At the Corner of Clark and Illinois

Just Days Away

2009-08-12T16:41:00.002-05:00

With city inspections around the corner, GGC and crew are moving fast to finish out. Little glitches and problems creep up here and there, but with no time to spare we have to troubleshoot and move on. A couple small struggles are keeping us on our toes. Trims on the main lighting for our front counter were not installed properly, which is a headache for the electricians as well as tapers and painters. Finishing touches to window signage need to be completed before counters get in place and we no longer have access.

The tilers are in the space tonight, but their tile didn't arrive in shipment - so they are stuck, attempting to make a good situation out of a missed opportunity to get done.

Our first install of banquettes and tables goes down tomorrow. That will really give us a sense of the space, more than anything else so far.

Meanwhile, the rest of the Frontera team is getting ready to take over the space. Managers are hiring, getting schedules together and ordering all we need to outfit the restaurant.

Opening is on the horizon, with a lot of work, little and big, before we get there.

Counter top

2009-08-11T11:32:00.002-05:00

We are pushing ahead and now in our final sprint. Paint is up on the walls, tile is down, and now our counter top is finally in place. All the hook-ups to the kitchen equipment is happening. Progress in every minute.

We have run into a couple of obstacles as of late. Our dishwash room was measured wrong. The stainless steel table (the clean table) was too long. They removed it and are rectifying it. Every space needs to be exact in a small footprint. Every measurement, every inch.

We are getting the punch list stage and inching closer and closer to inspection. Soon though, tortas and churros for all. I can't wait.

Fitting the Pieces Together

2009-08-07T18:11:00.007-05:00

Kitchen equipment is pouring in and we are fitting everything together. Rick went for a very tight and clean look for the kitchen. It is not the easiest thing to achieve, but the result should be a good one. A couple small mistakes are holding things up, the stainless steal dish table was built wrong, and we are waiting on a couple of custom pieces to come from the shop.

The electricians are putting in all the light fixtures, trimming out the brand new engineered LED lights. Everyone is working on top of one another - painters, tilers, carpenters and all as we sprint to the finish.

Monday we are finally connecting the Frontera kitchen to XOCO. It won't be functional until we open, but will really start to change the way our staff interacts with the space.

Green and Gold

2009-08-01T11:22:00.005-05:00

As the construction comes closer to an end - we increasingly focus on LEED commissioning. This is the process where our buildout gets audited and we tally our points to determine what level of certification we achieve. Some of it is straight forward. They review submittals on what kind of grouts and paints we use. They make sure our lumber is Forest Stewardship Council certified and all of our waste is recycled.

Our project is aiming to achieve LEED Gold. As we are building, certain items come into conflict. Currently, we are balancing the needs of our rooftop garden with our need to coat the roof in a soy-based reflective paint. The tomatoes and chiles are about ready to harvest, so we can't move them. But, we need to get our coating down over the entire surface of the rooftop. The answer might lay in waiting out the harvest and pushing back our certification.

In our efforts to build sustainably, we are pushing ourselves further and further to practice sustainable operations. Rick posed the challenge to operate with 100% compostable packaging materials for take our at XOCO. It is a struggle to source good quality cups, hot cups, and containers that are compostable, durable, attractive and accessible to our distributors - while not breaking the bank. There are a lot of great materials out there, and it is an innovative and quick growth industry.

Tiling at Night

2009-07-31T22:45:00.000-05:00

Its the little things that prove to be the most frustrating stumbling blocks. At the end of the today when the tile guys were set to begin, (they have been tiling at night so we don't lose days) we ran into the problem of a locked door in the basement. For whatever reason, the door to our old storage room, which is currently under construction, was locked. Shouldn't be a problem because we have a key, right? The door knob was broken. And this room was the only access to water for our tile setters. After some scrambling we found the solution (my original idea of breaking down the door did not win the day). Luckily, we are building XOCO next to Frontera and Topolo. The chefs, in particular Richard James, have a lot of tricks of their sleeves. With his help, we were able to run a hose from the kitchen, through the alley to the jobsite. It saved us a day. And at this point, every minute of every day counts.

Getting Close

2009-07-30T17:26:00.002-05:00

The space is really coming together. The drywall is all up, now the carpentry crew is taping and sanding all the surfaces. It is a great feeling to see the final form come into view, and to know where walls and soffits are going to be. The next step for the walls is paint - starting next week. The crew from the restaurant supply company has started installing the stainless steel panels in the kitchen - great progress.

A couple struggles hang over the day:
We are dealing with some leaks into the basement and figuring out who bears the responsibility, our landlord or the contractor.
Some millwork pieces that were supposed to be ordered are over budget, and not by a little; we've decided to go a different direction to stainless cabinets, but don't have those nailed down yet.
The City denied our exemption for the front door of the restaurant to swing out in the sidewalk (the current configuration), and we are scrambling to find a solution.
The sign painter we hired for menu board design was way off in a meeting today - he knows to go in a different direction, but it was discouraging.
Finally, the place is a mess. Our basement where we store our liquor is a jungle and drywall dust keeps creeping into Frontera and Topolobampo.

In all, we made solid progress today. As a "green" buildout we are doing well. Jason, our superintendent is on patrol for sustainable building materials. It is his job to make sure all the different crews use sustainable materials like no-VOC caulks and glues. The USGBC doesn't mess around when it comes to LEED, so we have to get it right.

Inspections

2009-07-27T10:04:00.000-05:00

Just passed our HVAC inspection - breath of fresh air after a lot of back and forth on how we were going to get it done. We ran our main black iron, which vents all the air from the hood, up in the middle of the building. We had to do it in order to build the kitchen in the front window - which is going to be great fun to watch from the street.

Wood Burning Oven In Place

2009-07-21T14:05:00.000-05:00

Rick and I just got out of our weekly walk through with Goldberg, Farr Associates and Steve Schoop (our kitchen designer). After a long time waiting in the wings, the oven finally has a home. The question today was, what to build around it? The original framing creating the look of some hulking monster in the midst of the restaurant. With everyone's input, we came up with a great solution - slimming down the look.

Rooftop Units

2009-07-17T15:06:00.002-05:00

Along with our rooftop garden, now we have a couple of huge rooftop heating and cooling units. The energy efficient units are creating a whole system required for LEED certification. The crane lift went down this morning - it was nerve wracking seeing them hoisted up over Illinois street.

Denim in the Walls

2009-07-04T11:10:00.002-05:00

Just put in very cool recycled denim insulation. Scraps from manufacturing jeans and other cotton fiber clothing are diverted from landfills. It takes very little processing to turn this into some of the best insulation around. Check out Bonded Logic, one of the top line manufacturers of the stuff.

Punching Through Brick

2009-06-23T09:05:00.000-05:00

Friedman Properties punched through a pathway between XOCO and the Frontera Grill kitchen last night. Had to remove three feet of pure masonry. The challenge ahead is to figure out the best way to finish it off, while still allowing our employees access back and forth.

Lighting Design

2009-06-14T10:25:00.002-05:00

One of the more innovative fields in green technology is lighting. For XOCO, we are working with lighting manufacturers Lightolier and Forecast. They are providing all fixtures for the space. LEDs (Light Emitting Diodes) are the next generation in energy efficient lighting. One of the problems with LED is the quality and color of the light it emits. This was a particular concern for our project, since food often falls flat in harsh light. However, Lightolier’s Calculite recessed downlights are very unique. When demo'd for Rick, he thought they could work in certain applications. That's why the restaurant features Calculite Solid State (LED) wall washers – using a mere 20 watts of input power per fixture. This product was just awarded the most prestigious award at Lightfair 2009 in New York City – Most Innovative Product of the Year. We are thrilled to have them in the restaurant.

So What is XOCO All About?

2009-06-11T10:12:00.004-05:00

If Topolo pampers and Frontera dances, then XOCO rocks. Though the word is Mexican slang for “little sister” (from the ancient Aztec language), there’s nothing little about XOCO’s big, bold Mexican marketplace flavors. Open early, late and all but Sunday, this quick-service cafe from Rick and Deann Bayless proffers contemporary expressions of Mexico’s most beloved street food and snacks: hot-from-the-fryer churros and flaky empanadas; frothy Mexican hot chocolate (ground from Mexican cacao beans right in our front window!); warm, crusty tortas (Mexican submarine sandwiches); and made-to-order caldos (meal-in-a-bowl soups) that feature everything from roasted vegetables to seafood to pork belly. Part of Mexican street food’s allure is it’s rustic immediacy—experiencing the aromas, sights and sounds of each dish being crafted, interacting with the cooks, customizing your choices. That’s why your first step into XOCO is a step into our kitchen, where each torta is built, each baked good is fashioned, each hot chocolate is whipped to a froth as you watch. Just as street food stalls attract passersby with the rustic allure of wood fires and boldly aromatic offerings, the centerpiece of XOCO’s kitchen is its wood-burning oven where tortas get crisped and suckling pigs for cochinita pibil and lamb for barbacoa are braised overnight in banana leaves. XOCO offers some of Mexico’s best street food from one of America’s top chefs. Everything is made from scratch, from the bean-to-bar chocolate to homemade ice creams and the rich broths for caldos. Torta buns are from Chicago’s best artisan bakery. Even the wine we’re offering is the just-released Topolovino, personally crafted by Frontera/Topolo’s sommelier Jill Gubesch. And perhaps best of all, XOCO will be awarded LEED Gold (at least) certification for it’s environmentally conscious build out and all-compostable to-go packaging. Whether you choose to enjoy XOCO treats at one of our communal tables to taken to your home or office, you can count on us to be there for you from 7am to 10 pm, Monday through Saturday.

Wood Burning Oven

2009-06-06T11:04:00.000-05:00

The wood burning oven for XOCO arrived this morning around 7AM. This 3600 pound behemoth was unloaded and dropped into place inside the building with a fork lift. Our first major piece of cooking equipment to arrive, this oven is a presence. We had to remove the door frame on Illinois street get it into the space, and even then it was close. The Woodstone oven is an all wood burning oven that XOCO will use to braise meats overnight and toast tortas to a crispy perfection.

Tasting

2009-05-13T11:40:00.000-05:00

Rick and Shaw Lash present some dishes from the development of the XOCO menu to the Frontera team. In addition to featuring tortas, Rick is developing soups for XOCO. These caldos are based from a rich stock and will be served to order.

Framing

2009-05-09T16:12:00.001-05:00

The GGC crew is starting to frame out the space, forcing us the rethink elements of the design. Again we confront the dilemmas of working in an old buildling - this time in regards to the limitations of space. We lost inches in several dimensions, losing almost a foot east to west forcing us to make some tough design decisions.

2009-05-07T10:15:00.000-05:00

In tandem with Farr Associates we are working with Goldberg General Contracting. They recently finished an exciting LEED Platinum private residence, the Yanell Net Zero home in the Ravenswood neighborhood in Chicago. We thank them for their work on XOCO.

Bean-to-bar chocolate at XOCO

2009-05-04T17:14:00.005-05:00

As you walk in the front door of XOCO, your sense of smell will register something familiar—the unmistakable aroma of roasting cacao. The XOCO team has already begun importing beans from Tabasco, the famous cacao growing state in Mexico, to produce a bean-to-bar product to be used in hot chocolate and molded candies. Is your mouth watering yet?

The process is simple, but fascinating:

We receive our cacao in burlap sacks from the growers in Tabasco. It is already fermented, but unroasted.

The cacao is roasted in the oven and cracked in a food processor, to separate the useable cacao nibs from the cacao skins that are pulled out in the grinding process.

Both the nib and the skin are put through a Champion juicer, to juice the cacao liquor from the nib. The wet skins are discarded.

The liquor is mixed with sugar and freshly ground cinnamon, and poured into the melanger. The granite wheels grind the sugar crystals into the cacao liquor to produce the mouth feel desired for finished chocolate. The time elapse on these two photos is five hours.

The ground and melanged chocolate is poured onto parchment paper and left to cool. This chocolate will set up untempered, but can also be tempered for a finished, molded bar.

All hot chocolate at XOCO will be made from this bean-to-bar process. We’ll be open early, frying churros every morning, and filling our cases with fresh-baked Mexican pastries. Now, is your mouth watering?

-Shaw Lash, Chef/Manager, XOCO

XOCO

2009-05-01T12:27:00.001-05:00

Finishes

2009-04-27T11:27:00.000-05:00

Tabletops, tile, countertops, floors, fixtures - the interactive elements for our guests, what they see and touch in the restaurant during the dining experience. For XOCO we are focused on obtaining our finishes from within a 500 mile radius of Chicago. As part of this, the items we choose meet certain criteria; recycled content, rapidly renewable material, environmentally friendly production practices. All the while we look for a stylish product that helps create thewarm and modern interior enivornment we are going for.

The Architect

2009-04-25T10:20:00.000-05:00

Rick and Frontera are working with Doug Farr, Founding Principal and President of Farr Associates, to design the new space. Farr Associates is recognized as one of the leading firms in the field of sustainable urbanism and architecture. The Farr team consists of Doug and our project manager April Hughes.

(Apart from their competence and excellence as a design firm, we really like their logo... I wonder why?)

The Uncovered Wall

2009-04-23T16:28:00.001-05:00

They brought down the north wall... and oh how can small glimpses be deceiving. With the drywall down we are now faced with an ancient looking brick wall heavily soiled with a myriad of rough spots, rebuild window jams and severe tuckpointing issues.

In order to salvage the wall we would have to invest an unreasonable amount of time and money to sandblast, tuckpoint and coat the wall. The decision came pretty quickly to Rick - put the wall back up.

As much as we appreciated the quality and depth the exposed brick brought to the space, it was in no condition to be a starring design element.

Brick

2009-04-21T13:16:00.004-05:00

One of the great things about River North, especially the Courthouse District where the restaurants are located, is the great old landmark buildings. We are lucky enough to inhabit three of them now.

As a design element, we decided to take a look at the brick behind the north wall. The look of exposed brick is not always appealing depending on its condition, but a wall of brick can also be a great design element. Our contractor cut a series of 3 foot by 4 foot holes to expose sections in the north wall. The condition of the brick looked pretty good. There was some concern over the tuckpointing and certain areas were covered in a plaster. but besides that - and a few spray paint marks - the walls looked to be in good shape.

Recycling Demo Material

2009-04-16T14:14:00.004-05:00

Part of the Materials and Resources section of LEED recycling demolition materials. Debris is sorted into metals, wood, drywall, insulation, etc. Once the piles are sorted, they are taken to a recycling company for processing. Our goal is to divert 75% of construction and demo material from a landfill to be re-used or recycled.

What is LEED you ask?

2009-04-15T10:27:00.000-05:00

Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design is the preeminent certification program for green building in the United States. Sponsored by the United States Green Building Council LEED certification brings legitimacy and strict guidelines to sustainable building practices. It also ensures that building are not only built green, but are built to be run sustainably. This means lower energy usage, lower environmental impact and better interior environmental conditions for employees and patrons. How it works: The LEED scorecard is the tool by which the USGBC measures how “green” you are. Different types of spaces are measured on different scorecards. We are a Commercial Interior. Points are awarded and tallied in various categories:

Interior Environmental Quality
Energy Consumption
Water Usage
Materials and Resources.

The most interesting category is Innovation and Design Process. Under this section you are awarded points for breaking new ground in sustainable design. The more cutting edge your ideas, the more points the project receives. Our project is going for gold.

We need to score between 32 and 41 points out of a total of 57 to get there.