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By Pete, July 9, 2009 10:41 am

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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By Pete, June 30, 2009 11:00 am

This is a contiunation (part 2 of 3) of a series of posts about my trip to Barcelona in May 2009. You can see part 1 here.

Cruisin’ Around Town

This was one of my favorite part of the trip. Not only because we got to see pretty much all of the historical landmarks in Barcelona, but it was also my first time on a bike since I got my driver’s license. Since the girls went on the bike tour with the same company in London (and Paris too, I think), we went with Fat Tire Bike Tours (who also offer a discount if you use them in different locations).

I was pretty skeptical about this at first because we ended up having a pretty large group (I’d say around 20) and the streets in Barcelona, for the most part, is pretty narrow. But everything worked out great – I did almost run over a few people, but it was pretty cool that since we had so many people we pretty much could just take up a lane in the road and ride as a pack.

We did the Day Tour, which lasted about 4-5 hours of relaxed riding and a lot of stops for picture opportunities (and even a lunch break on the beach – Sangria anyone??). Even though you hit up a lot of POIs in that time span, there are a few that might be worth your time to at least consider going back to.

Fat Tire Bike Tours – Barcelona
C. Sant Honorat, 7
08002 Barcelona
Spain
(34) 933 429 275

Asian (Staffed) Restaurant in Barcelona??
Before I lose all my credibility here, let me just say that no – I didn’t travel halfway across the world to eat Asian food in Spain. We went to “Les Quinze Nits” on a recommendation from Jen. I think the selling point for this restaurant was cheap, good food – but like all “budget eateries”, the price for this is a looong line that reaches 100s deep.

Tucked away in Plaça Reial, we got the the restaurant a little bit early. Since they don’t start seating until service for the dining room, we just ordered a couple pitchers of sangria and waited it out at the outdoor seating area (ironically, before coming here we went back to Txapela to get more Sangria because the Sangria we had for lunch on the beach didn’t give anyone a buzz). When we finally got in, I was surprised that the staff was all Asian (who knew there were so many Asians in Spain??). But after one look at the menu, I was really confused. Here I was sitting in Barcelona, at a Asian staffed restaurant, and I see a seared John Dory entree and a duck confit entree on the menu – What’s going on here???

Since the food was relatively cheap, I decided to splurge a little bit (that’s how they always get you!!). For starters, I split a fried calamari with someone. As soon as the soggy and under seasoned calamari arrived, I knew that I was expecting too much for this place (the menu sounded soooo goood). For the entree, I ordered both a pasta and a lamb shank (can somebody say this is why I’m fat??). It was a pretty good lamb shank, but as you can see below, the portion size left a lot to be desired.

Minus a little miscue from the waitress, I thought the meal was decent for its price, even though it wasn’t necessarily Spanish cuisine by definition. I’d put this restaurant in a “safe” category, just because I didnt feel like it was an adventure. The food was what it was. I can see the appeal of this place (as the dining room was very formal and elegant), however, I wouldn’t necessarily agree that it’s worth lining up for (maybe unless if you had a couple of pitchers of Sangria in your hand).

Les Quinze Nits
Passatge Madoz 5
08002 Barcelona, Spain
933 173 075

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By Pete, June 29, 2009 5:37 pm

I’m heading up to Chicago for the long weekend on Thursday and was wondering if you have a restaurant recommendation to add to my fairly long list of restaurants to go check out. Keep in mind that it’s Taste of Chicago weekend, so any restaurant that’ll already be at taste will probably not merit a visit from me. Assuming room for only lunch and dinner (ha!), I’ll have 7 meals in Chicago. I have blocked off all Saturday for Taste so there goes 2 slots and also have made plans for 3 other slots. So that leaves a grand total of 2 slots open, I’m pretty sure I’m going to spend one of them on a nice Chicago Style deep dish place. So really that only leaves one spot open (lol). Fortunately, I’ll have fellow foodies Carol & Tiem showing me around as my accomplices, so I’m sure they’ll have good suggestions if all else fails.

Here’s what I got lined up so far:
avec
Hot Doug’s
Alinea

Here’re some ideas I have for the 1 (or possibly 2, if someone has awesome suggestions) that I want to do with the openings:
Chicago Style Pizza
Ramen
Dim Sum
Oh and as far as I know breakfast is all open too, if I’m crazy.

Either way, there’re only so much time and so much I can eat. I’d appreicate it if you leave me some suggestions in the comments section. Thanks in advance and fire away!!

Comments (1)

By Pete,

I started to blog on my trip to Phoenix for the Fiesta Bowl (way back in Jan. ‘09), funny thing is, spring ball is over now and the new football season is not too far away – and it’s still sitting in my draft box. I have this habit of starting blogs and never finishing the entry (I choose to call it writer’s block, but most people call it laziness), I think that’s why I’m on twitter so much – 140 characters is not too much and I don’t have to worry about continuity. Anyways, I figured I’d blog about my trip to Barcelona before it gets awkward (if it’s not already at or past that point?)

We got into BCN from ATL around 9am, after going through customs and running a few errands, we took the Aerobus A1 from the airport straight to Plaça de Catalunya. Being a little bit of a foodie myself, one of the awesome things about this trip is that we are all food lovers so naturally, we stopped for some tapas (with all our luggage in tow) as soon as we got to Plaça de Catalunya.

The First Bite
The first place we ate at was “Txapela”. Like one of the reviews Mian found while we were doing research for the trip said, this place is not necessarily the best place for tapas, but it is a good place to start. I really appreciated the fact that there’s ample outdoor seating so you can soak in the streets of Barcelona and while it’s not too far away from Plaça de Catalunya and Las Ramblas. One of the things I liked the most (besides a really strong Sangria) was that the tapas menu had pictures even though the wait staff didn’t speak much English. Check out some of the goodies we ate:

Txapela
Paseo Gràcia 8
08007 Barcelona, Spain
934 120 289

Continue reading 'Barcelona – Day 1'»

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By Pete,

I kind of always knew that it was only a matter of time before I move my blog back to my domain after I moved it to wordpress.com a few weeks ago. Due to the limitations to the embeded materials over at wordpress.com, I decided to migrate the blog back to my own domain. So please check update your bookmarks/RSS feeds accordingly… Thanks!!!

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By Pete, June 9, 2009 1:33 pm

I’ve had June 10th circled on my calender for about a month now. On June 10th, 24 very accomplished chefs will compete on behalf of a charity on a new “Top Chef” spin off called “Top Chef: Masters“. It’ll be a brand new cast, new host (Sorry Kelly Choi, but no one can replace Padma), new judges, everything. There’re a few very well known chefs (some have also made Top Chef appearances) – Hubert Keller, Wylie Dufresne, Roy Yamaguchi, Rick Bayless, Rick Moonen, & John Besh just to name the few that I know off the top of my head. Here are a few things I’m looking for on the show:

1. Since they are all very well known chefs (at least amongst foodies), it’ll be interesting to see what the chefs can do without their supporting cast (sous chefs, pastry chefs, etc.) While I don’t think they’ll throw everyone in a knife skills competition right away, I think that those who aren’t in a restaurant everyday would have a significant disadvantage.
2. Some of these chefs are specialists in a particular type of cuisine, it’ll be interesting to see how they’ll handle the curve balls that TC like to throw at the contestants.
3. It’ll be interesting to see how some of these very successful chefs handle the criticisms of the judges. Generally, chefs (especially the highly successful ones) have a certain type of personality and for the most part, I don’t think they’ll handle the criticisms well (no matter how credible the judges are).
4. I feel that there’s a wider range as far as the age range of the contestants. It’ll be interesting to see how experience will play in and also how innovation (challenging/redefining old concepts) will play into the contest.

Top Chef Masters airs on Bravo at 10pm EST on Wednesday.

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By Pete, June 8, 2009 1:25 pm

“It’s not as much about the result, as it is about the journey.”

How true is that statement?? What a story that unfolded in France on Sunday!! For those of you who don’t follow tennis, history was made in a rainy afternoon in Paris. Roger Federer was crowned the 2009 French Open Champion while completing the career grand slam and, most importantly, won his record tying 14th career grand slam title. I never watched tennis growing up. In fact, it wasn’t until the Andy Roddick – Roger Federer match at the 2006 US Open that I started watching tennis (while I was waiting for a haircut). I was actually cheering for Roddick that day since I knew he was a fellow Austinite. But Federer was simply too good.

Fast forward a few years and I found myself riding along an emotional roller coaster that had him losing a heart-break at both the 2008 Wimbledon and the 2009 Australian Open to Nada, an up and coming tennis machine that is pretty much the human version of Pong. You can see from the first video (after the jump) that Federer wanted it bad – there was no question about it. And this is what made #14 so sweet (and #15 even sweeter if he redeems himself at Wimbledon against Nadal).

Continue reading 'From heartbreak to GOAT.'»

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By Pete, June 7, 2009 8:30 pm

Roger Federer - Champion of 2009 French Open

Congratulations Roger Federer for winning the 2009 French Open, completing the career slam, and winning your record tying 14th career grand slam!!! This one hasn’t come easy, enjoy it and get ready to capture #15 at Wimbledon!!!

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By Pete, April 27, 2009 11:35 am

Paella

Cigalas

Gambas

Croquetas

Churros

Jamón Serrano

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By Pete, April 19, 2009 10:28 pm

Tonight was apparently the grand finale of “Bistro  2404″ – a little hole-in-the-wall bistro located somewhere in my fantasy that just happened to be a few feet from where I sleep. The grand finale was, ironically, my choice for my “last meal on earth” – paella (and not just any paella, but paella made from lobster stock). If you’re a seafood fan and have never had a good paella before, there are 2 small containers in my fridge that you might be able to claim if you take Matt out.

After I added the last picture to the “Bistro 2404″ set (slideshow) onto my flickr, I decided to take a look back at how this all got started. The first picture was uploaded 11/22/2007 – when we opened up our house to Vox for Thanksgiving. I had agreed to make the turkey and I threw in a corn relish on the side. Then eventually, that led to having neighborhoods at our place (even though it was all guys and Jen). Then somewhere along the way, I joined the volunteer program at Central Market. Then the rest is history. Even though culinarily, I’ve come a long ways since November of 2007, I feel like I should really thank all the friends gracious enough to compliment me on my cooking and, more importantly – at times, brave enough to try ANYTHING I make (the braised beef tongue was a hard sell at first, but eventually all the roommates tried and loved it).

For those of you that have kept up with my blog, you might be wondering why I’ve taken my personally blog off my own domain and moved it here to wordpress.com. This is probably as good a time to tell y’all as any, seeing how I usually start blog posts and never finish it. So here I go… While I haven’t hammered out the details yet, I am excited to share that I’ll be starting a new blog/food project on my domain. Be sure to periodically check up here for when I’ll launch the new site. It’s going to be fun. =)

In all seriousness however, I should probably tell you all now that I’m not a rock star in the kitchen – there’re countless people better in the kitchen than me. I just think food is important. It was really over the course of the last year or so that I got to really see the importance of food. There’re many reason why I do what I do. I love seeing a random group of people get together for a meal, I love seeing friends being made, I love seeing the moment when people are getting introduced to new flavors, I love seeing people agonize over how awesome something taste, I laugh when people pass out after a meal. I abso-freakin’-lutely love all of that. So let me take this opportunity again to thank those that have helped me carry out this little fantasy bistro of mine for this. Here’s to all the memories of “Bistro 2404″ and all the potentials for the new place that still remains nameless.