CHICAGO — Award-winning chef Rick Bayless will open a Baja California-inspired seafood restaurant, he announced Friday.
The restaurant, called Leña Brava, will be next door to his brewery, Cruz Blanca Cerveceria, in the 900 block of West Randolph. The brewery and restaurant are set to open within two months.
Lena Brava's offerings will be 100 percent wood-fired, with seafood like yellowtail, opah, sea urchin and abalone from the Baja area. It will also have wines from the Valle de Guadalupe and a wide array of Oaxacan mezcal, as well as desserts made in the wood-fired oven and grill.
"And there’s incredible seafood [there], and chefs who have risen up to join the ranks of the world’s best," Bayless wrote on Facebook. "And what ties all of them together is the grill, the hearth, the wood-fired oven. The primal, artless quality of what they’re feeding people."
Lisa Despres, of Topolo, and Fred Despres, of Arami, will serve as chefs. There will be private party room at Lena Brava and the restaurant will fit up to 113 people.
Next door, Cruz Blanca will specialize in fresh and barrel and bottle-aged biere de garde made with local products. The brewery will also have a taqueria with Oaxaca-style half-cured flank tasajo, red chile pork cecina and chorizo, among other items.
Bayless, who specializes in Mexican cuisine, is famous for Chicago restaurants like XOCO and Frontera Grill.
Ok, I’m ready to talk. You see, I’m kinda superstitious. Not like a lot of chefs who have a dream and announce it to...
Posted by Chef Rick Bayless on Friday, March 18, 2016
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