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MIS MOLES RESTAURANTE
| BY KATHLEEN FURORE |
“KING OF MOLE” debuts new concept during Covid
Soon after COVID-19 had shuttered pretty much everything in Chicago last March, my phone rang from a number I didn’t recognize. I usually don’t answer those calls, but something made me take this one—and I was glad I did. “Hola Kathy, do you know who this is?” said a familiar but not-quite-recognizable voice on the other end of the line. My first guess wasn’t correct; thankfully the caller let me off the hook: “It’s Chef Geno.” And at that, Chef Geno Bahena and I launched into a 30-minute conversation, the upshot being that he had returned to Chicago and was
Chef Geno Bahena and General Manager Branko Prodrumedzic
opening a Mexican restaurant in the midst of the pandemic. While our conversation took many twists and turns,
“OVER THE YEARS, WE HAVE WEATHERED MANY STORMS TOGETHER AND I’M CERTAIN THAT, ONCE AGAIN, WE WILL GET THROUGH THIS CHALLENGING TIME.” –CHEF GENO BAHENA
that Bahena was banking on a new culinary concept didn’t surprise me. After all, he had headed multiple concepts—too many for me to remember—since our paths first crossed when el Restaurante debuted more than two decades ago. Now he was back, working with Branko Podrumedzic to transform Podrumedzic’s Little Bucharest restaurant, a
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el restaurante
