Derek J

I finally made it to Sun Wah a couple weeks ago for the Beijing duck. It was good, but disappointing. I guess I built the dish up in my mind to something spectacular and it fell far short. The duck fried rice was particularly bland. The duck itself and the buns were enjoyable. The soup was probably the most interesting component. It was a lot like chicken noodle soup, but with a distinctly different flavor. I would gladly eat it again, but the dish would not be destination dining for me.

Thanks for posting that video! That course is ridiculous. Gloriously ridiculous. I would love to play with all of the components of that dish.

The Alinea menu has finally been updated on the restaurant's website. It now includes this dish: LAMB ........?????............!!!!!!!!!!!!! I really want to know what that dish is like.

You need to give Pee Wee some props for his earlier career, BEFORE the kids show. He had a really good special on HBO back in the day that was presented in a children's program format, but with extremely adult content. I was pretty young when I saw it, but I recall it being hilarious. The true kid stuff came later.

My dad told me a story like this from his days managing a Marc's Big Boy back in the 1980s. They used to wash and hand dry their ketchup bottles. Whoever was drying the bottles continued using a towel to wipe out the rim even after the towel was damp. This introduced (or left) a small amount of water in each bottle. Once they were filled with ketchup and sealed, they started to ferment. The restaurant then had a series of ketchup bottles mysteriously exploding at tables. They called someone in from corporate who snooped around for a few days until he identified the problem. In the meantime, some poor kid took his prom date to the restaurant for dinner. A bottle exploded at their table, spraying ketchup all over her white prom dress. I always felt bad for that kid. Big Boy isn't exactly a fancy restaurant. If that was the best the kid could afford, life was being a little unfair to screw him over like that.

I recommend Pamela Anderson's How to Cook Without a Book.

How was braising the steak going to caramelize it? I thought that's why you sear meat before braising it. If I am an idiot with my cooking vocabulary, please someone correct me.

I am happy to report I survived the tasting menu at Alinea. They gave me exactly the right amount of food to make me feel incredibly full without feeling sick. Perfect portioning. My review is posted in the Alinea thread in the Heartland dining subforum.

I ate at Alinea last night. 5:45 reservation for one. This was my first foray into high end cuisine (the tip alone was more than I have ever spent on a meal). Here's my review: Alinea’s building is unassuming. The only way to tell you are at Alinea (other than recognizing the street address) is the valet parking sign that identifies the restaurant. You open the double doors to the building and enter a long corridor. The corridor is somewhat dimly lit with blue light. Halfway down on the left are what look like elevator doors. Even though had I read the description of the entrance in Chef Achatz’s autobiography, I was still taken by surprise when the “elevator” doors wooshed open as I passed revealing the restaurant. When you come in, you are greeted and your coat taken. You can see into the kitchen from the entryway which gives you something to stare at while the hostess deals with your coat. No one said anything in the kitchen until the expediter called out for a number four (I believe that was the number) and all of the cooks simultaneously said “Four!” It was loud, but not a shout. Very reminiscent of soldiers responding to a drill sergeant. I’ve watched a lot of footage of kitchen brigades, but I’ve never heard anything quite like that. Very intense, disciplined, and focused. I was seated in an upper floor dining room. There were 2 large tables that could accommodate probably 6-8 diners and a long banquette along with the wall which could seat an additional 10 diners. One couple was seated already when I arrived for my 5:45 reservation. Over the course of the meal, I pulled ahead of them in course progression so that most of the dishes were complete surprises. The meal itself took just under 3 hours. I went with the standard wine pairing. I am remarkably ignorant when it comes to wine and I can’t really comment about the quality of the wines. I can say that the 10 wines served paired very well with the food. The sommelier introduced each of the wines to me, but most of this went over my head. I can post the wine pairings if people are interested. At the start of the meal I was informed “Chef” (the wait staff often referred to Chef Achatz as an almost fictional character wandering the globe developing dishes – I’m sure he does these things as described, but the way they talked about him made him larger than life a la The Most Interesting Man in the World) wanted to serve me an additional course of white truffles. They would shave the truffles tableside on either risotto or a pasta. All for the low-low price of $125.00. I declined, but almost immediately started second-guessing myself. I won’t be eating like this again any time soon, so shouldn’t I just go for it? In the end, I stayed frugal and I’m glad I did. I can’t imagine how I could have safely squeezed another course into my stomach. The wait staff at Alinea was great. They were professional without being arrogant, welcoming without being smarmy. The dining room I was in had a central table where the wait staff congregated. This table had drawers holding service pieces, silverware, and stemware. The staff did an excellent job of monitoring where the guests were at in their meals without hovering. Everything was times perfectly. I was afraid the dining experience would be stuffy at a 3-star restaurant, but it was anything but. The atmosphere of the room and the staff was very comfortable. The table had an ice sculpture on it with what looked like a purple fish imbedded in it. I spent some of my time waiting for the first course staring at it. I vaguely recalled reading something about the ice sculpture, but couldn’t remember what was involved. More later… Trout roe, carrot, coconut, curry This was the beginning of a series of seafood dishes. I wasn’t thrilled with this course. As with many of the courses, I would not describe it as delicious, but like all of the courses, it was very interesting. The early courses were characterized by shifting and evolving flavors. As I chewed or savored a dish, new and interesting flavors popped up. Oyster Leaf mignonette King crab, passionfruit, heart of palm, allspice Mussel, saffron, chorizo, oregano Razor clam, shiso, soy, daikon Next up was a series of seafood shooters. They were settled in the shell on a bed of seaweed spread across what I think was a rock. Like the first course, these dishes all had evolving flavors that were very interesting as I worked my way across the rock. They were much tastier than the first course. My notes said “bad-ass.” At this point a waiter placed what I can only describe as a potpourri hooka on the table, lit it, and walked away. This typified the experience at Alinea. Everything was intriguing and surprising. The hooka was obviously going to be used for something, but I had to wait and guess first. Yuba, shrimp, miso, togarashi Yuba is apparently a by-product of making tofu. Alinea turned it into kind of a deep fried tuille, the wrapped shrimp and, IIRC, sesame seeds. The yuba stick was suspended with one end dipped into a miso dipping sauce. I enjoyed it, but wasn’t blown away. Somehow the simple act of dipping the stick in the miso sauce made it feel interactive and fun. I’ve never had fun dipping a French fry in ketchup, so it’s hard to explain why eating this was fun. Maybe it was the wine or just the delight and excitement at eating someplace I have lusted for from a distance for years. Scallop, acting like agedashi tofu This was a neat dish. They served me a scallop that had been manipulated until it had the texture of soft tofu. I asked how they did it and the waiter(-ress) told me they run it through a food processor until it has broken down and then reconstruct it. The scallop was served in the broth that had been brewing in the potpourri hooka. A very good dish. I was provided with a small cup of the broth to drink after eating the scallop. The broth was good enough to enjoy on its own. Right about here I started to feel the effects of the wine and realized there was no way I was getting out of this meal sober. Wooly pig, fennel, orange, squid This is one of Chef Achatz’s patented bite on the end of a wire dishes. It featured a small squid with some pork behind it mounted at the end of a bobbing wire extending from a weighted base. You basically attack it hands-free. The waiter explained that the wooly pig was a special variety of pig, I think from Spain (I’m not sure about that part). I wasn’t thrilled with the flavor, but getting into my mouth was fun. Ice, beet, hibiscus, licorice The waitress came to my table and rotated the ice sculpture 90 degrees and set a straw-like tube on the table. I could now see that there is a tunnel burrowing downward into the side of the sculpture. At the bottom of the tube is a chilled liquid. I stuck the tube into the hole and sucked up the liquid. I don’t have good notes from this dish, but I recall it tasting like a sweet, berry-infused tea. The weight staff replaced with the ice sculpture centerpiece with a cabbage leaf “flag.” The flagpole was a polished stick with the cabbage leaf attached to it so that it unfurled like a flag. Swordfish, caponata, mint, panella This was the first big course. It featured a piece of grilled swordfish with a pesto drizzle around it and a second dish with something the waiter described as Sicily’s answer to ratatouille. The swordfish was excellent and I really enjoyed the other ratatouille-ish dish. The latter had a sweet, pickled flavor that I remember from my childhood eating at my grandmother’s house for Christmas or Thanksgiving. I still can’t place it, but it was an unexpected and pleasant surprise to encounter that flavor again. This dish was vastly more sophisticated than what I had as a kid. Finally, there was a side plate with some fried crackers/bread with some sea salt. I really enjoyed everything in this course. Hot potato, cold potato, black truffle, butter I had been very curious about how to eat this dish after seeing pictures of it. It consists of a small paraffin boat filled with a chilled potato soup. A small pin is stuck through it skewering a hot ball of potato, a slice of truffle, and butter above the chilled soup. To eat it, you pull the pin out so that the suspended components drop into the soup then quickly scarf it down like a shooter. I thought it was good, but not great. Wild mushrooms, pine, sumac, shallot This was one of my favorite dishes. A small plate with a variety of mushroom preparations was placed on a pillow filled with pine-scented air. The weight of the plate caused the pillow to slowly deflate, releasing the pine scent. I could take or leave the pine-scent, but the mushrooms were great. My note while eating the dish: “Holy shit!” Venison, red cabbage, mustard, paprika Time to put the cabbage flag to work. The wait staff placed a polished wooden plank in front of me. A metal design was imbedded in the plank. The waiter had me remove the metal pieces forming the design and then assemble them into a stand. The waiter then disassembled the flagpole, revealing it to be made of chopsticks. The waiter then used the chopsticks to place the cabbage flag onto the stand. The waiter placed venison chunks on the cabbage leaf, the drew my attention to a plate with exquisite micro-components to add to the cabbage roll. The micro-components were amazing. You see this sort of thing in food porn, but it’s still stunning to see them in person. The chef must have used a scalpel, tweezers, and a magnifying glass to assemble them. I opted to dump all of the micro-components into the wrap and dig in. The smell was amazing. The flavor did not live up to the aroma, but I didn’t really care. At this point, I was making the segue into ever-so-slightly drunk territory. Black truffle, explosion, romaine, parmesan This was the dish I was most looking forward to (I’d checked out the menu in advance and had read about this one). It’s a one-bite dish, basically a ravioli filled with a truffle juice (see the Alinea cookbook for a much more detailed explanation). The waiter advised me to eat it in one bite and be sure to keep my lips sealed; otherwise, the dish would explode all over the table in front of me. It exploded in my mouth as advertised. It had a deep, mushroomy flavor. I was a little underwhelmed, probably because I had built the dish up in my mind so much. I don’t think I like truffles all that much. They gave me a sort of 7th Inning Stretch at this point. There was a longer than normal gap between courses. The gap was very welcome as it gave me time to make room in my stomach and recover a little from the wine. Squab, inspired by Miro The waitress said Chef Achatz was at an art gallery and saw a painting by Miro that incorporated melting spoons. He wanted to find a way to replicate that at the restaurant and came up with this dish. This was the best course of the night. I’d heap it with superlatives, but they start to lose meaning when you overuse them. I’ll just say spectacular overall. The course is composed of a bunch of spoons and forks arranged on the table at random. Each spoon or fork had a bite of something different. I think there were 8 or 9 items. All but 2 were fantastic. I was also supplied with a cylinder to put the used utensils into. The cylinder gave off a very nice lavender aroma. I was instructed to eat the items in any order I preferred. I started with the foie gras bite. This was my first experience with foie gras and I didn’t really know what to expect. Foie is usually described as incredibly rich and maybe creamy, but I’ve never read a description of the flavor. I was afraid I wouldn’t like it, but really wanted to. I’m pleased to report that it was amazing. It tasted like a really, really good steak. But unlike a steak, that amazing steak flavor never diminished as I chewed. I just wanted to savor it in my mouth forever. The texture was velvet and kind of perfect. So, so good. My notes said, “I was afraid I wouldn’t like foie gras, but now I say *bleep* those geese – stick more food in ‘em!” I went for the squab bite next. I had never had squab before. I assumed it would be like chicken, so it was a surprise to see it was a red meat. Like the foie, this bite was insanely good. I would gladly eat that squab until my stomach burst. Death by squab is now my preferred manner of death. The foie and squab were the best of the night. So, so good. They were kill-your-mom-and-step-over-her-body-to-get-more good. The rest of the items were wonderful with two exceptions. One spoon had a sort of chocolatey/hazelnutty pudding on it which I wasn’t thrilled with. It wasn’t bad, but wasn’t great. The last spoon had white and brown powders on it. I’m not sure what it was supposed to taste like, but I didn’t care for it. The last two spoons aside, this course was amazing. I celebrated by taking a restroom break. I couldn’t really feel my feet at this point. Still 3 wines to go. Chestnut, veal heart, quince, root vegetables This course consisted of a spoon with veal heart on it balanced on the top of a special cup containing an amazing chestnut broth. The heart was fine, but the broth was just wonderful. Apple, onion, brie, smoking cinnamon This was the mother of all deep fried fast food apple pies. The apple, onion, and brie was skewered on a cinnamon stick, dipped in tempura batter, and then deep fried. When the waiter brought it to the table, he lit the other end of the cinnamon stick on fire (hence the smoking cinnamon). You slurp the “pie” off the end of the stick in one bite. Very, very good. Cheesy, appley, delicious. It had a great density to it that allowed me to savor it for quite a while before swallowing. Winter in New Hampshire This was the most dangerous dish of the night. It is served on a platter piled with dark ice cubes. White powder was dumped on the ice like snow. There were a few additional components like a marshmallow shaped like a Hershey’s kiss and a cherry. A small mug of clear (i.e., transparent) hot chocolate was served on the side. You’re supposed to scoop up the powder with a spoon and eat it. I’m sure the wait staff explained that, but between the effects of the wine and being dazzled by the presentation, I did not properly absorb the instruction. So I tried to eat the ice cubes along with the powder. I didn’t realize it was an ice cube just looking at it – the ice was mysteriously dark. The ice was also insanely cold, reminiscent of dry ice. When it hit my lip, it stuck, so I avoided a painful bite into something rock solid. I peeled the ice off my lip and went on to enjoy the dessert. When I got back to my hotel later, I saw that a small blister had formed on the inside of my lip and another section looked like I had been chewing on it. So, word to the wise, don’t eat the ice, no matter how avant garde the food appears to be. The powder was peppermint flavored and did something when it hit my tongue. It’s hard to describe. It kind of congealed together into a solid with a dense texture. I don’t like using the word “congealed” because that makes it sound gross (which it wasn’t it), but I can’t think of a more accurate description. Maybe condensed would be the right way to put it. Lemongrass, mango, thai basil, finger lime This dish was a shooter served in a clear tube. I couldn’t see how it was sealed (it was apparently stopped with a piece of mango), but the waiter told me to just stick the end in my mouth. I sucked on the end and everything flooded into my mouth. This was a difficult dish to evaluate. All of the wine had had an effect and it was hard to focus on the flavors. Dark chocolate, butternut squash, lingonberry, stout This was the most stunning dish of the night. The flavors were good, but the presentation was [insert preferred over-the-top superlative]. They started out by putting a purple-ish (kind of grey) table cloth on the table (the table has been bare up to now). There was a longer than normal time gap at this point and I think it was intentional to give you time to brace for what is to come. I just sat there and enjoyed the feeling of being full and content. Then a waiter came out with 4 ramekin-like dishes with what appeared to be sauces in them and then walked away. Shortly after that, a chef came out with a chocolate sphere. The sphere had a hole in the top, so I could see that it was hollow. The sphere was about 6 inches in diameter. The chef placed the sphere in the center of the table and then used a spoon to drizzle the sauces in the ramekins in circles around the chocolate sphere. He told me what the sauces were, but I don’t remember them all. There was lingonberry and stout (as noted in the recipe title). I’m not sure if the butternut squash was one of the sauces. Next, the chef lifted the chocolate sphere, said, “Enjoy” and dropped the sphere. When the sphere hit the table, it shattered and spilled out all sorts of contents onto the table. The chef must have walked off while the sphere was dropping, because I have no idea where he went. No one was there when I looked up. The sphere was filled with a bunch of stuff that is very hard to describe. There were lots of powders and crumbles. There were also candy-like things and some petals and something citrusy (maybe that’s the lingonberry talking). While I was eating the stuff off the table, I was served peppermint herbal tea. This dessert could easily serve 4 people. I got through maybe a quarter of it and collapsed. The wait staff let me linger over it and the tea. They somehow sensed exactly when I was done and cleared the table. I then sipped the tea some more and waited for the check. At this point I was incredibly mellow and relaxed, kind of like after an hour-long massage. I was also very full. I think any more food would have killed me. They do a great job with portioning the food. I had exactly enough food to not quite feel too full. I asked for a tour before I left and I was taken into the kitchen to watch. Everyone was moving very quickly, but not in a panicky way. It was also a really, really clean work space. It looked like Chef Achatz was not in the kitchen last night. Once I was done gawking, they took me to the door, thanked me, and informed me they had a cab waiting. They were so pleasant and efficient that I never even thought about a tip to the coat check or host staff. I’m not sure if I was supposed to tip anything. I was out the door in a glow. It’s really hard to review or rate the meal at Alinea. Several of the dishes would not qualify as delicious. If your sole criterion is the taste of the food, some of the dishes at Alinea might be a disappointment. But that’s so not the whole story. I spent much (possibly all) of the meal smiling. It made me happy. All of the food was at least good (except for that weird white and brown powder spoon). The high points taste-wise were very high. The food that wasn’t delicious was always interesting and/or exciting and everything was executed flawlessly. There were interactive components, innovative serving platforms, and complicated flavors. Everything was interesting and engaging. It felt like I was experiencing art. It was an event, not just a meal. Alinea both exceeded and side-stepped my expectations. I expected every dish to be the best thing I ever ate. Some dishes did that (I can’t get over the spoon and forks course). But even the dishes that weren’t home runs flavor-wise were the most interesting dishes I’ve ever eaten instead. My overall impression was “Wow.” It was by far the most fun I’ve ever had eating. It’s been about 21 hours since I finished the meal and I’m still kind of stunned by it.

FWIW, I am a man, but my fiance read this thread and said I am insensitive and kind of a jerk like most men, so I'm not worried about the queenish comment. Oh, and yes, this will be my first foray into fine dining and tasting menus.

I also keep coming back to Anthony Bourdain's description in Medium Raw of how he felt after eating at Per Se. IIRC, he was basically bloated and half dead during the cab ride home (after which he wrecked his toilet). As someone mentioned above, maybe that's only a problem if you're eating like this regularly or the chef sends out a parade of extra courses.

I think I'll just ask them to give me half of what they would usually pour throughout. I am not a heavy drinker. On the other hand, my hotel is only a mile away and cabs are plentiful... As for the water-loading thing, I believe I read somewhere that the Man vs. Food guy preps himself by drinking large quantities of water the day before an eating challenge to expand his stomach.

Thank you to everyone for the replies. I feel much more at ease. I've had visions of being too full to get past course 10 -- the horror!. I am doing the wine pairings, but I will limit myself to sips rather than gulps as I go.

I'm eating at Alinea in a couple weeks and could use some advice on how to prep for the sheer volume of food and alcohol coming my way. How do you get your body ready for the onslaught? I plan on skipping lunch, but is that enough? I've heard of people chugging lots of water in advance to expand your stomach without filling up on food. Is that a good idea? Any thoughts or suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

I can't say enough good things about this magazine. The sheer quantity of good content is punishing. I'm almost as struck by the artwork as I am by the writing. I especially enjoyed the corrections comic strip in Issue #2. They are really putting a lot of effort into this magazine.

After reading this I went to home depot and bought two pairs of different welding gloves to try out since I've been unhappy with my current oven gloves getting too hot. Tested them out with a sheet pan in the oven at 375 for 10 minutes picking it up wearing my old mitt on one hand and the welding glove on the other. The welding gloves were burning my one hand before I could even feel heat on the old mitt hand. I'm returning them to home depot today. Is there a specific brand/model of welding glove you use? This is the same problem I had with welding gloves, you need to get the heavy duty ones with insulation, not just heavy leather. They do not sell these kind at home depot. Aargh! I wish this post had been up on Friday. I bought some welding gloves at Menard's Friday afternoon and was disappointed in them when I tried them out yesterday. I had to use a pot holder with them when I moved my roaster out of a 350 degree oven. I would have been fine with just the pot holders. I'll look out for heavy duty insulated ones next time. Any idea where I can find the good stuff?

I'm cooking Thanksgiving dinner for the first time this year (although my mom is making the dressing and rolls). I'm using Alton Brown's roast turkey recipe. I did a dry run yesterday and the breast meat turned out great, but the dark meat was a little dry and tough. The recipe was a little confusing since he says to cook the turkey on a half sheet pan, but then the accompanying recipe for gravy requires you to add 32 ounces of liquid to the pan and whisk the hell out of it over the stove. That is not viable with a half sheet pan. I ended up using a normal roasting pan and it worked fine. The video that accompanies the recipe on the Food Network website is also confusing. In the video, he tells you to put aluminum foil over the breasts 30 minutes into the cooking process. The aluminum foil cover is not part of the written recipe. I used the foil cover, but it resulted in the breast meat not being crispy and it did not darken as much as I would have liked. When I make the turkey on Thanksgiving, I will use the foil cover, but I won't put it into place until the breasts are darkened to my liking. I'm also making mashed potatoes and thinking about another side dish. I have always wanted to try the creamy walnut soup from the French Laundry Cookbook, so I may throw that in as a starter for people to enjoy while I am finishing the gravy. My instinct is to go crazy and make tons of food, but the reality is there will only be 4 of us and there's no point in making enough food to feed 10.

Thank you very much for the correction and information!

Then I must be confused. I thought puff pastry is synonymous with pate a choux and that the gougeres are made with pate a choux.

I'm slowly digging into this book. I love Greenspan's anecdotes and recipe introductions. A cookbook is much better if it has some sort of narrative or notes with the recipes that tell the author's story. I've tried 3 recipes so far with many more to come. As should be readily apparent from my comments, I am a somewhat experienced beginning home cook. I made the gougeres about a month ago and they turned out fantastic. It was my first effort at making puff pastry and it couldn't have been easier. I'm not sure if that means Greenspan's instructions were very good or I just had beginner's luck. I made the slow-cooked apples on Sunday. While I appreciated the excuse to finally buy a mandoline, I was less impressed with this recipe. The dish was definitely good, but when I think of how much effort it took to make 4 servings of a dessert of this quality that could be wolfed down in seconds, it really wasn't worth it. If I make it again, I'll probably use thicker apple slices (I used 1/16 inch slices this time) which should cut down on the assembly time significantly. I made chicken diable on Monday night. Someone above mentioned she calls for just the right amount of curry in the recipe, but I don't recall curry being an ingredient. I'm going to have to check the book when I get home from work to see if I missed something critical. The best part of making this dish was when I finished reading the recipe and thought, "Oh, this is just sauteed chicken with a pan sauce!" I was introduced to pan sauces with Pam Anderson's "How to Cook Without a Book" and the experience I got from Anderson's book was very helpful in making Greenspan's dish. I liked the diable sauce as did my fiancee (although she said the sauce looked like barf -- an unfortunately fair observation). Greenspan's recipe didn't say how much to reduce the sauce (basically, move to the next step whenever the sauce starts bubbling again). I went ahead and reduced the sauce a bit since that's how I've made pan sauces in the past. When it was time to check seasoning at the end, it didn't seem quite right, so I whisked in a tablespoon of butter and that did the trick. Overall, I preferred this sauce to the red wine-mustard sauce from "How to Cook Without a Book." The shallots and garlic added nice flavor and texture. I'll definitely be making this again.

Not a fan of the half-popped kernel. Maybe this company will buy mine from me when I make popcorn...

Sun Wah it is. Thanks for the help!

I'm looking to order Peking duck in Chicago. Can anyone recommend a restaurant in Chicago with a good Peking duck?