Rick Bayless

Cooking with Legends brings together the longtime PBS hosts and chefs Bayless and Tsai in Bayless' Chicago home. We spoke to Bayless about his early days in TV, his background in barbecue, and more.

In the new PBS special Cooking with Legends: Ming Tsai & Rick Bayless, Bayless shares a recipe for simple steak tacos similar to some he has been serving at Frontera Grill since it opened in 1987. 

Chuck Pine serves not just Chicago-style and Texan barbecue but also Cajun and Mexican regional dishes with produce grown on a farm at one of his two locations in the southwest suburbs. 

Rick Bayless opened his fine dining restaurant Topolobampo 35 years ago, and in the decades since has received accolades such as James Beard Awards, aTop Chef Masters win, and the honor of serving food at the White House. 

Javauneeka Jacobs, the sous chef at Rick Bayless' Frontera Grill, won the first round of a Julia-themed competition on the Food Network show Chopped. She told us what it's like to be on the high-stress show.

When Rick and Deann Bayless opened their regional Mexican restaurant, they shared a wall with a bar called the Rendezvous -- for a reason -- and a ceiling with rent-by-the-hour flophouses. 30 years later, it's a staple of Chicago's culinary scene.