Still, Geno Bahena is thriving—he opened Delicioso y Sabroso, near the Chicago-Indiana border, in May, and he’s having great success with Tepatulco, a neighborly outlet known for its fantastic queso fundido. Perhaps not surprisingly, his main competition comes from other Bayless protégés. Two years ago, Raul Arreola left Topolobampo after 11 years to open Fonda del Mar, a modern-day marisquería where the focus is on the seafood but the standout dish is the impossibly tender lamb chops in mole negro. And in 1995, Priscila Satkoff, Bayless’s personal assistant, opened ¡Salpicón!, which to this day is packed with people who know it’s the only place in town bold enough to offer quail in ancho chile sauce and recommend washing it down with a Gewürztraminer from Sandusky, Ohio.
Though not a student of the Bayless school, Dudley Nieto draws a following wherever he goes. In January he opened Xel-Ha, a Yucatecan spot whose citrusy venison tacos, among other things, have been wowing diners from the get-go. (Nieto’s reputation for offering extensive tequila lists and perfect Margaritas hasn’t hurt.) These days, local websites are also buzzing about another Yucatecan place, Xni-Pec. Located in the sleepy industrial suburb of Cicero, it’s a place nobody would have given a second glance—until word got out about its luscious cochinita pibil and its complex relleno negro, a mixture of chicken, beef, and eggs in a spicy sauce that tickles the back of your throat.
Chef-owner Antonio Contreras is thrilled about the packed dining room, but he’s a little bewildered by his patrons’ blasé attitude toward Mexican food. “They don’t realize how good they have it,” he says, comparing Chicago’s Mexican restaurants to the less-than-memorable meals he’s sampled at places in Dallas, Los Angeles, and San Antonio. “But sometimes in life, you don’t know it until you lose it.”
Luckily, we here in Chicago aren’t in danger of doing that anytime soon.
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