A sneak peek at Rick Bayless’ new Mexico City-inspired taco tasting menu

Chicago is in the midst of a The new era of taco tasting menusallowing chefs to embrace the masa and use fresh tortillas as vessels for virtually anything they want. Dear in Uptown offers a late night menu and Cool Taqueria In Bucktown, occasional events are held. In Wicker Park, Rishi Kumar, a chef who worked with Rick Bayless at his downtown restaurants, has hosted an occasional taco feast at the Coach House, where Kumar and chef Zubair Mohajir prepare to open Myrrhhis Mexican and Indian restaurant in Bucktown.

Before Chef Cariño Norman Fenton opened his restaurant UptownCariño made a commitment to give back to the community. When it debuted, Cariño’s late-night taco dinner was promoted as a more accessible way into the restaurant, one that charges $210 for its regular tasting menu; the eight-course taco omakase is $125. But in June, Cariño pivoted the idea toward raising money for charity and as a way, as Fenton tells Eater, “to continue to provide a multi-dynamic experience in our small venue.” Fenton brought in a former colleague of Schwa’s, Wilson Bauer, the chef and owner of The power of flour in West Town. The two collaborated on the opening Tacos with friends, $250 Dinner per person for charity Latinos ProgressingSince then, Fenton has worked with KimskiWon Kim, Esme Jenner Tomaska, and is dated September 22 with Sangtae Park of Bonyeon and Omakase Yume.

While Chicago chefs like Fenton embraced the format, Bayless, one of America’s most influential chefs, remained curious but largely on the sidelines: “That was one of the biggest struggles for me, because I didn’t want to feel like we were just jumping on a trend,” Bayless says.

But Bayless changed his mind. In mid-July, TopolobampoFor the first time, he began offering a $165 to $185 taco tasting menu, drawing inspiration from 13 taco shops and street food vendors that Bayless and his team visited during a trip earlier this year to Mexico; four are listed on Eater’s Best Taco Shops in Mexico CityFrom now until Saturday, September 7, Topolo is offering a menu called “Mexico City: World Taco Capital.”

Bayless called the visit “a legendary day for us.” The chef has an apartment in Mexico City and has organized taco tours for his staff with about four stops. This tour was longer, as they spent about 12 hours through Mexico City traffic and tried more than 35 specialties. The 13 taquerias that inspired Topolo are listed with logo art promoting the new menu, and Bayless hopes to encourage Chicagoans to visit them in Mexico. They tried dishes like tacos campechanos made with bone marrow roasted by a vendor who threw the bones directly into the charcoal fire.

After returning home, Bayless and the team, led by chef de cuisine Meagan O’Connor, held several brainstorming sessions. The marrow is the signature dish, featuring brisket from Creekstone Farms. It’s accompanied by thinly sliced ​​A5 Japanese wagyu and chorizo. Guests scoop out the “marrow” and build their own tacos. There’s even a vegetarian option with eggplant.

O’Connor has visited Mexico more than 20 times with Bayless. He says it’s not difficult to source ingredients. While the menu is inspired by Mexico City, seasonal produce from Chicago and items like Japanese turnips grown in the restaurant’s rooftop garden make the menu unique.

“We realized we were seeing a lot of different styles of tacos that we don’t see as much in Chicago or in the United States,” says O’Connor. “So we decided to do this menu to show that a taco may not necessarily be what you imagine a taco to be on a plate.”

Pastry chef Jennifer Enyart, who left the Bayless empire with her husband Brian to open Dos Urban in Logan Square, is back. She has created dessert tacos to end the meal. One is based on al pastor, a gringo taco wrapped in a flour tortilla with melted cheese and roasted jackfruit. It’s a combination of cheese and traditional dessert, says O’Connor. Another dish is based on tacos dorados with a crispy crust made from chocolate and mesquite bean flour and filled with a chocolate semifreddo.

While Bayless is proud of what his team accomplished, he’s not the only one apprehensive about taco tasting menus. When Danny Espinoza and Jhonna Ruiz first laid eyes on the Northwest Side space that would become Santa Mesa TamaleriaThey saw a bar with stools, perfect for a taco tasting menu. Although it was tempting, the couple opted against it, although they will offer special dinners in the future.

Some chefs use the word “omakase,” a Japanese term typically applied to sushi, to describe their offerings. Customers enjoying an omakase are at the mercy of the “chef’s whim,” meaning the menu can change without notice depending on the chef’s mood. But there is no direct connection to Japanese culture, which has kept some chefs from using the term. In the world of fine dining, some remain convinced that Mexican food is not worth higher prices. Omakase doesn’t have that problem There is even a culture of buddy-dumpsters rushing out to buy expensive sushi. Detractors argue that Mexican food doesn’t need the Japanese connection. Moles are complex and labor-intensive. They are worth spending a lot of money on without being considered omakase.

“I didn’t want those tacos to be omakase, and I didn’t want Topolo customers to say, ‘These aren’t Topolo-worthy, because they’re just a bunch of tacos,’” Bayless says. “So we worked really hard, I really constantly pushed everyone to make this, these tacos, from the perspective of what we do at Topolo. So they’re very inspired by people and places, but at the same time, they’re very much our style.”

Mexico City: World taco capital in Topolobampo, now through September 7 Tickets via Tock