Rick Bayless to Open a Cafe at University of Pennsylvania

Rick Bayless is heading to Philadelphia: the Chicago-area chef will open an as-yet unnamed cafe in the University of Pennsylvania's upcoming ARCH building, which is currently undergoing a $20 million renovation. According to student paper the Daily Pennsylvanian, this will be "an entirely new concept," but it does sound a lot like Bayless' torta shop, Tortas Frontera. (The UPenn cafe will heavily feature tortas, in any case.) Bayless hinted at future college campus cafes, noting he wants to "educate students' palates." The ARCH renovation will be complete sometime this Winter and presumably the Bayless cafe will open then as well. Meanwhile, back home in Chicago, Bayless is gearing up to open his first stand-alone project since the debut of Xoco in 2009. It'll be a busy Winter.

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