A couple of weeks ago I was visiting with a few of our chefs at our downtown Chicago location for a food tasting. The chefs will occasionally create a dish for me to try, and if it knocks my socks off, it will be run as a special and possibly even make the regular menu.

 Sometimes we will talk about food ideas conceptually and eventually we come up with a collaborative recipe idea. Once we reach this point, we call one of our seafood purveyors, Seafood Merchants. We talk to the owner, Bonnie Axelson, and get an idea of what is in season and has a healthy supply. She will then send us a couple of different kinds of fish to experiment with our recipe ideas.

 The Florida Red Grouper looks amazing and has a wonderful, fresh aroma. The skin has a shiny surface and the gills are deep red. The fish arrives at Wildfire whole, weighing in at 5 to 15 lbs.

After some experimentation with Chef Edgar and Chef Moreno, we came up with a delicious preparation for the grouper.

We have started serving the Tortilla Crusted Florida Red Grouper at our Glenview location, and will soon have this delicious dish available at more locations. Click here to see what specials your favorite location is currently running.

 The guests at our Glenview location love this special that is 8 oz of skinless, boneless grouper filet brushed with our al pastore marinade and lightly coated with a mixture of tortillas and panko crumbs, spices and cilantro. The grouper filet is then roasted in our wood burning oven and served with key lime butter sauce and sugar snap peas. Enjoy this dish with a glass of Chardonnay and great company!

 From the wood burning oven,

Chef Joe Decker