Q: With the opening of your Los Angeles restaurant, you are getting tantalizingly close to the San Francisco Bay area. How's Red O going, and can we expect you to open something in the Bay area soon?
A: Right now I've got my plate kind of full. But Red O is going very well. People think differently about Mexican food in Los Angeles. People in Chicago are open to a wide variety of dishes. They are a bit more timid in L.A. - I think it's because there's such a tradition of California-Mexican food. In Chicago (because of the more recent waves of immigration), food is from one region of Mexico or another, and it's not very Americanized. In Chicago, mole dishes are in every Mexican restaurant. Even ceviches. But once people eat the food at Red O, they get really excited about it.
Q: For readers who can't get to Chicago to eat at Topolobampo or Frontera Grill, or even to L.A., which of your home products comes closest to one of your restaurant recipes?
A: In our Frontera salsa line, our roasted Tomatillo Salsa. There's no other one on the market. I'm super-proud of it. It took years to find someone who could make this product for us. It's wildly successful and tastes authentic.
Q: A lot of home cooks don't feel comfortable working with fresh or dried chiles. What advice do you have for them? Is it worth the hassle?
A: Yes, absolutely. I'm so wild about chiles as the base of sauces and salsas. Like any other aspect of cooking, once you've done it one time, it goes like clockwork. It's like baking bread or making pie crust. Make it five or six times and you will start to get the rhythm of it.
Q: Is there any regional cuisine of Mexico that you have yet to explore?
