Topolobampo - Mexico City 1491

Rick Bayless decided to challenge both himself and his kitchen staff creating a menu with only ingredients that were found in Mexico City back in 1491. "The Mexico City 1491 menu takes a look at what was happening in Mexico's culinary history in the year before Christopher Columbus set sail and changed everything. Though the chefs are still using modern cooking techniques, they're imposing strict ingredient limitations on each of these time-and-place menus. In the pre-Columbian era, for example, Bayless, Padilla, and pastry chef Jennifer Jones had to cut out garlic, onions, wheat, refined sugar, protein from domesticated animals, as well as all of their byproducts such as dairy." (http://eater.com/archives/2014/02/07/rick-bayless-topolobampo.php)

For my birthday this year, we thought it would be fun to add an interesting tasting menu to the mix and since we had wanted to go to Topolobampo for a while, and with the eclectic menu, it was time.

The evening started out great we actually made it from Schaumburg to Downtown during rush hour in just under an hour. Because of this we were actually 30 minutes early for our reservation. Topolobampo was able to seat us right away, which was nice.

The evening started off with an amuse bouche of scallop crudo served in a kumquat shell. It had a really nice kumquat flavor

1st course:

Red "Ceviche" of Red Snapper: Gulf red snapper cured in crimson jamaica & pineapple vinegar, amaranth-pepita crema, charred pineapple, green amaranth crisp, oxalis.

With such a limited list of ingredients to choose from we weren't really sure what to expect, but there was so much depth of flavor. The ceviche was fresh and the pepita crema was smooth and nutty. The amaranth crisps had almost a smoky element to them.

2nd Course:

Frog Leg Tamal, Cascabel Chile: Grill-charred polenta-style tamal with Everglades frogs legs, tepary beans 2 ways, cascabel chile salsa with guaje seeds, ember-roasted chayote.

This tamale was very soft and almost creamy. The frog legs weren't very pronounced, but we enjoyed these. The cascabel chile sauce was very deep and rich tasting. I thought it could have more frog leg meat in it, but still a good dish.

3rd Course:

Crab "Chileatole": Alaskan King crab, rustic-creamy "soup" of corn, pasado chile & herbs, potatoes & sea vegetables, duck egg.

I really liked the sauce and the egg and potato elements of this dish. Again, the flavors were complex and we found ourselves stopping and thinking, do we need salt, then realizing, no, it was actually flavorful, but with flavors you had to think about, that maybe our palette's weren't used to. And we decided that was really cool

4th Course:

Rabbit Loin, Chilied Achiote Sauce: Slow-cooked Gunthorp rabbit, red chile-achiote sauce, mashed white sweet potato, verdant huauzontle, salt-cured nopales.

Again there were some really complex flavors going on in the sauce and the rabbit was really tender.

5th Course:

Venison, Ancho & Cacao: Hawk's Hill Ranch venison, ancho-cacao sauce with pepita & pinenut, pumpkin seed "risotto," fossilized tatume squash.

This was the dish of the night - it was perfect! I want this every night! The venison was cooked perfect and I know I've said it so many times but the sauce was so complex and tasty.

6th Course:

Tropical Tastes: Papaya sorbet, pumpkin "pudding" with tropical mamey, crunchy amaranth alegrías, warm honey.

Holy Amazeballs! This is not something I would normally order, but this was incredibly good. Those crunchy amaranth alegrías were SO addictive and if Jennifer Jones (the pastry chef), ever made them for sale in Whole Foods or something I'd go broke!

7th Course:

Warm Chocolate, Frozen Coconut: Warm mesquite-chocolate cake, coconut atole ice cream, coconut espuma, honey-avocado pudding.

Another winner! The only problem was we were so full from all the previous deliciousness that I couldn't finish it, which was such a shame since it was really really good!

I'm excited for the ideas of the future Topolobampo menus that will be coming up. I also like the fact that he's offering 3, 5 or 7 course options, because 7 courses was a LOT of food. Hopefully we can get reservations for some of the future menus that Rick and his team puts forth.