For our “Bestaurants” show, Rach and her guests, Chefs Jeff Mauro and Curtis Stone, each riff on a recipe from one of their favorite (or “best”) restaurants. Jeff chose the Chihuahua fundido with chorizo and mushrooms from Maria’s Mexican Restaurant in Chicago, where they serve the melted cheese mixture in a large fried tortilla shell alongside warm flour tortillas. In Jeff’s version, he goes the Italian-American route and makes what he calls a pizza fundido, with provolone, giardiniera, sun-dried tomato pesto, sausage, and pepperoni. He also makes homemade flour tortilla chips for dipping and covers them with barbecue chip dust, but feel free to use your favorite store-bought tortilla chips.
Note that Jeff’s online butcher shop, Mauro Provisions, sells barbecue dust, as well as oil-filled giardiniera.
Here are the other restaurant-inspired recipes from this show: Rach’s Veal Francese and Curtis’ Banana-Hazelnut Croissant Bread Pudding.
