Rick Bayless
Encyclopedia
Rick Bayless is an American chef who specializes in traditional Mexican cuisine
Mexican cuisine
Mexican cuisine, a style of food that originates in Mexico, is known for its varied flavors, colourful decoration and variety of spices and ingredients, most of which are native to the country. The cuisine of Mexico has evolved through thousands of years of blending indigenous cultures, with later...

 with modern interpretations. He is perhaps best known for his PBS series Mexico: One Plate at a Time
Mexico: One Plate at a Time
Mexico: One Plate at a Time is a television series starring chef Rick Bayless distributed to public television stations by WTTW. The show is currently broadcasting its seventh season...

.

Bayless was born in Oklahoma City
Oklahoma city
Oklahoma City is the capital and largest city of the U.S. state of Oklahoma.Oklahoma City may also refer to:*Oklahoma City metropolitan area*Downtown Oklahoma City*Uptown Oklahoma City*Oklahoma City bombing*Oklahoma City National Memorial...

, Oklahoma, into a family of restaurateurs and grocers specializing in the local barbecue. Having begun his culinary training as a youth, he broadened his interests to include regional Mexican cooking as an undergraduate student of Spanish
Culture of Spain
The culture of Spain is based on a variety of influences.The Visigothic Kingdom left a sense of a united Christian Hispania that was going to be welded in the Reconquista. Muslim influences were strong during the period of 711 AD to the 15th century, especially linguistically...

 and Latin American culture. After finishing his undergraduate education at the University of Oklahoma
University of Oklahoma
The University of Oklahoma is a coeducational public research university located in Norman, Oklahoma. Founded in 1890, it existed in Oklahoma Territory near Indian Territory for 17 years before the two became the state of Oklahoma. the university had 29,931 students enrolled, most located at its...

, he did doctoral work in Anthropological Linguistics at the University of Michigan
University of Michigan
The University of Michigan is a public research university located in Ann Arbor, Michigan in the United States. It is the state's oldest university and the flagship campus of the University of Michigan...

 and, from 1980 to 1986, lived in Mexico with his wife, Deann, writing his first book Authentic Mexican: Regional Cooking From The Heart of Mexico.

Bayless is the younger brother of sports journalist and television personality Skip Bayless
Skip Bayless
Skip Bayless is an American journalist and television personality. Bayless regularly appears on ESPN2's ESPN First Take and its afternoon show 1st and 10. Bayless previously wrote regular columns for ESPN.com and its "Page 2" section.-Schooling and family:Bayless was born in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma...

.

Professional career

After hosting the 26-part PBS television series Cooking Mexican in 1978-1979, Bayless dedicated over six years to culinary research in Mexico, culminating in 1987 with the publication of his Authentic Mexican: Regional Cooking from the Heart of Mexico, which Craig Claiborne
Craig Claiborne
Craig Claiborne was an American restaurant critic, food writer and former food editor of the New York Times. He was the author of numerous cookbooks and an autobiography...

 described as "the greatest contribution to the Mexican table imaginable." Chef Bayless continues to host his PBS television series, Mexico: One Plate at a Time, now entering Season 8, produced entirely on the Baja peninsula.

Before opening his own restaurant, Rick began his professional career in 1980 as the executive chef at Lopez, in Cleveland Ohio. Rick trained a staff of 10, and established the tradition of Lopez, which still remains the premier Mexican/Southwestern restaurant in Ohio. In 1987, Bayless, along with his wife, Deann, opened the Frontera Grill
Frontera Grill
Frontera Grill is a Mexican restaurant in Chicago, Illinois. It is owned by Rick Bayless. It opened in January 1987 and is located at 445 N. Clark Street in Chicago's River North neighborhood....

 in Chicago, Illinois, specializing in contemporary regional Mexican cuisine
Mexican cuisine
Mexican cuisine, a style of food that originates in Mexico, is known for its varied flavors, colourful decoration and variety of spices and ingredients, most of which are native to the country. The cuisine of Mexico has evolved through thousands of years of blending indigenous cultures, with later...

. In 1989 they opened Topolobampo, one of America's first fine-dining Mexican restaurants.

In 1995, he and partners started the successful Frontera Foods line of prepared food products.

He was one of the founding members of Chefs Collaborative, in support of environmentally sound agricultural practices and is active in Share Our Strength
Share our Strength
Share Our Strength is a national organization working to end childhood hunger in the United States. Share Our Strength holds culinary events, solicits individual donations, and utilizes social media efforts to raise funds which are then used to fund long-term solutions to the hunger problem...

, the nation's largest hunger advocacy organization.

Bayless is a restaurant consultant and teaches authentic Mexican cooking throughout the United States. He is a visiting staff member at the Culinary Institute of America
Culinary Institute of America
The Culinary Institute of America is a non-profit culinary college located in Hyde Park USA, founded in 1946. The CIA also has branch campuses in St. Helena, California, and San Antonio, Texas, as well as a campus in Singapore. It is a not-for-profit academic institution of higher learning...

 and leads cooking and cultural tours to Mexico.

Bayless has written several cookbooks on the subject of traditional Mexican fare, including the best-selling Mexico: One Plate at a Time. He has also contributed to a number of magazines.

Bayless and his staff also began the Frontera Farmer Foundation in 2003. This foundation was set up to support Chicago-area local farmers by offering capital improvement grants. , more than $400,000 has been given to local family farms.

In 2005, Bayless competed on Iron Chef America
Iron Chef America
Iron Chef America: The Series is an American cooking show based on Fuji Television's Iron Chef, and is the second American adaptation of the series, following the failed Iron Chef USA. The show is produced by Food Network, which also carried a dubbed version of the original Iron Chef. Like the...

 and lost to Iron Chef Bobby Flay
Bobby Flay
Robert William "Bobby" Flay is an American celebrity chef, restaurateur and reality television personality. He is the owner and executive chef of 12 restaurants: Mesa Grill in Las Vegas, New York City, and the Bahamas ; Bar Americain in New York City and Uncasville, Connecticut; Bobby Flay Steak...

 on what was the first broadcast episode of season 1, with American bison
American Bison
The American bison , also commonly known as the American buffalo, is a North American species of bison that once roamed the grasslands of North America in massive herds...

 meat as the secret ingredient.

In December 2007, Bayless opened Frontera Fresco restaurant in San Francisco.

Bayless appeared as a guest judge in episode 3 of Season 4's Top Chef
Top Chef
Top Chef is an American reality competition show that airs on the cable television network Bravo, in which chefs compete against each other in culinary challenges. They are judged by a panel of professional chefs and other notables from the food and wine industry with one or more contestants...

, judging both the quickfire and elimination challenges. He later went on to become a contestant in episode 3 of the first season of Top Chef Masters
Top Chef Masters
Top Chef Masters is an American reality competition show currently broadcast on the cable television network Bravo. It is a spinoff of Bravo's hit show Top Chef. In the series, 24 world-renowned chefs compete against each other in weekly challenges...

, winning that episode and advancing to the Champion's round. In the championship round he won the title of Top Chef Master on August 19, 2009.

He is the brother of ESPN
ESPN
Entertainment and Sports Programming Network, commonly known as ESPN, is an American global cable television network focusing on sports-related programming including live and pre-taped event telecasts, sports talk shows, and other original programming....

 personality and sports journalist Skip Bayless
Skip Bayless
Skip Bayless is an American journalist and television personality. Bayless regularly appears on ESPN2's ESPN First Take and its afternoon show 1st and 10. Bayless previously wrote regular columns for ESPN.com and its "Page 2" section.-Schooling and family:Bayless was born in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma...

. In 2008, he was widely considered to be a serious contender for the position of White House Executive Chef
White House Executive Chef
The White House Executive Chef is responsible for the planning, managing and preparing of all menus and meals for the First Family and their private entertaining, and official state functions at the White House, the official residence and principal workplace of the President of the United...

 under the administration of Barack Obama.

In 2010, after having spent significant time at local Mexican dining spots, Bayless made his LA debut running the kitchen at the Red O.

Bayless was guest chef for the May 19, 2010 White House
White House
The White House is the official residence and principal workplace of the president of the United States. Located at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue NW in Washington, D.C., the house was designed by Irish-born James Hoban, and built between 1792 and 1800 of white-painted Aquia sandstone in the Neoclassical...

 state dinner honoring Mexican President Felipe Calderón
Felipe Calderón
Felipe de Jesús Calderón Hinojosa is the current President of Mexico. He assumed office on December 1, 2006, and was elected for a single six-year term through 2012...

 and his wife Margarita Zavala
Margarita Zavala
Margarita Zavala is the wife of Mexican President Felipe Calderón. She was a PAN deputy in 2006 in the LIX Legislature of the Mexican Congress.- Early life and personal life :...

.

Bayless introduced Andrew Zimmern
Andrew Zimmern
Andrew Zimmern is a James Beard Award-winning TV personality, chef, food writer, and teacher. As the co-creator, host, and consulting producer of Travel Channel's series Bizarre Foods with Andrew Zimmern and Andrew Zimmern's Bizarre World, he travels the world exploring food in its own native...

 to his Mexican food on a 2011 episode of Bizarre Foods in Chicago.

Awards and accolades

  • Best New Chef of 1988, Food and Wine magazine
  • Best American Chef: Midwest 1991, James Beard Foundation
    James Beard Foundation
    The James Beard Foundation is a New York-based national professional non-profit organization named in honor of James Beard that serves to promote the culinary arts by honoring chefs, wine professionals, journalists, and cookbook authors at annual award ceremonies and providing scholarships and...

  • National Chef of the Year 1995, James Beard Foundation
  • Chef of the Year 1995, International Association of Culinary Professionals
    International Association of Culinary Professionals
    The International Association of Culinary Professionals is a United States based not-for-profit professional association whose members work in culinary education, communication, or the preparation of food and beverage....

     (IACP)
  • Cookbook of the Year, 1996, IACP, for Rick Bayless's Mexican Kitchen
  • Cookbook of the Year, 1996, National Julia Child Cookbook Awards, for Rick Bayless's Mexican Kitchen
  • Cookbook of the Year, 1996, Chicago Tribune, for Rick Bayless's Mexican Kitchen
  • Humanitarian of the year 1998, James Beard Foundation
  • Cookbook of the Year in 2001, James Beard Foundation, for Mexico: One Plate at a Time
  • Best Chef Midwest (CHICAGO) of 2002, James Beard Foundation
  • Who's Who of American Food and Drink
  • Humanitarian of the Year IACP 2007
  • Frontera Grill won Outstanding Restaurant from the James Beard Foundation 2007
  • Winner, Top Chef Masters Season 1 on Bravo Cable Network, September 2009
  • Recipient, 2011 Golden Beet Award from The Illinois Stewardship Alliance, in the category "Community Food Projects," for his work with the Frontera Farmer Foundation and for his support of local and sustainable agriculture.

Frontera Grill was ranked the third-best casual dining restaurant in the world by the International Herald Tribune
International Herald Tribune
The International Herald Tribune is a widely read English language international newspaper. It combines the resources of its own correspondents with those of The New York Times and is printed at 38 sites throughout the world, for sale in more than 160 countries and territories...


External links

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