Frontera Grill opened in 1987 on Clark Street in River North, the debut restaurant from Rick Bayless and his wife, Deann Groen Bayless, built on what they'd learned during an extended research trip through Mexico for their first cookbook. They hung colorful Mexican folk art on the walls, kept mariachi music playing, and filled the menu with the regional dishes that stuck with them from their travels.
The kitchen has kept building on that foundation, developing relationships with Midwestern farmers for produce, maple syrup, and goat while staying rooted in the same regional Mexican cooking. Mole, ceviche, tortilla soup, duck, and flan are among the dishes that keep bringing people back, alongside a well-regarded margarita program.
Frontera Grill has held a Michelin Bib Gourmand across multiple guide years, including 2025, 2024, 2023, 2021, and 2019, and won the James Beard Foundation's Outstanding Restaurant award in 2007. Eater has also named it a standout in Chicago's Mexican dining scene.
The kitchen has kept building on that foundation, developing relationships with Midwestern farmers for produce, maple syrup, and goat while staying rooted in the same regional Mexican cooking. Mole, ceviche, tortilla soup, duck, and flan are among the dishes that keep bringing people back, alongside a well-regarded margarita program.
Frontera Grill has held a Michelin Bib Gourmand across multiple guide years, including 2025, 2024, 2023, 2021, and 2019, and won the James Beard Foundation's Outstanding Restaurant award in 2007. Eater has also named it a standout in Chicago's Mexican dining scene.