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newlenoxpatriotdaily.com dining out
the new lenox patriot | January 9, 2020 | 23
The Dish
Fat Rosie’s continues to grow from Frankfort roots
Nuria Mathog
Contributing Editor
At Fat Rosie’s Taco &
Tequila Bar in Frankfort,
the vibe is fun, vibrant and
colorful.
The main dining area is
full of surprises. Multiple
saddles hang from the rafters,
and a skeleton in a
sombrero greets customers
near the grills. The back
dining room is strung with
papel picado, a type of
Mexican artwork made by
cutting designs into colorful
tissue paper.
Caroline Foglton, a
Mokena resident and one
of the managers at Fat
Rosie’s, said the restaurant
prides itself on providing
diners with an “awesome
fiesta” experience, quality
customer service and
fresh, delicious food.
“I enjoy that we’re just
a big family,” she said.
“Every day you come to
work, you feel like you’re
in Mexico. You don’t feel
like you’re at work.”
Fat Rosie’s is named after
a pet donkey owned by
a Mexican farmer who the
restaurant chain’s proprietor,
Scott Harris, met during
a trip to Mexico. The
Frankfort location opened
in 2015, followed by a second
Chicago-area location
in Naperville in 2018. In
December, a third restaurant
opened in Schaumburg.
“We’re going to try and
do our cooking classes;
we’re going to offer those
to people out here, as well,
if they want to make their
way up to Schaumburg,”
Foglton said. “We’re also
doing tequila dinners. ...
We work closely with the
chefs, as well as our bar
manager, and we do specific
dinners based on tequila
drinks and stuff like
Fat Rosie’s Taco &
Tequila Bar
28 Kansas St. in
Frankfort
Hours:
• 11:30 a.m.-9 p.m.
Mondays-Thursdays
• 11:30 a.m.-10 p.m.
Fridays and Saturdays
• 10 a.m.-2 p.m.
Sunday brunch
• 2 p.m.-8 p.m.
Sunday dinner
For more information ...
Phone: (815) 534-
1640
Web: fatrosies.com
that.”
At Fat Rosie’s, the tacos
are a bestseller, with 10
varieties served a la carte,
such as the carne asada
($5), filled with grilled
steak, pico de gallo, queso
fresco and avocado-tomatillo
salsa; camarones ($5),
which consist of grilled
shrimp topped with pickled
red onions, arugula
and jalapeno-garlic aioli;
and the vegetarian coliflor
frita ($4), with fried cauliflower,
toasted almonds,
red onion, tomatillo jam,
cilantro, queso fresco and
Fresno pappers. Diners can
mix and match tacos, and a
set of three is served with a
side of rice and beans.
“The beans we make
in-house,” executive chef
Ivan Vargas said. “The
base for the beans is epazote.
It’s a good flavor. The
rice, we use carrots, onions
and tomato sauce.”
Vargas said his favorite
dish at the restaurant is the
tampiquena ($24), a grilled
skirt steak that comes with
salsa de la casa and is
served with a red cheese
enchilada, rice and beans,
rajas, grilled queso fresco,
cilantro and guacamole on
Pictured are three of the tacos offered at Fat Rosie’s in Frankfort: (left to right) carne asada, camarones and pollo a
las brazas. Photos by Nuria Mathog/22nd Century Media
A set of three tacos automatically comes with rice and
beans, which can also be ordered as extras for $3 each.
the side.
“We’d like to bring the
flavor, the Mexican flavors
and different Mexican
foods, Mexican and American,
and mix it,” he said.
On Sundays, the restaurant
offers brunch from
10 a.m.-2 p.m., featuring
popular Mexican breakfast
and lunch dishes such as
huevos al Mexicana ($10)
— scrambled eggs cooked
with tomato, serrano peppers,
cilantro, onion and
avocado, served with
black beans — as well as a
bar where diners can make
their own custom bloody
Marias ($10 per glass), a
The pina, or pineapple margarita ($11), includes
pineapple juice, fresh zest, a house margarita mix, 100
percent blue agave tequila and Tajin seasoning.
drink similar to the classic
bloody Mary but mixed
with tequila instead of
vodka.
Foglton said she hopes
to give diners walking into
Fat Rosie’s an adventure
that takes them on their
own culinary journey.
“We want everybody to
just feel like they’re somewhere
else, rather than
here in downtown Frankfort,”
she said.