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??).
Alinea - A New Beginning
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.
The suggested weapon for the upcoming course.
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. =)
Continue reading 'Alinea – Meal of my Life…'»
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