Rick Bayless has been Busy
Posted by Stuart Reb Donald on Edible TV
New Menu, New Show, New Restaurant & a Major Award for Rick Bayless.
Cheflebrity Rick Bayless has had a busy 2009. The star of MEXICO: One Plate at a Time (PBS) has landed a new TV gig. Bayless is one of 24 prominent chefs competing in Bravo’s new show, Top Chef: Masters. The Chicago-based chef known for his authentic, elegant Mexican cuisine will be crossing spatulas with the likes of Michael Chiarello, Wylie Dufresne, and Art Smith. For more on Top Chef: Masters check out the press release HERE.
The Oklahoma-born chef has also started a new blog chronicaling his new restaurant, the newest outpost of Bayless’ award winning Frontera. The blog is entitled “At the Corner of Clark and Illinois.” The new digs are more of what makes him so beloved, “the essence of good times, the sharing of good food, good friends.”
The chef is also one of several big name chefs connecting with their customers through Twitter. In fact, the other day @Rick_Bayless and I tweeted about his new menus for April. Bayless twittered that he “put my rhubarb tart from last night’s dinner on new menu. Added pepita caramel corn and homemade sour cream.” He also added, ”a Oaxacan roll: duck with black chichilo mole and pickled chile/onion. Black bean rice. Goes on menu tonight.”
To prepare for the new menu, Bayless gave his team a taster and they proclaimed their favorite dishes, ”Oaxacan molotes (croquettes) of corn masa/potatoes, goat barbacoa, Oax salsa.” When I asked (twasked?) Chef Bayless how often he changes his menu he replied, “We change each menu (Topolo/Frontera) every four weeks.” Other chefs in the twittosphere include @jamie_oliver, Giada De Laurentiis (@GDeLaurentiis), and @roccodispirito. And you can catch my twitts by following @StuartDonald.
To cap-off the productive first quarter, Chef Bayless was named 2009 Entrepreneur of the Year by the folks at the International Association of Culinary Professionals. The award was presented at the annual IACP International Conference held in Denver on April 4th.
Photo courtesy of Time Out: Chicago.
