On The Town: Topolobampo & XOCO (Chicago)

Topolobampo
445 North Clark Street
Chicago, IL 60654

XOCO
449 North Clark Street (enter on Illinois St.)
Chicago, IL 60654

My last visit to Chicago was full of good eating.  Two of the highlights were Topolobampo and XOCO.  Both are Rick Bayless restaurants and are part of what I would describe as his “block of goodness”.  This one block of North Clark Street feature three of his restaurants (the third being Frontera Grill) which makes it pretty awesome.

As soon as I announced that I was going to be in Chicago my homie Mandy made reservations for us to have lunch at Topolo.  Totally fine by me since I’ve had a food crush on Rick Bayless for a while.  I’m not even sure when or how it started.  It have been last year when I bought one of his cookbooks.  I’ve never seen any of his cooking shows or Top Chef Masters.  Never been to any of those food shows.  My love for Rick is purely based on the food.  ::le sigh::

Topolo features a monthly changing menu which is great if you live in Chicago.  I would be there every month to sample the latest wears!  When I sat down and looked at the menu I knew exactly what I wanted.  I’ll break down the picks below…

Atun en Mole Negro
Seared Hawaiian ahi tuna in Oaxacan black mole. Plantain-filled tamal, grilled nopal salad, roasted knob onions, three nut crunch.

Mandy and I split this because we wanted to have some mole (apparently the judges on Top Chef Masters were ALL ABOUT the mole).  I didn’t even know what to do with mole.  On the first bite I was on the fence about it.  Something seemed a bit salty but I couldn’t tell whether or not it was the fish or the mole.  I then proceeded to eat the mole by itself by the forkful and was kind of wowed.  I’ve never really had mole (I’ve made faux moles at home) and have always heard about how labour intensive it is but didn’t understand why.  Now I totally do.  The flavours in a mole are so complex!  It’s hard to describe.  I mean it’s one taste but there are just so many layers of flavour to it… like they use a hundred different spices.  It’s not overwhelming at all but if you stop and really taste the mole it’s kind of mindblowing.  The other part of this dish that I loved were the plantain-filled tamals.  I seriously have to find a recipe for this.  Tamals filled with the sweetest plantain… so delicious.  I wish I could have them for breakfast everyday.

Cuatro Cositas Oaxaqueas
Oaxacan sampler: empanada with chicken and yellow mole; grilled Oaxacan chorizo; grilled red chile shrimp; conchita pibil.

Sometimes it’s hard for me to decide what to order.  Luckily the cuatro cositas oaxaqueas was the perfect sampler.  My absolute fave was the Conchita Pibil.  It’s braised suckling pig.  So tender, so flavourful, so amazing.  If I had ordered the pibil as a full meal I would have left entirely happy.  I also enjoyed the grilled shrimp.  They were HUGE, well spiced and were perfectly cooked.  The description of what I ate on the website doesn’t quite jive with what I remember eating… I should have taken notes!  I thought I had some sort of tamale which was lovely but it could have been an empanada (if empanadas can be like tamales…).  Overall a lovel dish!

XOCO

After a fab lunch at Topolo we walked next door to XOCO for some hot chocolate and churros.  XOCO is a much more casual spot that opened a few weeks ago.  You order at the counter and get a number.  You then look for a seat, prop up your number and wait for the food to come to you.  The food is Mexican street foods.  Lots of tortas, caldos, churros. The hot chocolate is no ordinary hot chocolate.  I opted for the traditional hot chocolate.  It’s made with Mexican cacao beans that are ground in-house (actually ground in the front window).  XOCO is one of the few restaurants in the U.S. with the capability to take cacao beans from beans to bars.  Kind of amazing.  They have a few varieties of hot chocolate including a spicy one, and variations made with milk and almond milk (I chose water on my first visit and almond milk on my second).  The churros were like no other.  They were so crispy and golden with just the right dusting of sugar.  I could have eaten a dozen but had to limit myself.

I loved XOCO so much that as I was out running errands the next day I stopped in for some more hot chocolate and churros.  I almost went there for dinner that same night.  I’m telling you… this place is great.  If I wasn’t stuffed from Topolo I would have had a torta AND a caldo.  They all looked amazing.

I’ve been spreading the good word about this one!