Bayless Expanding to Tinseltown

By Chuck Sudo in Food on Jan 6, 2010 4:00PM

Our friends at LAist clued us in to a report from Eater L.A. confirming that Rick Bayless will be taking over two restaurants in Los Angeles and Santa Monica. Speculation began in November when Bayless was spotted eating in a slew of upscale Mexican restaurants throughout the Los Angeles area, his first visit to the City of Lights in 15 years.

Bayless will be overseeing operations for Red Onion restaurants in West Hollywood and Santa Monica. The former is slated to open in March, the Santa Monica location in May. Bayless will be flying in once a month to make sure everything is running smoothly. This isn't the first high-profile Chicago export to L.A.; Intelligentsia's been doing just fine on the West Coast. Already the news of Bayless's impending Tinseltown touchdown is bringing out the dumbasses who think a white guy can't authentically cook Mexican food. But Bayless more than can and has the "Top Chef Master" pedigree, to boot. That should be enough to create a stir in a town noted for its vacant stargazing.