Frontera Grill

It was 1987. Chef Rick Bayless and his wife, Deann Groen Bayless, had just returned to Chicago from an extended stay in Mexico, where they had been researching their first book. They wanted to open a restaurant that tasted and felt like their travels, so they hung colorful Mexican folk art on the walls, turned up the Mariachi music, and packed the menu with the foods that reminded them of their travels: tangy tomatillos, rich black beans, fiery chiles. Since then, Bayless has been nominated for a whopping 16 James Beard Awards and won seven, and Frontera Grill took the top prize, Outstanding Restaurant, in 2007.

Frontera Grill is constantly evolving, adding new authentic flavors to their menus and developing new relationships with the Midwestern farmers who provide them with everything from summer squash to maple syrup to goat. But at the end of the day, no matter how inventive their techniques or local their ingredients, Frontera Grill transports diners to colorful, vibrant kitchens of Mexico, and its most iconic dishes are now shipping nationwide!