Topolobampo is an upscale Mexican restaurant currently rated one star by Michelin Guide which is kind of a big deal. Prior to this, I had never known of upscale Mexican. So out of curiosity, I chose to give it a try. Finding the website was tricky at first as it’s a subset of rickbayless’s site. Once on the site, I noticed that the tasting menus posted are for a given month, but the suggestions indicate that due to high volume, you should make your reservations ten to twelve weeks in advance. "Bollocks!" I thought; that’s a catch22. How could one try this month’s tasting menu if you can’t get a seat for 10 weeks? Well anyway, with a bit of luck, I worked my magic and I was able to pull off a Friday reservation on Wednesday, just two days prior. Cool, so I didn’t have to wait until February. I arrived around fifteen minutes prior to opening. As soon as valet had taken my car I noticed already a line around this restaurant. I made my way to the front and told the receptionist that I was there to do a review and she allowed me to photograph the dining area before anyone was seated. I fell in love with the color coordination, the decorations, the paintings, the dragon, beautiful brown wooden chairs with blue water glasses. terra cotta tiled floors, ambient light… I especially loved the chandeliers, and the women–muah, and the food! So once seated, I began with a margarita and an appetizer followed by a tasting menu with wine pairing, and ended surprisingly with more drinks that I’d like to admit to. Great Food. Good company. Great times. Highly recommended from me, to you.

If anyone knows what this dragon is, please tell me! Thanks.

or where I can get one for my house!

Compliments

Hybrid Avocados specially grown for Frontera, has a creamy texture and rich Mexican flavor
Pickled Jalapeno, Fried Capers, Hoja Santa (Acuyo), slight Anis
sarsaparilla flavor

Topolo Margarita (Modified)

Don Julio Reposado, Torres Orange Liqueur (Spain), Housemade Limonada
Perfecto!

Trio Trio Trio

a sampling of:
Ceviche Fronterizo ~ lime-marinated Hawaiian albacore with tomatoes, olives, cilantro & green chile.
Ceviche Yucateco ~ steamed Mexican blue shrimp & calamari with lime, orange, habanero, avocado, jicama & cilantro.
Coctel de Atun Tropical ~ sashimi-grade Hawaiian bigeye tuna, avocado-tomatillo guacamole, tangy fruit salsa.
Served with crispy Tortilla chips.

Topolo Classics Tasting $95; With 5 perfectly matched wines, add $65

Alvear Solera Cream, Montilla Moriles, Andalusia, Spain

Sweet sherry desert-like wine. Good. I like this.

Foie Gras con Membrillo y Chile Pasilla

Shards of cured Belle Farms foie gras, slow-poached quince (arbol chile, black pepper), sweet & sour pasilla chile, honey crisp apple and "cactus apple", pumpkinseed crumble

Sweet apples and slightly spicy, foie gras tender, creamy, and smooth. The real kicker was in the sweet & sour pasilla chile, the dark pieces you see in the dish. I would describe it is a little tart and spicy; it really stands out relative to the rest of the dish.

2008 Shaya "Habis" Verdejo Old Vines, Rueda, Spain

This reminded me a lot of reisling, a bit a smooth honey flavor.

Three bites of Oaxaca

aged beef tenderloin tasajo (tlayuda, black beans); classic chorizo (Oaxacan pasilla salsa, quail egg); red chile pork loin cecina (avocado-tomatillo salsa, pickled ripe tomatillos, pickled radish pods)

Three little delicious mini-taco creations that I rolled up like tacos and savored.

2009 Jimenez-Landi "Sotorrondero" Mentrida, Spain

This wine was kinda tart.

Chilpachole de Mariscos (Modified)

Maine Lobster, wood-grilled octopus, chilpachole (ancho and chipotle, epazote and velvety rich lobster broth), Nichols Farm sunchokes two ways, Bayless Garden mizuna, sunflower "sand"

I dislike octopus, so they omitted the octopus. Lobster was very tender. Chipotle lobster broth was poured over the dish tableside; it had a hint of spice but not too spicy.

2009 Villa Creek "High Road" James Berry Vineyard, Paso Robles, California

Interesting wine, a little sweet, a little tart–smooth.

Carne Asada y Barbacoa en Mole Negro

Seared Premier Wagyu ribeye & slow-roasted Crawford Farm lamb in classic Oaxacan black mole (chilhuacle chiles & 28 other ingredients), corn husk-steamed chipil tamal, unctuous black beans, smoky green beans

Excellent sweet mole sauce. Tortillas provided for cutting up the meat and pouring the mole over them so as to make tacos. I loved this portion!

At or around this time, I noticed three cool chicks dining nearby. One of them asked me if I worked for a magazine or something. I get that a lot and it’s amusing. A few moments later, they invited me over to their table for drinks when I finished. Kinda random, kinda interesting, kinda fun…

2005 Capcanes "Pansai Del Calas" Montsant, Spain

A very sweet desert wine; awesome! I love dessert wines.

Chocolate Ama Mole de Cacahuate

Silky steamed bittersweet Mexican chocolate cake, dark chocolate-red wine sorbet, red peanut mole (sweetened with piloncillo), peanut crumble, sweet spice crisps

Chocolate red wine sorbet–how does that work?? it was amazing.

Mignardises??

I don’t know if mignardises is the proper word considering its a french thing, but they did bring me this small collection of sweets, typical of the fine dining community. Yum. (I would have liked it if there were more, but I’m not complaining)

And thus concludes my meal. This is the part where I typically leave, except I was invited to another table. I went over there and had drinks with three cool chicks. They were a lot of fun and we had lots of drinks and good conversation. Eventually the waiter kicked us out of the table to make room for dinner guests and we made our way to the bar where more drinks ensued. I don’t usually do this at a restaurant, but why not right? it was fun, careless, crazy, and carefree. I can’t say too much here other than I probably had a little too much to drink, and I wanted to go salsa dancing, but I had to leave. The last bit made my night. I won’t name names, but one of you spilled a margarita on my suit! ha. You know who you are! Fun times. "Cool chicks."

Cool Chicks & lotza tequila

We’re just having too much fun! too many drinks, or was it not enough drinks? salsa dancing?

The Bill (mangled & crumpled)

Mexican fine dining done right. I forgot to add that the bar was chock full of tequila, so be sure to drink up. The venue is small relative to the demand so you may have to wait weeks to get a reservation–unless you’re cool like me. Some may consider the venue crowded, but I had no problem moving around. Tasting menus are around $95 with wine pairings adding around $60. Most appetizers are $10-$30. Main courses are from $25-$45. Dress code is business casual, so no jackets required. Regardless of your position, this restaurant is worth the money and the wait. I would gladly do this again any given Friday.

Topolobampo
445 North Clark Street
Chicago, IL 60654
(312) 661-1434
Google Map

Ana made me enchiladas and they were Grrrrrrrrreat! Authentic home made mexican food at its finest; all white chicken breast meat no legs thighs, wings, dark meat, just pure awesome best part of chicken. Six delicious enchiladas complete with lettuce, tomato, avocado, onions, cheese, sour cream, and side of rice & corn. I’ve been waiting weeks for this and it sure was worth the wait if I do say so myself! Bravo! Superb! Delicious! Bon appetit! Tres estrellas! ***

I wanna make this. seriously. Taco Bell, Taco Johns are Shite!

This made my day; I am happy.

(and so I added a side of Mezcal)

2011-11-14
A: Look, but u promise u r going to eat it, so I can bring some next Monday, but u need to try first the Enchiladas… Mmmmm! Yummy

S: Oh yes. I promise!!!

dot dot dot…

Promise kept.

Muchas Gracias Senorita!

Well, I woke up at 5am with a sick headache,

(product of drinking Mezcal Reposado with friends Saturday night,)

so I woke up, yeah.

I saw a cat in a box, thought it was amusing…. then I decided to go on a mission cooking food. yeah.

so, Robin gave me this cool vegan Sphagetti recipe, which I modded and polluted with meat

BUT

it was AWESOME! yes. it really was.

I gathered fresh roma tomatoes straight out of Chris’s garden and fresh green pepper

fresh red pepper, fresh jalapenos. kickass! fresh rocks!

(special thanx to Chris Ohara & Danielle Layden)

I began by peeling off the skin of the tomatoes

by submerging them in boiling water for ten seconds and then xferring them to

a pot of cold water. then the skin peeled off effortlessly. yeah!

once I peeled the skin off all the tomatoes, I gutted them of seeds

and diced them into small chunks.

I diced up an onion. F****CK! onions make me cry for real.
(fresh stolen from a field out in Kankakee County somewhere around 3pm)

minced a green bell pepper and a red bell pepper

minced three cloves of garlic

measured out spices:
{
—1.5 teaspoons oregano
—1 teaspoon basil
—0.5 teaspoon thyme

}

peeled a whole carrot

Soo…. after prepping all this,

heated up 1/4 cup of extra extra virgin olive oil in the wok,
and sauteed the onions for five and a half minutes….

Next, added two bay leaves, the bell peppers, garlic and cooked for another five minutes….

oh I forgot to mention that I decided to chop up a bunch of mushrooms,

cuz whynot? mushrooms RAWK!!!

so I threw in a six ounce can of Hunts Tomato Paste, and then dumped in the spices…

Now the COOOL part.

This is where I say F***CK Prego, F***CK Ragoo, F**** all those store bought
Newmans Own-wanna be bullsh*t tomato sauces.

CUZ, I GOT FRESH FRESH DICED TOMATOS!

Yes, they were picked around 3pm, diced by 5:30! YEAH!!!!

I even diced up a fresh Jalapeno. Danielle told me NOT to put in jalapenos-HAHA.

sorry, I tried not to laff. I have a mexican mouth and I’m not even mexican—SEAN LIKES SPICY!!!

oh and the carrot. store bought. i dont know where to get fresh carrots… YET.

AND…….

toss it all in!! yeah!

stir and simmer for 45 minutes….

meanwhile, boiling water for the pasta. water takes a damn long time to boil!

I threw a ton of salt in there too… Fleur De Sel to be specific.
(its like some high end french salt)

Cooked up a pound of Ground Sirloin, added some garlic salt to flavor it…

I drained the grease down a manhole on the street. where’d you expect me to put it? in a bucket somewhere

to fester? no. Manholes are good for dumping grease. shh, dont tell anyone!

People at the corner light of Monee & Western were staring at me–HAHA.

few minutes later…. done!

And I polluted this awesome vegan sauce with some meat LOVIN’

(sorry Robin, destroyed your sauce)

F’ing loved this!!

oops! smoke alarm went off! whooops!

so I’m waiting… what to do?

Ahh! I know! make garlic bread!!! yeah!

I cut the lonnnnnnng french bread in half.

one half I divided up into sections for dipping in olive oil and fresh greated parmesan cheese

the other half? well I buttered it, added the cheese and garlic powder, baked for about three mins at 375 degrees F

I melted a stick of butter in the microwave for 30 seconds, and used a brush thing to brush it on the bread

before adding the cheese and garlic powder…

oh snap! the water is finally boiling! that was taking forever.

tossed in the Barilla noodles for 9 minutes.

when I get the kitchen aid, I’m making my own noodles! (future dinner)

I broke them in half and chucked them in the volcanic heat of the water!

ok, bake the garlic bread! yeah!

few mins later….

(got some really good cheese at Whole Foods in Hindsdale)

Quickly grated some Parmesan cheese with some weird device that

I don’t know what its for yet.

This loosely translates to I dont have a proper cheese grater yet,

but I make do any way that I can!

drained the pasta!

GREAT DINNER!

I have to do this again! YES!~

(next time I wont use a crappy camera phone)

maybe I’ll have a date. *shrugs*

so I was driving in the rain with Nucka at 10am to Blueberry Hill when we noticed that some bozo drove into the side of Hollywood Video in Homewood, IL. I slammed on my brakes just long enough to roll down the window and Nick snagged this picture before we peeled out–HA. +1 to Nick Garza for this quick sneak attack with the camera! Always some random bullshit going down in Homeywood.

talk soon,

Sean.

In this candid clip, I am able to show off a Dark And Stormy and Mark Asato is able to show off his snazzy new flip ultra hd camcorder. Please take into consideration that I am already inebriated in this video and quite possibly a bit awkward when it comes to spilling drinks.  Never the less, I am quite skilled at making drinks and therefore I should do this more often so help me God!  Anyway, lets get down to brass tacks shall we.

The Dark And Stormy:
2 oz Gosling’s Black Seal Rum
8 oz Gosling’s Stormy Ginger Beer

A lot of liquor stores do not carry Gosling’s brand of ginger beer and so I substitute with Barritt’s Bermuda Stone Ginger Beer.  You could really use any ginger beer.  Gosling however has a trademark on the drink Dark and Stormy which specifically states that you must use their Black Seal Rum and none other.  I tried other rums and they did not taste as good anyway.  Some people like to add a hint of lime juice to this drink or garnish it with a lime wedge.

Originally, I was inspired to make this drink by Nomi. Their recipe has Ginger Bitters in it which is an odd thing to locate.  Nomi recommended to me the Ginger Bitters offered by URIEL Pharmacy.

So there you have it.  The next time you are tempted to go Rum and Coke with Captain Morgans, try going Dark and Stormy with Gosling’s instead.

I am no longer friends with imgburn or daemon tools.

I’d like to thank this guy for this post: cheatedbylife

Joel Robuchon at the Mansion is a high end restaurant located at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas. Winner of many five-star awards and notable mention on forbes, Joel Robuchon delivers some of the best food Las Vegas has to offer. I brought Robin here to finish up 2009 in style. We were the first to arrive and our stay spanned five hours. They say it is formal and that a jacket is required, but I did notice several patrons simply wearing collared shirts. The decor is largely done up in a purple theme with cathedral ceilings, ginormous chandeliers, and lots of artwork. Each table has a handful of small pieces of silver metal pieces. The candles are fake due to some restriction to have real candles in Vegas restaurants. Water is served only from a bottle and is left at the table. We began with wine and bread. Robin had Riesling and I had port–a good size glass I might add for port. The bread selection featured more bread than I had ever seen in a restaurant! They keep bringing it all day long until you ask them to take your plate away. Robin did the six course menu and I did the Menu Degustation. They started us off with caviar and crab; I was a bit scared at first having never tried caviar but it was awesome. I enjoyed the black truffles which are most abundant around January in France. Robin had a side of mashed potatoes that were almost soft as a thick cheesy soup–incredible. The veal chop was extremely tender. After dinner, they rolled out a cheese trolley. There was a very strong odor emanating from the various cheeses, most of which cannot be bought in this country. One of our cheese picks had rosemary and various herbs around the edges of it. My favorite was a toss up between the fuji apple confit dessert and the yuzu macarons. Should you decide to dine here, I say bon appetit!

Wines

Robin had 2001 Reisling and I had 1995 Colheita Port. The port was a very tasty and generous portion!

Bread Selection

A vast selection of complimentary bread

Part I: Menu Degustation

Le Caviar

en fine gelée de corail anisée, servie en surprise
Caviar on a fennel cream served as a surprise

La Truffe Noire

en duo mêlé de pomme ratte comme un carpaccio aux copeaux de foie gras
Shaved black truffles and potatoes, topped with foie gras carpaccio

La Symphonie de Truffe

une tarte friande aux oignons confits, champignon en macaron mitonné dans un bouillon au jarret de veau, une gelée chaude de poule tremblotante
Crispy truffle tart with onion confit, paris mushroom broth with veal ravioli, trembling chicken royale

La Saint-Jacques

la noix poêlée, lait de coco épicé et un condiment de coriandre fraîche
Seared scallops, spiced coconut’s milk and fresh coriander condiment

Les Crustacés

L’Oursin, zéphyr lacté et fleuri d’un nuage tout moka, le homard rôti au curry et fines graines de chou-fleur, langoustine croustillante à la menthe poivrée
Delicate flan of sea urchin with mocha foam, crispy peppermint flavored langoustine, roasted lobster with green curry

I almost ate the starfish and then found out it was decorative.

Le Riz

pilaf à la saveur d’une “Paëlla” avec une fricassee de grenouille et une rapée de tartuffi di Alba
Paella style pilaf rice, fricassee of frog legs and shaved tartuffi di Alba

La Châtaigne

un fin velouté soyeux sur un voile virtuel de lard fumé
Delicate chestnut cream with smoked lardons foam

Le Bar

poêlé à la citronnelle avec une étuvée de jeunes poireaux
Pan-fried sea bass with a lemon grass and stewed baby leeks

Le Veau

en côte cuit au plat avec un gel d’herbes fraîches et une mêlée de courgette aux pistaches
Sauteed veal chop with herb gelee, zucchini and fresh pistachios

I mistook the herb gelee for a green bean.  It was supposed to complement the veal chop.  The pistachios were rolled up in very thinly sliced and baked zucchini; a very nice touch.

Le Soja

les pousses cuites comme un risotto aux zestes de citron vert et ciboulette
Risotto of soybeans sprouts, lime zest and chives

Les Fruits Exotiques

en cocktail aux parfums des îles, sorbet au yogourt
Exotic fruit cocktail, yogurt sorbet

La Fuji

pomme confite au granité Calvados, crème à la confiture de lait
Fuji apple confit with Calvados granite, dulce de leche

Part II: Six Course Menu

The Six Course also began with Le Caviar surprise as shown earlier.  It also had a vegetarian version of the aforementioned La Châtaigne, but since it looked the same, I omitted the picture.

Le King Crabe

Le King Crabe en duo d’avocat dans un cæur de romaine relevé à l’huile d’olive coraillée
King Crab, avocado in a heart of romaine and olive oil with coral

La Sole

La Sole, cuite au beurre salé, petites capucines et girolles
Sole, cooked in salted butter, capers and roasted chanterelles

Le Turbot

Le Turbot et poulpe aux fins aromates avec un jus de citronnelle, jeunes poireaux et artichaut
Turbot filet, octopus with lemon grass, baby leek and artichoke

Mashed Potatoes Side

purée de pommes de terre
Mashed Potatoes

Cheese Selection

A vast selection of cheeses

Les Fromages/Cheeses

The picks from the cheese trolly.

Le Chocolat

Le Chocolat, Grand cru, rafraîchi à la glace Arabica aux grains de café torréfiés
Coffee ice cream, melting chocolate cake, roasted Arabica crunch

Notice the decorated the dessert with coffee beans painted purple and a veil-like surrounding.

Mignardise Selection

A whole galaxy of mignardises!

Mignardises

We took all the Yuzu Macarons!

Yuzu Macaron

An intimate encounter with Joel Robuchon’s yuzu macaron

Le Moka – Le Thé

escortés de mignardises
accompanied by affectation

The Bill

If there’s anything worth doing, its worth doing right.

Tasting menus start at $89 and work their way up to $215. Then they have the degustation for $385 which many might assume to be overboard; don’t kid yourself, it’s a lot of food! So unless you have a football player size appetite like me, you’d do just fine with the four course or the six course tasting. Joel Robuchon is a once in a lifetime experience and I wouldn’t take it back for anything in the world. I highly recommend dining here. Five Stars! Bravo!

Joel Robuchon at the Mansion
3799 Las Vegas Boulevard South
Las Vegas, NV 89109-4319
(702) 891-7777
Google Map

Slice is a short film by Mark Asato. I helped film it with the trusty DVX100a. It’s really just a practice run so please post all your comments, insults, threats below. Special thanks to Mike Howard and Brittany Wymer. No, this shit isn’t going to sundance or anything, its like 3 minutes.

La Belle Vie is an upscale French Mediterranean restaurant in Minneapolis.  It is rated a "2008 America’s Top Restaurant" by Zagat survey and is winner of the 2009 "Best Chef Midwest" James Beard Award.  Dining here was a wonderful experience.  Though valet parking is available, we were easily able to find free street parking nearby.  We arrived a half hour early for our reservation, yet we were seated shortly after arrival.  Most people dressed in suits, but dress code here is not enforced.  I told them that I drove all the way from Chicago and with a bit of luck, the let me in with jeans and a collared shirt.  The dining room felt like something from a 19th century mansion ballroom.  Complete with marvelous chandeliers, cathedral ceilings, art sculptures, and dim lighting, this was a romantic dream.  The atmosphere was relaxed and subdued.  Our dinner spanned two hours.

They usually have a tasting for the table where everyone orders the tasting menu, but they made an exception by allowing me to do the 8-course tasting, while Robin ordered a’la carte.  We began our dinner with drinks, bread, and gougeres.  I had a cocktail while Robin had salad and wine.  The tasting began with some of the tastiest tomatoes ever.  Many of the dishes were garnished with frothed sauces.  Normally I would not eat mussels as I do not like their fishy taste, but this was masked very well by the pasta it was wrapped in.  The sea bass crumbled like high-end salmon and the sweet sweet corn puree surrounding it was phenomenal.  I remember thinking how how awesome it would be to dip broccoli in this corn puree.  A tender small chicken (poussin) was served in a middle eastern sauce (Ras el hanout) that tasted similar to pumpkin.  A lamb ribeye was served with a Moroccan twist that had a hint of spicy flavor;  the meat was severely tender.  The cheese tasting consisted of Abbaye De Belloc with jelly.  This is some fine cheese!  And for dessert… make that two desserts… grape sorbet followed by Armagnac ice cream and honey spice cake!  As a thank you, they brought out a tray of pastries compliments of the house.  I wondered if perhaps I should have gotten the wine flight?  Alas, I opted not to because I had to drive and was ill prepared for this fine dining experience.

At one point, I spilled a little on the table.  One of the waiters quickly came out and put a white cloth over the stain in a joking way of hiding it.  Robin told him that I am clumsy.  He looked at me and said something like, "she said it.  I didn’t tell anyone!"  It was pretty funny.

Complimentary Bread

 

Complimentary Gougeres

choux pastry with cheese in the center

White Lotus

Citrus Vodka, Gin, St. Germain, Lavendar, Cava sparkling wine

Warm Goat Cheese Tart with Tomato Confit and Tapenade Vinaigrette

 

King Crab and Artichoke Fazzoletti with Saffron and Dried Tomato

 

Tasting of Tomatoes with Compressed Watermelon, Burrata, Basil and Radish

 

Tomato and Black Olive Tortellini with Shellfish Emulsion and Mussels

 

Sauteed Sea Bass with Sweet Corn, Slow Poached Artichokes and Lemon Agrumato

corn puree was superb!

Roasted Poussin with Baby Turnips, Ras El Hanout and Medjool Dates

ras el hanout tasted like pumpkin

Grilled Lamb Ribeye with Toasted Garlic, Charmoula and Yogurt

very tender lamb with a spicy Moroccan twist

Abbaye De Belloc with Black Mission Figs and Brioche

cheese tasting

Concord Grape Sorbet with Orange Gelee

 

Honey Spice Cake with Italian Prune Plums and Armagnac Ice Cream

 

Compliments

 

Check

We stumbled upon La Belle Vie in a 2006 issue of Bon Appetit magazine while driving through Wisconsin.  We decided to make it our dinner destination upon arriving in Minneapolis later that day.  We were very satisfied with the service we received and the quality of food exceeded our expectations.  Aside from seeing Mall of America, Spoonbridge and cherry, and various other artworks, La Belle Vie was the highlight of our Labor Day weekend stay in Minneapolis. 

La Belle Vie
510 Groveland Avenue
Minneapolis, MN 55403
(612) 874-6440
Google Map