On a lovely evening earlier this month, my husband and I drove to Chicago’s West Town neighborhood, parked along Milwaukee Avenue and walked a few blocks to where The 606 hiking trail rises above Hermitage Avenue.
Our destination was the border of Wicker Park and Bucktown, where Chef Rick Bayless lives and tends the gardens that provide respite for his family and fresh ingredients for his restaurants.
As a suburbanite who spent her formative years in the city, I love to revisit these leafy neighborhoods as much as I enjoy a trip to a celebrated downtown restaurant. When I learned that the James Beard award-winning chef led a tour of his urban garden, I jumped on the few remaining tickets for 2026.
Bayless has been a culinary inspiration since the late 1980s, when he opened the lively Frontera Grill, soon followed by the intimate Topolobampo. Over the years, he has expanded to offer casual fare at several other locations, including Torta Frontera in O’Hare Airport and XOCO. (For more about his restaurants, cookbooks, recipes and nonprofit work, go to www.rickbayless.com/about-rick-bayless/the-bayless-gardens.)
His PBS TV show, “Mexico: One Plate at a Time,” has been bringing recipes and techniques for creating soulful Mexican cuisine into homes for 12 seasons. And, in 2009, Bayless walked away with the title of “Top Chef Masters” on that Bravo TV show’s debut.
The Chicago icon presents a culinary expertise and a welcoming personality.
And now I can say that applies both on screen and off.
Some 20-plus people joined us on our Wednesday visit. We passed through a tall wooden gate into the shady outdoor kitchen space, replete with soapstone counters, a working sink and an Ooni pizza oven, there only because it takes the custom brick pizza oven “forever to heat up,” Bayless said with a laugh.
Chef Rick Bayless’s production garden boasts 13 raised beds that yield more than 700 pounds of salad greens and 250 pounds of herbs each year. (Rick Bayless Group)
We sipped margaritas while the man who elevated our collective appreciation for Mexican cuisine shared a bit of Chicago history and the backstory of this enchanting oasis.
He and his wife, Deann, bought the property in 1996. It was built after the Chicago fire and had once been the site of a popular tavern, aka supper place. One look and he was smitten with the terrazzo flooring, original metal ceiling and even the vintage Old Style beer sign out front, which, unfortunately, “had to go” for safety reasons.
Not long after, the couple bought the property next door and converted the space between and behind the two buildings into garden vignettes for entertaining, relaxing and production.
Today, their daughter and her family live in the house next door.
In addition to pointing out pockets of loveliness, Bayless regaled us with charming stories about TV filming episodes gone awry and how his youngest grandchild likes to bang at his back door for food.
In each garden space, the mood changes with the plant life and ground cover.
Maples tower above the flagstone kitchen space. Decking runs underfoot along the entertainment section, edged with deep green hostas and partially shaded by a grapevine-covered pergola. And brick pavers and gravel paths define the rows of crops in the busy, sunny production garden.
The latter boasts 13 raised beds that yield more than 700 pounds of salad greens and 250 pounds of herbs each year.
Squash blossoms destined for the restaurants are picked daily in season. There are also Meyer lemons, raspberries and figs as well as the Mexican herb hoya santa and chaya, a leafy green.
Grape harvesting gives his staff its biggest challenge. The fruit, which came with the property, has a tough skin and lots of seeds. The cooks may appreciate the local sourcing but they sigh at the labor-intensive effort it takes to get the crop menu-ready, he said.
Celebrated chef and Chicago icon Rick Bayless offers tours of his backyard gardens in the summer. (Donna Vickroy/Naperville Sun)
The production space includes a 150-square-foot heated greenhouse, a potting shed and beehives. There’s a chicken coop and a koi pond deep enough to sustain the fish through winter. “But I still worry about them when it snows,” Bayless said.
The garden is a year-round labor of love. There’s always something to do. End of summer brings big dreams for next year — a sentiment, Bayless says, Cubs fans can appreciate.
Under the pergola, we dip chips into guacamole and spoon ceviche into our mouths. Bayless introduces us to Master Gardener Matt DeRose and encourages us to turn our plant-specific inquiries to him.
Meanwhile, he grabs handfuls of lemon balm and Thai basil for us to sample. He invites us walk the property, smell the herbs, “taste something new,” and “run your hands through the lavender.”
And, we are oh so happy to oblige.
Donna Vickroy is an award-winning reporter, editor and columnist who worked for the Daily Southtown for 38 years. She can be reached at donnavickroy4@gmail.com.