Tag Archives: Chicago Reader

A Message of Strength & Solidarity

For three decades, we’ve been a place that has welcomed, respected and promoted our immigrant staff, friends and restaurant family.

Out of respect for our staff’s vote to support Thursday’s immigrant civil actions in Chicago and elsewhere, we are closing Frontera Grill, Topolobampo, Xoco and Fonda Frontera on Thursday.

Cruz Blanca and Leña Brava will remain open Thursday, with 10 percent of gross revenue headed to Illinois Coalition for Immigrant and Refugee Rights.

We believe lasting change is achieved incrementally, and if you can’t participate, we encourage you make contributions to groups working to make lasting change. Here are some suggestions:

Illinois Coalition for Immigrant and Refugee Rights

American Civil Liberties Union

Immigrant  Youth Justice League

Sanctuary Restaurants

National Immigration Law Center

National Organization for Women

Southern Poverty Law Center

The Reader’s Readers Pick Rick

Best of Chicago

We’re on the Chicago Reader’s radar.

The venerable alt-weekly just published its annual “Best of Chicago” issue and our very own Rick Bayless topped the readers’ poll for Best Chef. Check it out here.

Thanks, readers!

The whole “Best of Food and Drink” is worth a read, as it highlights some of the coolest, undiscovered, offbeat and/or important players in the city’s food scene. And the quick feature on Nance Klehm’s ambitious food waste and composting program gets a special shout-out, which we think is awesome.

In a separate feature, food critic Mike Sula cooked the Mole de Olla recipe from Rick’s latest cookbook More Mexican Everyday, praising the slow-cooker soup as “magnificently rich and deeply beefy.”

“I’ve cooked out of all of [Bayless’s nine] cookbooks, and I’ve not once come across a bunk recipe,” he writes.

And let’s not forget that last month, our chef de cuisine Andres Padilla earned a victory at the publication’s “Key Ingredient Cookoff” in the “Best use of Cactus” category for preparing a spicy, umami-packed take on ensalada de nopal (cactus salad).

So thanks again to the readers of the Reader. You keep doing your thing and we’ll keep doing ours.

Photo Illustration: Colleen Durkin for the Chicago Reader