Rick Bayless will be special guest at Lula's Taco Hell

Rick Bayless: The Devil

Photo: Tim Klein

Jason Hammel has been busy procuring taco-shell molds, sourcing cafeteria trays and printing tablemats emblazoned with a devil eating a taco in preparation for Taco Hell, this year's incarnation of Lula Cafe's annual Halloween blow-out. And Hammel has announced one more twist for tonight's event: Lula Cafe has sold its soul to the devil, and the devil is Rick Bayless.

"It's a Tex-Mex menu, and [Bayless] is everything but that," says Hammel, "so we thought it would be fun to invite him to add a little authenticity." Though Bayless won't be in the kitchen, he did consult on some points of the menu, and he'll be at Lula tonight, calling out orders—for Seven Layers of Hell Burritos, Double Decker Beef Tacos and more—in costume, of course.

On a less hellish note, Hammel hopes that some streamlining of the process will cut down on the restaurant's notoriously long Halloween waits: This year will be all counter-service. But with a guy selling wrestling masks out front, a lineup of Mexican beers and caramel-apple empanadas for dessert, our guess is that things are still going to get pretty crazy.

Enter Taco Hell at your own risk at Lula Cafe (2537 N Kedzie Blvd, 773-489-9554) from 6–10pm tonight, October 31, 2011.