Chef Rick Bayless opens up about success and struggles in 37 years as a Chicago restaurateur
CHICAGO (CBS) -- Celebrity chef Rick Bayless marked an important milestone last year—37 years of his Frontera Grill, the exact number of years his family's barbecue restaurant was also open in Oklahoma City.
In a rare interview recently, Bayless opened up to CBS News Chicago about how he achieved success in his personal life—and his relationship with his brother, sports broadcaster Skip Bayless.
Frontera Grill opened at 445 N. Clark St. in River North in March 1987—when Harold Washington was mayor of Chicago and President Ronald Reagan was in his second term. For all the time since, it has stood as a showcase of Mexican culture and cuisine through Rick Bayless' eyes.
The Michelin-starred fine dining restaurant Topolobampo that shares the same entrance as Frontera, the street food cafe XOCO at 67 W. Illinois St. next door to the north, and the mezcal bar Bar Sótano in the alley behind Frontera Grill are also all part of Bayless' empire at that one corner of Clark and Illinois streets. But it was Frontera that came first.
"It was all we could afford at the beginning," Bayless said, "but now, I would say it was a stroke of luck, because we had a landlord that supported us, "and he loves restaurants—so he packed the neighborhood with restaurants, which was really great for us."
Location aside, there is not much about Bayless' far-reaching success he would attribute to luck.
"A lot of it is openness to ideas and hard work, being prepared, always showing up, being willing to do the work day after day after day—and good things will come to you," said Bayless.
The good things have come—a Michelin star, countless honors from the James Beard Foundation, a Top Chef Masters win, TV shows, a grocery store line, and restaurants in Chicago, New York City, Las Vegas, and Disney in Florida.
But in some ways, it is Bayless' work out of the spotlight that has been most meaningful.
"I'm really, in some ways, most proud of my family in everything that I have done," Bayless said, "because I didn't grow up in a very cohesive family at all, so I didn't really have any role models for that."
Bayless found comfort in his family's restaurant as a boy
Bayless says growing up, his family had a lot of struggles with alcoholism. But he found community and comfort in his parents' Oklahoma City barbeque restaurant The Hickory House, where he took on his first role at 7 years old.
Bayless' brother, sports broadcaster Skip Bayless, recently spoke out about their parents' alcohol abuse and the brothers' lack of a relationship—saying while he is proud of his brother, they had nothing in common.
"He never went to the restaurant [The Hickory House], hated the restaurant world—everything about it. I went to the restaurant, and so I was coddled by a family of people at that restaurant that loved our family and gave so much to us," Bayless said, "and in so many ways, that family of people really raised me, and they taught me so much about grit, about consistency, about how to love what you have—and my brother never got that."
While Rick and Skip Bayless chose different career paths, both rose to become public figures. Their professional success, Rick Bayless said, is a testament to the ambition of their mother, Levita Potter Bayless Anderson.
"My mother made sure that her two sons had a lot of really good training—and she had high aspirations for us," Bayless said, "and I believe that that is one of the reasons that we both came out with a perspective that we could do things, that we could be successful—that it would take a lot of hard work to get there, but we were willing to sacrifice to get there—and I credit my mother for that."
Bayless credits his wife, therapy with helping him blaze his trial
If his mother instilled in him a vision, Bayless credits his wife, Deann—his partner in both business and life—with helping him execute it and aligning his professional success to his personal.
"It's very easy to just repeat what your family was like growing up, and I didn't really want that at all," said Bayless. "When I say I married well, I married somebody who's really helped me to not just relive what I had growing up."
For Bayless, not repeating the trauma of his childhood meant consistently exploring it through therapy.
"I don't think that I probably would ever have gotten to where I am now if I hadn't really worked on myself all the time—through all of it," Bayless said. "I will say I went through a lot of really black times in the early years of Frontera Grill, and not only did I have a really supportive and consistent relationship with a therapist, but also my wife—and I had the dailiness of the restaurant to buoy me along. I could kind of put that out of my mind at least for the hours of service, where I like, 'OK, the first tickets come in, let's get making this food.'"
In fact, it is the steady churn of a bustling kitchen that has been the constant of Bayless' life—a source of comfort, and why, 37 years after opening Frontera Grill, Bayless still has days where he hops on the line.
"I would say all of those monks should get a job in a restaurant," Bayless said, "because the meditative state you get into when you're cooking the line, it is really amazing."
What's also amazing, of course, is the food itself—nourishing in more ways than one.
"Being able to create beauty, serve beauty to people, and have them say: 'This is incredible. You have brought so much joy to me,' kept me going a lot through the really dark years," Bayless said.
At 71, Bayless could spend a lot of time looking back. But instead, he continues to ask himself one question—what is the next right step? He stays open to the answer.
When asked if retirement is on his mind, Bayless answered with a resounding no.
