Today Amy & I grabbed lunch at XOCO, which is chef Rick Bayless' "quick serve Mexican" place in Chicago that opened last year to much fanfare.
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XOCO
It's located right next to his other two restaurants, Topolobampo and Frontera Grill (which we ate at a few years ago).
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Steve enjoys the lime drink!
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Choriqueso torta
XOCO serves what Bayless calls "Mexican street food and snacks"… stuff like tortas, churros, and the like.
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Amy likes it!
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Gunthorp Chicken torta
It's a small place, and since it has opened, the wait times to eat have always been long. We stood in line for approximately 30 minutes before getting a place to sit.
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Main line area at XOCO
Amy tried the Gunthorp Chicken torta (wood-roasted red chile chicken, pickled white onion, black beans, avocado, tomatillo salsa) while I had the Choriqueso torta (homemade chorizo sausage, roasted poblano, artisan jack cheese, tomatillo salsa). Very excellent stuff! We also shared some guacamole and chips and capped things off with a limeade and a hot chocolate.
Overall, the food was excellent and we would definitely eat there again if given the opportunity. And unlike Bayless' other places, it doesn't cost an arm-and-a-leg to do so. Each torta we had was about $8, so this is a nice affordable option for Mexican.
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See, that's Rick Bayless!
While we were eating in the back of the restaurant, who would walk by towards a rear door than Rick Bayless himself! How cool is that? No, we didn't get a chance to say "hi" or anything, as he did look preoccupied with other staff members, but it was still fun to see him. As we left, I snapped a photo of him through the front window… but you can only pretty much see his shoulder in the image. Hey, I was using a phone camera… what do you expect?
Overall, thumbs up for XOCO!