Rosio Sánchez is coming home. Though the chef currently runs two acclaimed Mexican restaurants on the other side of the Atlantic Ocean in Copenhagen, Denmark, she grew up in Chicago. Her parents emigrated from Mexico, before settling in the Little Village neighborhood on the Southwest Side.
Along with seeing family, she’s making the long flight to join many of our city’s best chefs for the second Chicago Tribune Food Bowl. The festival, which runs from August 14 to September 1, features more than 100 food events spread all over the city.
You’ll have three chances to see her. The first event is the Opening Night Collaboration Tuesday, Aug. 13, where she’ll be cooking with a host of local restaurants, including Birrieria Zaragoza, Brown Sugar Bakery, The Duck Inn, Mi Tocaya Antojería and The Swill Inn. The event takes place at City Hall (838 W. Kinzie St.) and costs $75 to $85. Wednesday, Aug. 14, Sánchez will hold a Q-and-A moderated by me, following a screening of her talk for MAD, a symposium about the future of food.
Sánchez is also partnering with Anna and David Posey of Elske (1350 W. Randolph St.) for a collaborative tasting menu, where she’ll show off such items as octopus tostadas and open-faced churro sandwiches. The price per person is $65.
Copenhagen might seem like a long way from Chicago, but her journey makes much more sense when you look at the restaurants where she’s spent time. After attending cooking school, Sánchez worked as a pastry chef at the pioneering modernist restaurant WD-50 in New York, which was run by Wylie Dufresne. She then moved on to Noma in Copenhagen, which was crowned the best restaurant on Earth by The World’s 50 Best Restaurants in 2010, 2011, 2012 and 2014.
But the idea of cooking Mexican food, even in Scandinavia, always stayed with her. That eventually led her to open a taqueria called Hija de Sanchez in 2015. As you’d imagine, sourcing all the ingredients wasn’t exactly easy.
“When I think of making Mexican food, there are a few ingredients that I think are essential in making it taste like home,” writes Sánchez in an email. “Fresh masa, salsas, the right acidity and the right dairy.”
With no tortillerias in Denmark, she had to import corn from Mexico and nixtamalize it at the restaurant, before grinding it to make the masa used for tortillas. Limes and chiles also came from Mexico. They were able to get the cheese from a local source. “In Denmark we have a producer that makes our very own Mexican Style cheeses,” writes Sánchez.
Luckily, the restaurant was such a success that she was able to open Sanchez Cantina in 2017, which is more of a sit-down experience featuring dishes like octopus tostadas and cod empanadas.
“We had quite a few difficulties in the beginning, but I feel like we continue to improve every year,” Sánchez writes.
While she’s in Chicago, she has a full eating schedule.
“I am excited to try to visit some new places like Mi Tocaya and also revisit Alinea and Fat Rice,” writes Sánchez. “And of course, tacos. I hope I get the time to try it all on this trip.” If that weren’t enough, she also wants to try and squeeze in Smyth and Leña Brava.
Sánchez admits that since she’s been away so much, she doesn’t know the Mexican restaurant scene in Chicago as well anymore, but she can’t wait to explore it. “It’s really interesting to see it continue to grow.”
nkindelsperger@chicagotribune.com
This story has been updated to include a third Food Bowl event featuring Rosio Sánchez.
