Chicago is a great city filled with lots of great food (as well as plenty of landmarks, like Millennium Park’s Cloud Gate!). It isn’t possible to stop into every great restaurant in town on a one day or weekend trip (unless you have a truly limitless appetite and plan your schedule very well), but it is possible to get a sampling of some of the foods that the city is best known for. This is exactly what my game plan was on a recent trip. My only plan was to hit at least one Rick Bayless restaurant, have some deep dish pizza and eat at least one Chicago-style hot dog, and I figured that the rest would come on its own.
This foodie day starts off with a breakfast trip to Rick Bayless’s XOCO restaurant. This quick service Mexican restaurant is famous for its beans-to-cup hot chocolate that is made fresh every day. I’ve devoted a whole post to this place if you want the full details, but the churros and hot chocolate are well worth stopping in for no matter what your other dining plans are. And, fortunately, the they are both served all day.
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Rick Bayless’s XOCO is just around the corner from his other restaurants, Frontera and Topolobampo. While the other two are essentially variations on the same restaurant, XOCO stands a little bit apart and offers a more unique dining experience. The restaurant is a quick service eatery – and was recently named the greenest restaurant in Chicago – where you order at a counter and the food is brought to your table. They’re open for breakfast, lunch and dinner and the menu offers Bayless’s takes on favorite Mexican street food and snacks.
Their tortas and caldos (sandwiches and soups) have big fans, but I hit XOCO early in the morning for breakfast. One of the things that I didn’t want to miss out on was the hot chocolate that is their signature dish. They actually take their chocolate from beans to cup right in the kitchen, doing all the roasting, grinding and chocolate-making right where you can watch through the window! So, naturally, the first thing I ordered was a cup of hot chocolate.
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When I started to plan a recent trip to Chicago, there were quite a few restaurants that I wanted to eat at, but I really wanted to make sure that I had a chance to get into one of chef Rick Bayless‘s well known Mexican restaurants while I was there. Bayless, who has actually be described as the “father of modern Mexican cuisine” is well known to many from his TV show ( usually broadcast on public broadcasting networks and on the cable network Create TV) and his excellent, and comprehensive, Mexican cookbooks.
Bayless has a group of three restaurants in the River North area of downtown Chicago: XOCO, Frontera and Topolobampo. Topolo has one Michelin star and offers a little bit more of a high-end Mexican food experience than the casual, vibrant Frontera. I made a reservation for dinner at Topolo. It actually shares a dining room and kitchen space with Frontera, and Topolo is just one room divided from the rest of the restaurant with a heavy curtain. It has a quieter, calmer feel, however, and made me think of the difference between first class and economy on an airplane (just because of that curtain!). I also ate at XOCO while I was in Chicago – but I wrote about that experience in another post!
Topolo offers a monthly changing, seasonal menu of Mexican classics and some updated takes on those dishes. Just about everything, including the different cheeses that accompany each dish, is homemade. They also offer both a 5-course tasting menu and a la carte options. I was tempted by the tasting menu, which offers half portions of more dishes, but ended up opting to go the a la carte route – and I have to say that some of the dishes were so good that I was very glad I had that full size serving!
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The Napa Valley is a hot spot for foodies due to the high concentration of top notch restaurants ad wineries in the area. But in with all the big names are lots of smaller places that are easily worth a stop. I have to include the Bouchon Bakery in this list because, although the bakery is one of Thomas Keller’s eateries, it is often overlooked by visitors who focus more on The French Laundry and Ad Hoc when they come to Napa.
The bakery is in Yountville, just a few doors down from The French Laundry and next door to Bouchon. It started as a production facility, to produce the bread that is served in Thomas Keller’s other restaurants, but soon opened as a full french-style bakery in its own right. The bakery counter opens early in the morning, serving everything from freshly baked baguettes and croissants to cookies and tarts.
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The French Laundry is one of the most iconic restaurants in the Napa Valley and one of the best restaurants in the world, with three Michelin stars to prove it. The restaurant belongs to Chef Thomas Keller, who has been serving a beautiful nine course tasting menu there since 1994, when he bought the building (formerly an actual French Lanudry, but operated previously as a restaurant) and opened his restaurant. The tasting menu changes daily and never features the same ingredient more than once, as it is structured to surprise you with new tastes as you are served each course.
I ate at the restaurant once before, back in 2004, and one of the things I regret about that memorable visit was that I didn’t take any pictures. I didn’t make that mistake this time, so I can share a peek at the wonderful meal I had there – and make sure I remember it myself! This post is photo heavy, so be patient if the page takes a moment to load.
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