Here is my formal 5-step introduction of Rick Bayless:
1…read more Rick Bayless is a genius.
2. He has six restaurants, mostly in Illinois. Frontera Grill, Topolobampo and XOCO are three of them.
3. His show, on PBS, "Mexico: One Plate at a Time" is very earnest and detailed. He travels often to his favorite spots in Mexico and then comes back to his house (WHICH I WAS JUST AT, YOU GUYS... see below) to cook a variation or a copy of the dish he ate or loves from that area of Mexico.
4. He makes my favorite salsa of all time: Frontera Salsa Hot Roasted Habanero.
5. His brother is Skip Bayless from ESPN's "First Take". Two very successful brothers in one family. Nice job, Mom and Dad Bayless! Now, my husband watches "First Take" EVERY MORNING, which I call "Sports Shouting" because of 30 Rock. (Tina Fey is a GENIUS.) In summary, we are big fans of the whole Bayless clan.
ANYWAY, I heard that you could take a tour of the garden that supplies some food and herbs for his restaurants. Doing a very quick google search, I found that YES you can tour the garden for $20, but that it is THE garden behind his house where he also films the "Mexico: One Plate at a Time" show. Done and done. I signed up immediately. Although, usually, you have to wait to do the tour. A LONG TIME. Some people who signed up last year just recently got into the garden tour. I signed up months ago and just squeaked into the last Wednesday tour of the season that happened last night. Coincidentally, my husband happened to make reservations at Topolobampo for this Friday. How serendipitous is that?!?
Bill Shores and his wife, Lori, run the tour. Bill has been Bayless' gardener for five years. They opened the garden gate about 10 minutes early and gave us Italian Soda while they encouraged us to walk around. Everyone seemed as excited as I was to be there. Gently touching leaves, awkwardly holding our tiny glasses of Italian Soda... you know, the things one is known to do in a garden.
The garden is beautiful, but it is also USED. It is a festive, eye-catching garden that Bill describes as "a show garden that is also productive". There are traditional and raised beds with other small and large containers around. Some of the growth is 15 years old, like the concord grapes on the arbor. Ok, I have never typed anything like "concord grapes on the arbor" before. I had a stuffy English accent in my head when I typed it. Although, this arbor isn't stuffy at all. It's just sometimes word combinations have their own personalities and head-accents are quick to follow.
Obviously, there is an extensive outdoor kitchen. It has charcoal, gas and wood (grape wood is typically used) fuel capabilities. There is also a pig pit. Sometimes (I've been told), Bayless will just take a huge paella pan, pull some bricks together and cook right on the patio. Awesome.
Although it was hot outside, there was a nice breeze in the garden. That could be because of the delightful energy of the Bayless Family OR it could be because of the giant concrete wall on the north side that keeps it cooler in the garden than outside on the sidewalk. I am inclined to believe it is the Bayless Family.
There was a koi fish pond and multiple seating areas for entertaining. The deck is built around some boulders because OF COURSE it is. Native prairie grasses, Chinese dogwoods, and papyrus soaked in water are around the porch near marigold that is used for the Day of the Dead celebrations. They also have edible flowers! Prepare for an education... ALL of the following are edible flowers: Garlic, Chive, Sage, Basil, Marigold, Cilantro, Lavender. Did you know that you could eat all of those flowers? I realize some of them are traditional spices, but you can eat more than just the leaves. Interesting. Don't say I never taught you anything.
A heated green house is where many of the plants are moved during the winter and there is extensive composting (1 1/2 TONS a year!). In addition to running this garden, the major composting effort and the greenhouse, there is a container roof top garden at the XOCO restaurant that grows tomatoes, herbs and chili peppers.
The garden is 1000 sq. ft. and can produce as much as 650 pounds of salad greens a year with their April to November harvest. There is also an active beehive. By "active", I mean that I was standing right next to it and that box was humming. It can produce 60 pounds of honey a year. There are also chickens that produce... you guessed it: eggs. Overall, the garden produces about $20,000 worth of food for Bayless' restaurants a year.
Is this tour worth the $20? Absolutely, if you want to go visit heaven for a while. The one down side: I got REALLY hungry. I think seeing the outdoor kitchen made a sense-memory-thing happen for me where all I wanted were chips and salsa. Oh, well.
