Fan Club

This past summer we got sucked into the Top Chef Masters reality show.  It was kind of fun to see these truly "top chefs" competing.  For us, Rick Bayless really stood out.  It wasn't just that he is from Chicago and really kicked butt in the kitchen (he won the competition).  He displayed such a passion for what he does that it was captivating.  He also appeared to in general have a great personality and be someone that is able to bring out the best in his employees (this is not true for all of the chefs on the show!). 

So after watching Rick (oh yeah, we are pretending to be on first name basis) win the title of Top Chef Master, we decided it was finally time to make it to one of his restaurants.  We went to Frontera Grill for my birthday.  It was the longest we have ever waited for a table, they don't take reservations.  But the incredibly tasty margaritas helped ease that pain.  Forget any notions you might have about margaritas at a restaurant- these were the real deal and quite frankly the best (next to Dan's of course).  And the food was simply wonderful.  It was a fantastic evening.  And helped to solidify Rick's place as one of our current favorite chefs.  

The other night I happened to see that he was going to be doing a "chef demo" at the Green City Market... of course we had to go.  We just made as he was starting to talk about his opions on squash varieties. He talked about varieties of cinnamon, differences in sugars, how Cumin is not really a Mexican spice but a Tex-Mex thing, and raved about an immersian blender (the same exact blender that Dan has been pining over)...  And he was just as cool as he was on tv. 

Quite honestly, in my world it is rare to encounter someone who is truly passionate about what they are doing.  There is always a tell that it is more about just being a job.  So passion and confidence in what he is doing is quite magnetic.  Now we just need to save up our pennies to make it to Tobolobampo for dinner.

And that trip to the farmers market lead to Dan actually trying squash again... and liking it!  Success!!