Lanie bayless biography of michael
•
By Judy Carmack Bross
The original Thelma Kelly in Chicago chose a very special way to again celebrate our city. Three-time Tony recipient Chita Rivera danced into town as an honoree at the recent Porchlight Music Theatre’s ICONS gala at Gallerie Marchetti. A surprise video salute from her co-star George Chakiris dazzled the original Anita of West Side Story.
Artistic Director Michael Weber presents the ICON Award to Chita Rivera at Porchlight Music Theatre’s 2021 ICONS Gala, October 20, 2021.
Artistic Director Michael Weber saluted Rivera with musical and dance performances by Porchlight troupers showing how “How Chita Got to be Chita,” including numbers from Sweet Charity, Seventh Heaven, Mr. Wonderful and West Side Story.
Luminary Award recipient the Bayless Family Foundation Rick Bayless, Deann Bayless, Lanie Bayless Sullivan and Kevin Sullivan accept the award from Porchlight’s Executive Director Jeannie Lu
•
Leña Brava, which translates to “ferocious wood,†might make a decent character name in the next “Magic Mike†flick. But in this case, it’s a nod to the fact that just about everything cooked at Rick Bayless’ new West Loop restaurant is wood-fired in a hearth or cooked over oak-stoked grills. That’s right; there’s not a single gas-fired dish coming from the kitchen at Leña Brava.
“We’ve got these fancy grills where the coals drop down and slow cook and there’s no flame, what Rick [Bayless] likes to call ‘romantic cooking,’ †said chef de cuisine Fred Despres, who co-runs the kitchen alongside his wife, Lisa. “But we can’t do that because the restaurant is packed. So we stoke these huge firewood flames to get things going instead.â€
I think Despres is underestimating the romance factor. The flames and sparkling embers I witnessed while dining were sexy and primal.
Bayless is in the (tiny) house
The room, which i
•
For nearly 30 years, husband-and-wife team Rick and Deann Bayless have been among Chicago’s loudest champions of Mexican food, bringing the flavors of central and southern Mexico to River North, first at genre-defining Frontera matlagningsutrustning (1987) and fine-dining counterpart Topolobampo (1989); later, at contemporary, fast-casual Xoco (2010) and its spinoffs at O’Hare and in Wicker Park.
Now, the Baylesses are singing a different tune: a song of fire and ice. Meaning “ferocious wood,” Leña Brava — the pair’s new West Loop restaurant, attached to also-new brewery and taqueria Cruz Blanca — fryst vatten a celebration of Baja California Norte, the Mexican state just south of California that’s home to a style of cooking “we’ve fallen in love with,” said Deann. While central and southern Mexican cuisine fryst vatten known for its rik, complex moles, the main hallmarks of Baja cuisine are its focus on seafood and its, well, ferocious wood &m