First Look: Xoco

Photo tour: Xoco

If anyone else opened a Mexican quick-serve in River North, we might be tempted to check it out for lunch sometime in the next month or two. But when Rick Bayless opens a little spot peddling his interpretations of Mexican street food, as he did Tuesday, we jump in line with everyone else.

Perhaps you’ve heard of this Bayless fellow. In addition to his newest, Xoco, he has a couple of other restaurants in River North. He also was on this cable TV cooking show recently. Maybe you’ve seen it? It’s called “Top Chef Masters.” The season just wrapped in August—and Bayless won the whole thing.

Apart from those two nationally known restaurants on Clark Street, Frontera Grill and Topolobampo, Bayless has six cookbooks, a TV cooking series, and a line of salsas and other Mexican food products to his name. His “Top Chef Masters” win just upped his national exposure. If he wasn’t already, Bayless is now a bona fide celebrity chef.

The good news for anyone headed to Xoco (pronounced SHO-co) this week is that celebs who’ve built their fame on mole and masa aren’t terribly prone to screaming groupies. Bayless fans, at least those we observed standing in line for a taste of his tortas on opening day, seem more or less content to catch a glimpse of Bayless and maybe Tweet a few photos later. So while there were plenty of camera phones aimed at Bayless as he quietly tended the large wood-burning oven in the open kitchen, we didn’t witness anyone crashing the counter or attempting to rip off his chef’s whites for a cheap souvenir.

But even polite, food-world celebrity isn’t without some drawbacks. Lines and waits come with the territory, as anyone who recently has tried to score a prime-time table at Frontera can attest.

On opening day, Xoco's small dining room was at capacity during lunch and dinner. But since it's a counter-service operation (you order and pay up front and receive a number, then claim one of the casual tables or pull up a stool at the counter and wait for a staffer to bring your food to you), the line moves relatively quickly, with waits rarely exceeding 20 minutes. Just don’t think you can avoid the crowds by opting for takeout: There’s a no-carryout policy in effect for the first few weeks to help manage the opening crush. Beverages and baked goods are good to go; everything else is dine-in only.

But all that is rather beside the point. This is food worth a wait. The dishes that Bayless and his team turn out are deeply satisfying, revealing those layers of flavor that made “Top Chef Masters” critic James Oseland nod his head emphatically.

Caldos ($10.50-$12; served after 3 p.m. only), hearty broths brimming with ingredients such as pork carnitas or wood-roasted chicken, draw depth from the whole catalog of classic Mexican tastes, from epazote to chiles to fresh lime. Tortas ($8.50-$12) such as the Choriqueso (homemade chorizo, roasted poblanos, jack cheese, tomatillo salsa) and Pepito (braised shortribs, caramelized onion, jack cheese, black beans and jalapenos) are served straight from the oven on crusty bolillo (Mexican bread), offering up a nuanced marriage of flavors.

Breakfast brings more savory options, including flaky empanadas ($2.75) stuffed with poblanos and scrambled eggs, and griddled chorizo-egg tortas ($7.50) oozing with jack cheese and salsa verde. But it's the the sugary churros ($1 each; three for $2.50) and Mexican drinking chocolate ($2-$3.25) that will have you swearing off coffee and doughnuts for life.

Xoco’s bean-to-cup program, the source of that drinking chocolate, is one of just a handful in the country. The process starts with raw cacao beans from Mexico’s Tabasco state. They’re toasted, ground and sweetened in house before ending up in your cup. If there’s such a thing as celebrity chocolate, this is it. Go ahead, take a photo.

M. Kathleen Pratt is the Metromix dining producer. kpratt@tribune.com

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