Chef Rick Bayless

Rick Bayless is a superstar chef, cookbook author, restaurant owner and more, but a major part of history is not one often mentioned. As part of my series on Chicago food history I hope to change the mindset people have of history. Rick Bayless is extremely popular today and relatively new in terms of being part of Chicago’s food culture, but I don’t believe there is a deadline to follow in which someone can be celebrated as part of history. History is history whether it happened ten years ago or fifty years ago.

Bayless, 55, started his career at his parents’ barbecue restaurant, The Hickory House. His mother, Levita Anderson, and sister, Luann Tucker, still live in the metro area. His brother, Skip, is a sportswriter, author and television personality on ESPN.

Much-lauded Chicago chef Rick Bayless told the story of his career in food to win the finale of Bravo TV’s “Top Chef Masters,” which aired Wednesday night. His $100,000 prize goes to the charity he helped found, Frontera Farmer Foundation, which … Semantic Topic Tags: rick bayless chef rick bravo tv top chef wednesday night finale charity masters