[CHI] Alinea – Grant Achatz – Reviews & Discussion (Part 1)

[snekse]

The frequency of the menu change is about right. In the past we have changed the menu about every 10-12 weeks. It is driven primarily by product availability, seasonality basically.

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

[docsconz]

But more importantly we knew we could do better. Contrary to what I once thought, I realized we need to be in the environment in order to be at our creative best. One would think that devoting 6 months to develop an opening menu would prove to be the ideal situation. And maybe it was,but I do know that this second menu is better and more representative of what we do and what we are trying to accomplish here at Alinea.

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Is this even possible? I fear that I will be unable to return to Chicago while this menu is in place

[jesteinf]

Nice nice nice.. Going on July 7th.. I cant wait..

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How was your meal?

[Daniel]

Had a wonderful birthday dinner at Alinea.. Was very impressed with the entrance.. Reminded me of Willy Wonka, or Alice in Wonderland... It is certainly symbolic of entering into a strange and fantastic world where culinarily (new word), anything can happen..

We were greeted by an incredibly sharp and bright eyed group who immediately made us feel welcomed and expected with anticipation.. We were led into the downstairs dining room and had the first corner table. The chairs were ultra comfortable, the dining room, bare and modern..

The amuse:

Cucumber with mango and several aromatics.. This was really interesting.. Super strong tart sour flavor.. I dont really think it was to be enjoyed, but rather to shock the senses.. My mouth was alive and ready..

First course: Hearts of Palm filled five ways:

First stuffing was vanilla pudding.. Very strange.. Very good..Pudding to start is strange enough, stuffing it in Hearts of Palm well thats genious.. Loved it..

Second stuffing: fava bean puree.. Very good..

Third stuffing: A garlic bulgar wheat mixture.. This too was awesome..I could see myself parking myself in front of this dip at a party.. This i think was my favorite and most familiar combo..

Four stuffing: A plum mixture.. Tasted very prune like.. Didnt care for it too much..

Fifth stuffing: A pumpernickel bread mixture with chopped black truffles.. This too was outstanding, might also have been my favorite.

What a really inventive start.. Loved the specially made pedestals created for this dish.. Loved the presentation,the inventiveness and most importantly the taste..

Second Course: Dont really remember too much about this dish... What i do remember that i was served on a lavender pillow.. Beautiful presentation, forgettable dish..

Third Course was lobster with a carrot ravioli.. This dish was awesome!!!!The ravioli was stuffed with a coconut powder, the lobster poached in butter..

Fourth Dish was octopus with an eggplant soy puree.. This was my least favorite of all the course.. I really didn't care for this dish.. However, the other people at the table loved it..

Fifth Course: Squab with foie gras.. .. Great recovery.. Great presentation taking black licorice and grating it over the top.. The watermelon was a great addition.. This might have been my favorite dish of the evening..Such a rich flavorful sauce, I could have pick the bowl up and drank it..

Sixth Course..Bison with truffle and pistachios.. This too was outstanding.. I really love food prepared while cryovac sealed.. I have had this three different occasions.. My old favorite was chicken prepared this way at Blue Hill.. This really is a great way to prepare a gamey type of meat.. It was tender and juice and looked so bright and beautiful..

If i had trouble remembering the entrees, this is several drinks later.. I am really going to have problems with the desserts.. I must say all of them were fantastic..

Desserts:

First was a black berry with a custard.. It was flavored with tobacco and had pepper on the end.. Great little taste and introduction to the desserts.. The tartness of the blackberry and the pepper cleaned the pallet..

Second Dessert.. Still dont know how the heck he made this.. This was like a light air ball filled with maytag blue sitting in a walnut milk sauce.. Excellent.. So inventive, so space age, so good..

Third Dessert: Corn custard cake filled with honey.. Outstanding.. I really love corn and find it great when its used in desserts..

This was my favorite dessert dish.. Really loved the liquid chocolate cake.. You can see

Close up.. This was a hard outer shell filled with a bittersweet creamy liquid ganash center.. One of my favorite chocolate dishes ever..

The second thing on the plate was a chocolate pot de creme.. This was just ok.. Everyone at the table loved it.. I thought it was good, but nowhere near as good as the chocolate square..

Lastly.. Along with a wonderful tea they brought out the Sponge Cake.. The cake was attached to a vanilla bean There was sour cherry and a vanilla foam.. This was a perfect ending.. Using the vanilla bean to scoop up the vanilla and eat the cake.. Outstanding..

I cant say enough good things about this place.. The architecture, the design, the service, the staff.. Everything was perfect.. Some of the most knowledgeable and professional people I have ever met.. You could tell that everyone knows that they are apart of something special.. Its so rare to find people who are all happy and proud to be apart of something..

The food however tricky and different, is really great.. Most places go for style over substance, but I believe this place has achieved both.. Cant wait to go back..

Edited July 19, 2005 by Daniel (log)

[docsconz]

Great report as usual, Daniel - but only twelve courses!

Great photography, too. What did you use? I know the lighting wasn't good enough for conventional non-flash photography. Besides, you had some really nice close-ups.

The dishes looked extraordinary. Similar enough in style to a number of the dishes on the old menu, but different enough to make me want to return to try them for myself! It looks as if Chef Achatz and his crew have hit another home run.

[Daniel]

Thanks Doc,

You are always so nice.. Yeh,, I only went twelve courses. I wasnt sure I was going to like this place.. Despite all the coverage, 60 some thousand hits on egullet, I hadnt looked at the reviews or anything. I really went here because Ronnie told me after my Tru write up I needed to go here.. So I wasnt prepared to put my father and girlfriend through more then 3 hours of potentially weird and average food.. We had a nine o clock reservation and I had to be in a suit and in Rosemont at 7 am.. When i go back, I will get the big dog...

My camera is a casio exilim or something like that.. The way I got the photos is by having my girlfriend wear a silver shimmering dress and my father held an umbrella... I really dont remember.. I just throw the camera into the plate and try to focus it.. I never edit or play around with my photos, first because i dont know how, second because it would be way too much time.. I would drive three hours for a burger, but if i spent more then 2 seconds on the photo, it would feel like work... Weird.

Edited July 20, 2005 by Daniel (log)

[ronnie_suburban]

. . . I would drive three hours for a burger, but if i spent more then 2 seconds on the photo, it would feel like work... Weird.

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LMAO! Can this be my new signature line?

Only 9 days until I return to Alinea and now especially, I can hardly wait.

=R=

[Daniel]

. . . I would drive three hours for a burger, but if i spent more then 2 seconds on the photo, it would feel like work... Weird.

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LMAO! Can this be my new signature line?

Only 9 days until I return to Alinea and now especially, I can hardly wait.

=R=

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It would be a huge honor..

Edited July 21, 2005 by Daniel (log)

[tammylc]

Can anyone refresh my memory on the deal with reservations? How far in advance can they be booked? Is there a special line for eGullet members? After the opening crunch, have people had a hard time getting in when they want?

I've got a trip to Chicago and dinner at Alinea planned for my birthday at the end of October, and I want to confirm my reservation asap, since it's the point of the whole trip!

[Jeffrey Steingarten]

When I dined at Allinea, they peeled the grape while it was in my mouth.

[glossyp]

When I dined at Allinea, they peeled the grape while it was in my mouth.

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[Jeffrey Steingarten]

I was trying to make a point. Grant is a brilliant chef. Alinea is or will become a great restaurant. Some of Grant's achievement may originate in his technical mastery, but peeling a grape is no excample of this. The French have served peeled grapes for the past 50 or 100 years, in for example Sole Veronique. This is not one of Grant's inventions, though the dish is amusing and good to eat. That's what I meant to say--no need to be amazed by peeled grapes.

[tetsujustin]

I was trying to make a point.  Grant is a brilliant chef.  Alinea is or will become a great restaurant.  Some of Grant's achievement may originate in his technical mastery, but peeling a grape is no excample of this.  The French have served peeled grapes for the past 50 or 100 years, in for example Sole Veronique.  This is not one of Grant's inventions, though the dish is amusing and good to eat.  That's what I meant to say--no need to be amazed by peeled grapes.

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I both agree and disagree with you on your comment, I agree that the idea of a peeled grape is certainly not amazing as you have pointed out, high end sole Veronique has always had it. It's not an original idea (and the meaning of that, we can discuss for hours) however, I will always be amazed by peeled grapes (especially ones that are still on the stem) just for the sheer amount of time and care it needs to attain one perfectly. I'll be amazed that someone would take the time to peel grapes, pick citrus pods from a grapefruit, or shuck fava beans, just to attain a certain value in a dish with such a time consuming operation.

And well, that's why I'm amazed by peeled grapes.

Did anyone see Todd English make a mozzarella balloon on Iron Chef two weeks ago? Correct me if I'm wrong, but wasn't that a Trio original?

[edsel]

Grant is a brilliant chef.  Alinea is or will become a great restaurant.  Some of Grant's achievement may originate in his technical mastery, but peeling a grape is no excample of this.  The French have served peeled grapes for the past 50 or 100 years, in for example Sole Veronique.  This is not one of Grant's inventions, though the dish is amusing and good to eat.  That's what I meant to say--no need to be amazed by peeled grapes. ←

Fair enough, but if ChefG is indeed "brilliant", did anything about your meal at Alinea strike you as truly innovative? I've been admiring this thread from afar, and the peeled-grape thing sounds like a lot of fun to me. Several people here have been generous enough to post their impressions of dining at Alinea. I'm not asking for the sort of detailed blog-plus-photos account of your experience - just a capsule remark about what made this experience memorable (or not) for you.

BTW, I think that peeling a grape on the stem pretty much rocks.

[Louisa Chu]

When I dined at Allinea, they peeled the grape while it was in my mouth.

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And then you knotted the stem with your tongue?

[Jeffrey Steingarten]

When I dined at Allinea, they peeled the grape while it was in my mouth.

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And then you knotted the stem with your tongue?

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[Jeffrey Steingarten]

That's way gross, Luisa.

About the stem: it was only my friend Michael Ruhlman who alleged that the cool part was leaving the stem connected while you peel the grape. I'll have to try this several dozen times, but I believe that this adds only a small amount of effort to the actual peeling.

[chefzadi]

That's way gross, Luisa.

About the stem:  it was only my friend Michael Ruhlman who alleged that the cool part was leaving the stem connected while you peel the grape.  I'll have to try this several dozen times, but I believe that this adds only a small amount of effort to the actual peeling.

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Which variety of grape?

[Lactic Solar Dust]

I staged at Trio during the summer of 2003 while Grant Achatz was still the chef there. One of the tasks that one of the other chefs gave me was to peel grapes for one of the preperations that were on the menu. This was the first time that I ever had to peel grapes so I found the task just a tad tedious, but not too difficult. However, if you damaged the flesh of the grape in any way, even in the slightest, you were instructed to throw it away. Only the perfectly peeled grape was accepted. Mind you, these grapes were not on the stem. I would think that if you had a smal llbushel of 5 or 6 grapes to do and peeled the first 5 grapes fine, but messed up on the last it would be pretty frustrating.

[Jeffrey Steingarten]

Ferran Adria has a recipe for blackberry caviar. First you freeze the blackberries. Then you pick off each little sphere (I believe they're ovaries) with a very finely pointed knife, eat those that aren't perfect, and save the rest.

[edsel]

So, are you implying that chefg and the rest of the kitchen crew at Alinea eat a lot of grapes these days?

I'd still love to hear what (if anything) really stood out in your experience there.

[Daniel]

Jeffry, does it look like this? This was at Alinea, blackberry dessert..

Edited July 25, 2005 by Daniel (log)

[mimblewim]

I just went to Alinea on Saturday with my sister, who flew in from Boston for the weekend. She acquiesced to my determination to do the Tour... Two days removed from what was an amazing, fun experience, I am relieved and somewhat surprised that I can still eat “normal”/”regular” food.

My favorite courses (desserts later) were: the frozen sour cream with the microplaned salmon, the striped bass, the eggplant semifreddo with soy froth and octopus, the squab, and the oyster cream. I really loved the striped bass, which, in addition to having the world’s best water chestnuts in it, was surrounded by this wonderful floral aroma from the hot water poured over rose petals. I’m a little chagrined that I’m Chinese(-American) and I’ve never had water chestnuts this good. The thing that made the squab so good was the grated licorice over it – in general I don’t like licorice, but at that point I was convinced that in any given course I would like things I don’t usually like. Even if something wasn’t my cup of tea just because of my food tastes, it was still wonderful and fun to eat. The only thing I really didn’t like very much was the amuse bouche – I thought the mango overpowered everything else.

Desserts: I loved every single dessert with all of my heart. I have quite the sweet tooth, so that’s usually how it goes, but even so I don’t really have any words to describe how much I liked the desserts at Alinea. Some of the things I especially liked were the cornbread crumbs in the corn custard, the (fried?) red bell pepper seeds in the raspberry/red bell pepper dessert, and the dandelion root and tarragon in the chocolate dessert.

My general impression of the food is that it reminds me of the way I like my architecture. The technique is flawless, there’s a reverence for craftsmanship, but ultimately it’s trying to do something bigger than all of that. It was a lot of fun for the adventurous, not in the sense that you could be eating really weird things, but in the sense that you will be experiencing all kinds of different ways to eat food. That the food pays attention to its environment and surroundings to the extent that it does, is great, and rare. I also really liked that Alinea isn't different for the sake of being different - everything was deliberate and had specific intentions. The vast majority of the courses at Alinea hit the mark, with the exception of a few. For example, there was that course with the zucchini cake speared on a wire (I forget what it was called), which you’re supposed to lean forward and eat. The idea was cool, but I wasn’t sure that the zucchini cake needed to be eaten in that way.

My own personal quandary was that I was unsure whether or not I tipped enough. I would have liked to have tipped more than I did, as my sister and I had such a wonderful time, but after all is said and done, I'm still a college student. If you are reading this and work at the restaurant, my tip belies the fact that I'm a student, rather than how much fun I had!

Edited July 25, 2005 by mimblewim (log)

[Louisa Chu]

That's way gross, Luisa.

About the stem:  it was only my friend Michael Ruhlman who alleged that the cool part was leaving the stem connected while you peel the grape.  I'll have to try this several dozen times, but I believe that this adds only a small amount of effort to the actual peeling.

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Jeffrey, thanks dude!

Regarding the stem about which your friend Michael Ruhlman makes allegations: I think there's been entirely too much fuss made about it. After all it's only one mise en place chore. The tricky thing is doing the thousands of others daily for service too.

[robyn]

...My own personal quandary was that I was unsure whether or not I tipped enough.  I would have liked to have tipped more than I did, as my sister and I had such a wonderful time, but after all is said and done, I'm still a college student.  If you are reading this and work at the restaurant, my tip belies the fact that I'm a student, rather than how much fun I had!

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How much did you tip? If 15% or more - you're fine. Robyn