Frontera Grill opens in Chicago (1987)
Chef Rick Bayless opened Frontera Grill in Chicago's River North neighborhood, serving regional Mexican cooking. It drew long lines and national attention from its first months.
Frontera became a hit and anchored Bayless's restaurant empire.
It helped elevate Mexican cuisine in the United States and became a Chicago institution over several decades.
La Michoacan M Sol is a far smaller Mexican restaurant in Chicago, but Frontera shows the city has long supported Mexican food at every scale, from neighborhood spots to national names.
