If a picture is worth a thousand words, then no matter how many pictures I post or how many words I write, NOTHING will do justice to what I experienced at Alinea. My only hope is to recall and capture through words, a tiny fragment of that splendid 3.5 hours for both myself in the future and for you.

Seeing how I called in to make reservation at the earliest allowable time (2 months ahead), it is fair to say that I planned my trip around Alinea. For those of you unfamiliar with the menu at Alinea, they only offer 2 menus, a 12-course tasting menu and a 20-course tour menu. Initially, my thoughts were that since we were already there, let’s just do the tour and chalk that up as a once-in-a-lifetime experience. But upon reconsideration, I decided that there was no way I would be able to do a 20-course meal. So we decided on the tasting and got our reservations on July 3rd at 7:15pm.

I’m not familiar with Chicago at all. So when the cab stopped, I just followed Carol & Tiem, my friends who live in Chicago, to two gigantic doors that leads into an unmarked building. Had there not been a valet outside, I probably would have walked right past one of America’s best restaurants without ever knowing it.

A dimly lit, declining hallway awaits on the other side of the double doors from the street. There was no music, there wasn’t much decoration. It felt like that it was a transition place to give patrons a chance to leave the world on the opposite of the doors that they just walked through.

After getting seated at our table tucked away upstairs towards the back of the restaurant, we were asked again if anyone had any food allergies (they have asked, confirmed, and reconfirmed during the reservation process) and also whether we’d want to order wine or do the wine pairing. We figured since we were already there, we might as well go ahead with the wine pairing (When in Rome, do as the Romans do right??).

Before our food arrived, I mentioned to C&T that it felt a little stiff and pretentious in the dinning room. The room was pretty much silent!! The walls were not bare, but it was a very minimalist decoration. The tables were about 10-12 feet away from each other. Not only was there was no table cloth on the table, there was also no silverware. The only thing on our table was a mysterious “functional centerpiece”, three small square plates (one for each of us) sitting towards the middle of the table with a “pillow” on top of the plate, and a napkin with the alinea logo on it. So many things that I’ve associated with being at a restaurant was completely, and very noticeably, absent. I could almost hear the thoughts in my head as I begin to question if this was a mistake because I’ve always believed that food should be unpretentious and bring people together. As I am looking around trying to soak in the surroundings, I saw out of the corner of my eye that our first course is on its way to us.

After the jump, I’ll try, to the best of my abilities, to describe in as much details as possible about the food. I’ve included at least a picture of each course as well as the pairings (if there was one). So grab something to drink, sit back, and enjoy. =)

ROES
traditional garnishes
Jorgen Lyshoim ‘Linie’ Acquavit, Norway

I’ve never really had roe outside of in the form/application of sushi, so I wasn’t really sure what “traditional garnishes” are that goes with roe. But seeing how this is Grant Achatz’s restaurant, one cannot expect anything “traditional”. Hand-harvested roe from Michigan with brioche foam. I’ve tried to make a corn foam before and I wasn’t necessarily happy with the end result, so the first thing I went for was the brioche foam by itself. While it was definitely better than the corn foam that I made, I didn’t think that the brioche foam tasted much like one of my favorite breads. It wasn’t until I had all the components of the dish together (allowing the saltiness of the roe to open up the flavor of the other components) that I was able to appreciate this dish. An interesting side note is that they chose to pair this dish with a 40-proof acquavit, talk about starting with a bang. =)

PORK BELLY
iceberg, cucumber, thai distillation
Abbazia di Novacella Kerner, Valle Isarco, Alto Adige 2007

Pork belly is one of my most favorite things to eat. While I’ve had many different delicious pork bellies before, I’ve never had a pork belly that represented the flavor of a country. I thought Carol, who grew up in Thailand, would describe this dish her blog post way better than I could:

The second course of the evening came with a “thai distillation” that the kitchen distilled itself from lemongrass, thai chilies, and fish sauce. I caught a whiff and almost shed a tear because I could not believe just how much it smelled of home. It was the perfect encapsulation of everything beautiful about Thailand – in liquid form. A perfectly clear liquid so smooth and packed with so much memory-conjuring emotion. Tiem took a whiff and nodded his head urgently in agreement. If someone asked me to describe why Thailand is so amazing, I would simply hand them a shot of that distillation. It brought me home, tickled my amygdala in the brain that controls emotions and activated an undeniable homesickness that I have never experienced in food.

WHITE ASPARAGUS
arugula, white pepper, honey
Kanbara ‘Bride of the Fox’ Junmai Ginjo Sake, Nigata, Japan

This was one of those things that I probably wouldn’t have come up with if I had devoted my entire life to it. What you see above is the “before” picture, where all the different elements of the dish (arugula foam, meyer lemon tapioca, white asparagus soup, dehydrated white peppercorn) is kept separate before the glass “container” was lifted up allowing everything to combine into something like a creamy soup. The thing that I enjoyed most in this dish was definitely by the meyer lemon tapioca with the dehydrated white peppercorn (made almost to a mini-marshmallow texture).

LILAC
scallop, shellfish, honeydew
Alber Mann ‘Vieilles Vignes’, Auxerrois, Alsace 2006

I did not know what lilac was (and I wouldn’t be surprised if I still don’t), but as soon as the dish got to our table, it smelled a little bit like… (I hate to do this) potpourri. And let’s just kindly say that I’m not the biggest fan of potpourri. Fortunately, the lilac was not overpowering and it worked really nicely with the seafood (I tasted scallops and clams) that was hiding underneath the shaved celery. The horseradish gelee was pretty genius.

SOFT SHELL CRAB
carrot, five spice, duck
Melville ‘Verna’s’ Estate Viognier, Santa Barbara County 2008

As the waiter was describing this dish to us, he started off with “soft shell crab on a bed of duck confit”, and then immediately I stopped listening as my brain was firing on all cylinders. This dish was very Asian (yeah, the 5 spice should give it away). But I was surprised that my favorite part of this dish was neither the soft shell crab nor the duck confit, it was the “little dots” (yeah, I really stopped listening) that was made with the preserved prunes. I’d say that under normal circumstances (with consist of pretty much my entire existence) I’ve HATED preserved prunes, but here I was about as close to licking the plate as I could on these “little dots”. Another thing that really impressed me was the dehydrated sesame oil that had the consistence of a powder and it almost tasted like some of the MSG packets inside ramen noodles – only that it wasn’t and it tasted like pure sesame oil. This dish was one of the most beautiful things I’ve ever seen and yet I ravaged it like it was nothing with my knife and fork- it was glorious.

BLUE CRAB
carrot, five spice, duck
Gustave Lorentz Grand Cru Pinot Gris ‘Altenberg de Bergheim’, Alsace 2004

This was my second least favorite dish (which isn’t saying much because I’d probably eat this again if it was given to me). This was supposed to be a play (think compare and contrast) to the previous dish. While the dish had a lot of the same ingredients (using different applications), the result was nowhere close. We were told to try to get all the components in each bite because the dish works well together. The only problem I found was that I really had one good bite (that bit, for what it’s worth, was delicious), all the other bites it just felt like either something was too overpowering or something was missing. Favorite component from this course was the ginger ice, I probably wouldn’t eat it by itself, but it was surprising how well it worked in that perfect bite.

BLACK TRUFFLE
explosion, romaine, parmesan

This was, by far, my favorite thing on the tasting menu that night. We were instructed to put this ravioli looking bite into our mouths and bite down with our mouths closed. Imagine a sizable ravioli in your mouth that after you bit down on it, was EXPLODING with truffle stock. They don’t call this the black truffle explosion for no reason – and what an explosion it was. The only reaction I had was that I closed my eyes for a bit and just tried not to swallow. I think if there was a DVR in life, I would definitely hit the pause button and stay here for awhile. If I had truffle stock lying around, I’d probably try to replicate these and eat it like pasta. Anyone got some truffles lying around that they want to donate, please let me know.

WAGYU BEEF
powdered A-1, potato, chips
Erna Schein ‘Alder Springs Vineyard’ Syrah, Mendocino 2005

Here Chef Achatz plays with the classic combination of steak and potato. A perfectly (barely) cooked Wagyu ribeye with perfect sear marks on the outside, with a cube of golden fried potato cube that is filled with the creamiest potato I’ve ever had in my life. Served with maldon, black pepper and powdered A-1. When this dish was set in front of me, the first thing I noticed was the marbling on the wagyu – it was such a beautiful sight. As I was admiring the wagyu beef sitting in front of me, the waiter poured some water into that mysterious “functional center” piece – resulting in a bed of fog falling on to and then off the table. While I would have been pretty impressed over a vase filled with dry ice, Achatz has again wow-ed me with a scented dry ice. While I cannot exactly recall what I was smelling, but it was definitely scented and, believe it or not, it actually made me hungry (at this point of the 12 course meal, I’d say that I’m about 85% full – the wine packs a lot of liquid).

As I started this dish with the thing that I found the most curious, the powdered A-1 that Chef Achatz made himself. I rarely use A-1 on my steak, but this tasted like A-1 and it wasn’t overpowering on the palate like A-1 usually is. I sprinkle a bit around my steak and went to work. It was divine, decadent, and absolutely delicious. My favorite thing on this course was actually the wine pairing, I have never appreciated a Syrah as much as this one paired with this dish – the pairing was amazing.

BACON
butterscotch, apple, thyme

Exactly like it is in the Alinea cookbook, if there was anything like bacon candy, this would be it. You’re supposed to pull the bacon, hanging on the swing, off and pop it in your mouth. This might very well be the most “do-able” thing to do at home (minus the part where you’re looking for a swing to rest your bacon on).

WATERMELON
lime, nasturtium

This was brought out along with the bacon as well as the bubble gum. At this point of the meal was well past the point of satisfaction. The watermelon ball (it actually really did look like a very small mini watermelon rind ball that happens to be resting inside of a surprisingly heavy shot glass) was “bigger than it looks” warned the waiter. Nevertheless, we were supposed to take it all in with one bite along with the lime sauce that it’s sitting in. The ball was a little bit waxy in texture in my mouth, but as soon as it was broken, it was like a watermelon had just burst opened in my mouth.

BUBBLE GUM
long pepper, hibiscus, creme fraiche

This was crazy. Looking over the fact that I’d have no idea how to consume this, I’m not exactly sure what to expect from “bubble gum”, but I was thinking somewhere along the line of something chewy (like gum, hah). But the waiter told us that this was smaller in our mouths than it looked. So we were just supposed to suck everything in (kind of like a straw that’s stuck) from one end. Now I’m not sure what bubble gum is made from, but I would not imagine that creme fraiche was involved in the process (I love creme fraiche), so I was really surprised after sucking up my little glass straw that it felt like I have a cream of bubble gum in my mouth. It was absolutely astonishing.

RHUBARB
goat milk, onion, lavendar air
Ello Perrone ‘Bigaro’, Piedmont, Italy 2008

This was one of the things that Grant Achatz is known for – the use of aromatics to enhance the food experience. So this course was served over a pillow that’s been filled with lavender scented air, as the plate rests on the pillow it slowly forces the scent out – brilliant!! My favorite part in this course was definitely the cheesecake made goat cheese. The subtle taste of the goat cheese blends in perfectly with the sweetness of the cake.

CHOCOLATE
blueberry, tobacco, maple
Smith-Woodhouse 1994 Vintage Port

While this was my least favorite dish (I’ll explain later), I will once again let Carol tell the story about this dish:

Toward the end of the meal, there was a long table next to us with four people and they rolled out this silicone mat on their table. Little did we know just a few moments later, Grant Achatz himself would be delivering the kitchen table to the dining table for them. Throwing chocolate and blueberry concoctions all over their table, we tickled with excitement watching the master chef himself at work. Afterwards, I asked the head sommelier if we were going to get that too. He apologetically explained that the special dessert display is only in trial phase and not doable for the square tables that we were sitting at. I added that Pete planned his Chicago trip around this meal and that we were fans of Achatz. He just nodded nonchalantly and walked away. A few moments later, a server came by with a rolled up silicone mat and asked us to lift our wine glasses and help them spread the mat out on the table. Wha…..

Shortly after, the Sous Chef came over and started pouring and plating directly onto the silicone mat in front of us. He explained the concept of bringing the kitchen table to the dining table and how they have been playing around with select guest tables. They have yet done one at the square table because they don’t have a silicone mat wide enough to drape down the side of the tables we were at. From the jagged edges of the mat and the smaller-than-needed size, we noticed that they had cut that mat freshly moments ago just for us. We could not believe the lengths that the restaurant goes to to ensure that their guests have the best experience, even if it means doing something completely out of the ordinary.

I tried to keep my camera as much in the same spot as possible while I witness the sous chef and his assistant draw with food in front of us – it was beautiful. As they were laying each component down effortlessly (while making it look like a work of art), they would tell us what each thing was. When they were done, we eagerly dug in with our forks to destroy this beautiful work in front of us. With the exception of the tobacco spheres, everything actually worked really well together from the frozen chocolate bark, the different forms of blueberry (liquid spheres, preserved, and syrup). But the tobacco spheres, the biggest spheres of all the ones on our table, was just way too much tobacco for me. Maybe if I was a smoker I’d appreciate the taste?? But I’m definintely no Anthony Bourdain here (who’s love for Malboro is so famous that it inspired Thomas Keller to make him a Malboro sorbet), but I could really have done without that giant tobacco sphere.

Back to the concept of bringing the kitchen experience to the table though – I LOVE IT. Even though Grant himself didn’t come out and plate draw with food for us. As a foodie, I would never turn down an opportunity to watch how something is made. What was really impressive to me is how in sync they were and how effortless it seemed for the sous chef and his assistant for them to turn our table into a canvas and using our 13th course as paint – it was magnificent.

SWEET POTATO
bourbon, brown sugar, smoldering cinnamon

Not that I wasn’t having a good time nor did I have anything else on the agenda for the night besides passing out (let’s just say that all the alcohol has done me in fairly well by now), but I was so glad that the last course was finally here. It was at a point where I really couldn’t possibly eat another bite. Served with a smoldering cinnamon stick, I don’t have much recollection of this course other than the surprising fact that I actually found the courage to take another bite and room to fit it in my stomach. But even more surprising was that I actually enjoyed it!! I wouldn’t be able to tell you what it was that I enjoyed, but I could tell you that in most cases at this point of how full I was, there wasn’t much things that I could possibly enjoy (I probably could have taken a couple more truffle explosions – haha).

What started off as a stiff and stuffy dining experience turned out to be one of the most out of this world experience I’ve ever gone through. Never, under any circumstance, had I been so keen on my senses than during that dinner. And I think those stiff and stuffy sentiments at the beginning was something that had to happen in order to bring a patron into a place where they can turn their senses on.

The deconstruction of food and the marriage of different flavors created conversations: It brought up pieces of our past, reacquainted us with things that we’re familiar with, introduced us to things that we were unfamiliar with. It was… an experience. Not too many menus are written with plot, this menu definitely had an introduction (roe, pork belly), a rising action (lilac, soft shell crab), climax (black truffle, wagyu beef), falling action (bacon, bubble gum) and denouement (chocolate, sweet potato).

The “goodness” of food wasn’t just an intense “slap-your-mother-good” on the scale, where you’re just in awe of how good something is. This kind of “good” will probably create new emotional triggers and can definitely sustain as the subject of a long conversation.

One of my favorite question to ask someone when they went through something interesting was “how did it measure up to your expectations?” And if I were to answer my own question, I would say that it was not even close. I was expecting something pretty epic, but I did not expect a true sensory overload. There were so many things that was so impressive at Alinea. From how the chefs work completely in an open kitchen (there’s no door separating the dinning room from the kitchen, which means the Grant’s army of chefs in the back must do exactly what they’re supposed to when they’re supposed to) to how knowledgeable the staff is, to how the menu is so detailed (the larger the circle, the bigger the portion… the darker the circle, the bolder the flavor… the further right the circle, the more sweet…)… As I left, I was just completely flabbergasted…

If you’re already considering going, just go. To me, it was worth every single penny. I wouldn’t make an open ended recommendation to say that everyone must go to Alinea just because I think that it’d be hard to enjoy and appreciate Alinea without a proper palate (so you wouldn’t pay the big bucks and come out thinking you ate 9 courses of “goop”).

PS – For those of whom I’ve pushed over the edge and are planning on going, I am fully expecting you to blog about it like I just did.

Alinea
1723 N Halsted Street
(between Concord Pl & Willow St)
Chicago, IL 60614
(312) 867-0110
www.alinearestaurant.com

2 Responses to “Alinea – Meal of my Life…”

1. Becky Lai says:

   July 9, 2009 at 11:47 am

   great post, peter! it all sounds so mysterious and interesting to me.
2. Marsha says:

   July 10, 2009 at 12:49 pm

   yummmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm.