snekse

Sounds like you really are on the payroll now YT ============== | | | WILL | | PHOTOGRAPH | | FOR | | FOOD | | | ==============

That is just freaking outstanding. Thanks a lot Yellow Truffle. Fantastic. Alex ← I agree, an amazing link. I'm a little peeved that all those pics weren't posted before Just kidding YT. Actually I think it's interesting to see the evolution (or in some cases the de-evolution) of certain dishes. Most notably the Sour Cream. You're dedication to sharing your experiences is greatly appreciated by those of us stranded in the desolate culinary wastelands of America.

Wow! Stellar link! =R= ← Oh yeah, check out this link.... http://www.alinearestaurant.com/

Very intriguing, but CHOCOLATE - avocado, licorice, mint (Ewwwwww) Granted I really care for avocado or licorice or mint

Well, not counting GD As I said, that's one of the best deals to be found in fine dining. Manresa's tasting menu is $98 and they are on the list of Top 50 Restaurants in the World

Sorry to hear you had such a bad experience there. We enjoyed our time at CT, but GD will always be one of my favorite places to eat. I think it's one of the best vales in fine dining to be found. Your comment made me think about something. It seems like all the fine dining establishments in Chicago are over priced, even compared to SF! Has anyone else found this to be true? I've never been to LA or NY, so I can only compare to SF. Not counting the French Laundry, it seems like you can get the biggest tasting menu at most restaurants for under $125. That was not the case in Chicago. It's been about 2 years since I've been to SF, have prices really gone up that much? I'll be going to the French Laundry, Manresa, Gary Danko and Postrio in January, so I'd like to find out what my damage is going to be before then.

We should start a collection fund to send Yellow Truffle back to take pictures.

I wonder if this is something they do often or maybe just for out-of-town guest? We each got an extra desserts that were both superb. I just wish they would have dropped a note in along with our menu to remind us what they were. I guess I can always email them with the picture.

Good write up bilrus. This was almost exactly how my wife and I felt. It was interesting that you specifically singled out the extensive use of mushrooms. I felt the same way, which was disappointing because all the dishes tasted slightly similar. With that said, it was still a great experience and was only nudged out of our favorite Chicago spot by TRU by a thin margin. Since I forgot to link directly to my Trotter's write up and I didn't have my TRU write up done at the time of my previous post, I'm linking to both of them here. The images for both posts will take you to the pictures on Flickr. Charlie Trotter's vs. TRU P.S. - How was the Kobe, it sounds great. Do you recall the preperations?

The short answer to this is "Yes". We went on a Gastronomically Gluttonous Gourmet Getaway about 2 weeks ago. This was the first time my wife and I had visited Chicago. When I was doing my research on where to dine, we ultimately decided on Trotter's because it's become a Chicago staple. I will say we were not disappointed though. It was not the trancendent experince that The French Laundry is, but it was still a very nice experience. I wrote up my thoughts on our blog and posted the pics to Flickr if you're interested. Gastronomic Fight Club Flickr Pics P.S. - We will also be blogging about our visits to Alinea, Blackbird, TRU, and Orange

Actually I want to know who's back in the kitchen pulling off single cells of limes for the lime & eucalyptus drink. There really was a bunch of little peices of lime floating around and they looked like whole cells, not just cut up, put like they were individually peeled! I've done the same thing to blackberries and it was a pain. I couldn't imagine doing that to a lime. FINGER LIMES olive oil, dissolving eucalyptus ←

I hope you got your Frushi. If not, you're not missing much. Looks great, tastes alright. I'd rather have plain fruit with some honey or something. As for Orange as a whole, we like it very much. I think we were just pleased it was something other then the normal breakfast fare. We ate at Anne Sather and were not impressed and would probably never go back. We liked Orange so much we ate there 3 times in 5 days. We posted some pics of what we ate. Descriptions should come soon. http://gfc.snekse.com/blog/food/2005/06/fr...-episode-ii.cfm

Maybe you should just start supplying tables with little tripods and lighting rigs

I'm continually amazed at the lack of enthusiasm for this dish. It was so hyped up that many people, including myself, tried to make this at home. I'll admit when I made it, it was so-so. I was hoping this dish would be much better in the hands of a pro.Just kind of curious, does anyone think that part of the problem with this dish is that fact that it's not what you expect? When I made it, it was so extremely tender that it caught me off guard. Also the flavor seemed to taste more like broccoli then broccoli does! I also noticed a background flavor of sulfur which I think was more pronounced because the gases were being trapped under vacuum seal. We have just 9 days left until our reservation. We're excited to try everything since this is our first experience with Chefg and Chicago in general. P.S. - Our reservation is for Saturday. Just wondering if anyone's been more then once yet and if so, have you tried going on different days? Interested to know if the level of service and the quality of the kitchen is well maintained throughout the week. P.P.S. - Anyone have an ETA for when the website will be up (other then just a logo)?

Whoa, I TOTALLY misread bentherebfor's post. I thought he said the restaurant was going to post pics, therefore we shouldn't need to take them. HAHA, man I butchered that one. I'm aware of that thread - is that really the reason! Unbelievable! We should start up a collection to send Steve there again with bells and whistles this time so he can have a proper meal. Can't we all just get along?

That's really interesting. I wonder if they had too many complaints from other guests about picture taking being too distracting? I know they ask you "refrain" from using a flash, so maybe too many people took that as a request and not a rule? I suppose if they will be posting pictures of every item on their menu, then taking pictures isn't a necessity, but there are still things you are going to want to have snap shots of.

Does anyone know anything about these service pieces being changed out? Seems kind of odd to me. I know the prosciutto dish was a prototype, but that's a huge 180 in the feel to have it served on a napkin (I'm assuming it was planked like the other bread dish). What was the cinnamon dish served in? So do you have some pictures for us? I would have brought that to a manager's attention immediately. That, to me, means the service piece needs to be redesigned and some form of compensation was in order. It's one thing to have a waiter spill something on you, but flying projectiles at a place like Alinea seems a bit overboard.

Jeffj, PLEEEEASE tell us you took pictures! I will be so disappointed if eGullet's most exceptional photo journalist didn't take pictures at what is likely to become one of the top 5 restaurants in the US. Speaking of top restaurants, where do people think Alinea will end up for 2006? RESTAURANT magazine's 50 Best Restaurants in the World My guess is "pretty high" since Fat Duck, El Bulli and the French Laundry are #1,2 and 3. Seems like Alinea is a nice mix of the 3. I would think it's pretty much guaranteed a top 50 spot, but can it break into the top 10? Top 5? Top 3? Or dare I say it, #1? -snekse Alinea <June 11th>, Blackbird <June 12th>, Trotter's <June 13th>, TRU <June 14th>

The way I kind of looked at it was simply figuring an average. You have 28 dishes that will porbably take you about 5 minutes a piece to eat (again on average) assuming you take the time to savour your food. I'm a slow eater, so it might take my 7 minutes on average. That's about 2 hours, 20 mins to 3 hours 15 mins if the food is coming out on top of each other. If you figure about 3 mins between courses you have another 81 mins of waiting. Finally you can probably figure at least 15 mins of time (at least) for initial seating, order taking and bill presentation. So basically don't make any time sensitive plans if you plan on eating 28 courses (like you could move anyway). I personally am not bothered if I'm there for 4 hours or 5 hours. This is what I came for

Nay! Post! Post! We can never have too many pictures. Heck, check out the French Laundry thread. There's TONS of pics on there.

Amazing. Thank you for taking such great time and care in sharing your experience.

Dude, where are those comments (and pics hopefully). I'm dying here!!!

What's the best way to take pictures in a restaurant? If I'm in a dimly lit dinning room with no natural light and no tripod, what should you do? Especially if the restaurant doesn't allow flash photography...

Probably not the same as going to Orange, but here's some pics of my attempt at Frushi.Frushi Pics