Rick Bayless cooking demonstration at Paramount Theatre
Aurora Library to host Rick Bayless cooking demonstration at Paramount Theater.
Award-winning Chicago chef, restaurateur, cookbook author and television personality Rick Bayless will appear at Aurora’s Paramount Theatre on Sept. 13 for a cooking demonstration, tasting and book signing.
The Aurora Public Library is hosting the program featuring two chefs who specialize in Latin cooking to highlight Hispanic Heritage Month. The event will begin at 1 p.m. when Chicago chef Dudley Nieto takes the stage to speak about regional differences in Mexican cooking.
Bayless, star of public televisions Mexico One Plate at a Time, will demonstrate his trademark Mexican cooking peppered with stories about the dishes he is preparing, his travels to Mexico, and the history behind the traditional Mexican recipes he loves.
Tickets will be available beginning Friday, Aug. 8. For $12, audience members will receive preferred seating and a sample taste. Call the Paramount Theatre’s box office at (630) 896-6666 to secure a ticket. Only 500 of the preferred seats/tastings are available.
Free tickets (four per person) may be picked up at any of the three Aurora Public Library locations or in the Bookmobile. Seats will be reserved, but the tasting will not be included. The library locations are: Main, 1 E. Benton St.; Eola Road Branch, 555 S. Eola Road; and West Branch, 233 S. Constitution Drive. Check the library’s web site, www.aurora.lib.il.us, for the Bookmobile schedule.
Bayless will conduct a book signing following the demonstration. Two cookbooks, Mexican Everyday and Authentic Mexican: Regional Cooking from the Heart of Mexico, will be for sale in the Paramount Theatre’s Grand Gallery.
Bayless will prepare two recipes from his Mexican Everyday cookbook: a ceviche salad with avocado, cilantro and green chile and Red Chile Steak and Beans made with chile pods.
Bayless opened Frontera Grill in Chicago in 1987, and then Topolobampo, a fine-dining Mexican restaurant, also in Chicago, in 1989. He was one of the founding members of Chefs Collaborative, which supports environmentally sound agricultural practices. He also is active in Share Our Strength, the nation’s largest hunger advocacy organization.
In 2005, Bayless competed on Iron Chef America on what was the first broadcast episode of season one.
Chef Nieto is preparing to open Eivissa, a tapas and sangria restaurant, in Chicago’s Old Town neighborhood this fall. Nieto made a name for himself with El Rebozo in Oak Park in the 1980s. His creations became the inspiration for a book, The Cuisines of Hidden Mexico, which he co-wrote with culinary historian Bruce Kraig.
Call (630) 264-3049 or 264-4123 for more information.
Location: Paramount Theatre, 25 E. Galena Blvd., Aurora, Illinois
Contact: (630) 264-3049
Tags: Aurora, cooking demonstration, Cuisines of Hidden Mexico, Dudley Nieto, Eivissa, El Rebozo, Frontera Grill, Hispanic Heritage Month, Iron Chef, Mexico, Paramount Theatre, Rick Bayless, Share Our Strength, Topolobampo
