Have You Ever Tasted Llama? Get Your Chance Next Wednesday At Frontier

By Anthony Todd in Food on Aug 20, 2013 3:00PM

Frontier has become somewhat famous for serving interesting animals (sort of like a Cafe Bohemia for the 21st century) and the latest may be one of the oddest for Chicago palates. Next Wednesday, Aug. 28, Frontier will host the eighth installment of their "So You Think You're A Foodie?" dinner featuring llama.

The last time we checked in at Frontier, they were featuring a whole smoked alligator with chickens stuffed inside it - a dish you can still custom order for a group. This time, it's llama. The Reader's Mike Gebert actually got an accidental look at the llama while touring a gourmet food distributor. Apparently, it's from someone known as the "llama king" who lives outside of Milwaukee. Because if you were a llama king, where else would you be from?

What are they planning to do with it? Well, they won't reveal the menu, but Chef Brian Jupiter gave some clues.

Having acquired a llama, how do you cook it? As Jupiter noted, it's very lean, so "we're going to smoke the whole animal. We're going to wrap it, much like we do the alligators, in beef caul fat, just to lock in the moisture. We inject it, we're going to give the legs heavy injections just to make sure they stay moist throughout the cooking process. It should be good eating." He says that bringing in new proteins keeps his kitchen sharp—"It's a first time for all of us, so there's no egos, and no 'Oh, I've done this a million times.' That makes it fun for everybody."

Check out the whole article and, if you are interested in tasting some of this now-famous llama for yourself, tickets are $65 per person for five courses. Call 773-772-4322 for more details.

Frontier is at 1072 North Milwaukee Avenue.