmingly Mexican kitchen staff that supports it, and they can't get not one chef to rep them to the viewing public. Rick Bayless may be a great chef, a straight up good guy, an ambassador of all things Mexican, but there has to be room for at least one actual Mexican at the big table of riches and fame.

[Rusty Filero]

I enjoy Rick's TV show and his overpriced restaurant was actually not bad either, if a bit stuffy. I applaud him for bringing Mexican cuisine to the mainstream and highlighting the rich culture and diversity of Mexico through his TV shows. But I have to admit, as a first-generation American of Mexican descent, I am embarrased and somewhat insulted that there is no one of Mexican heritage who has had the success of Bayless in promoting Mexican cuisine on TV. I would love to see a Mexican with his own show on FoodTV (no that Cuban lady does not count.. she is more like Rachael Ray than a real chef like Bayless). So I keep asking myself, why don't we ever see a non-Chinese guy touting Chinese dishes on FoodTV, or would you trust a recipe for French food from someone without a French accent... no it would not sell! Yet here we see Bayless as the premier Mexican food chef. Have we gotten to the point where Mexican food has become so mainstream, like say Italian food, that anyone can promote it and the people will eat it up?? In a way, I suppose that is a great accomplishment in itself. So pass the guacamole... keep it coming.

[Steve Porras]

"The passion is the main ingredient." Here here.