Help me explain Alinea

nsxtasy wrote:The best explanation of Alinea I've seen, one that even non-foodies can appreciate, is the comic strip on this website.

Gypsy Boy wrote:

dddane wrote:Word of caution: a good amount of what Alinea is all about is surprise. Is too much press a bad thing? Possibly. If you’re planning to go, I wouldn’t spend a lot of time reading reviews, looking at pictures, reading press articles. It ruins some of the surprise and takes some of the fun away…. I feel as though I would have benefited slightly by knowing a little less prior to going.

That was the single best piece of advice I received before going and I’m especially glad I took it to heart. And for precisely the same reasons, I will invoke dddane’s closing words from the opening paragraph: “If you haven’t been but plan to go, you might skip over the next few paragraphs…—I’d hate to ruin any surprises you may experience. I feel as though I would have benefited slightly by knowing a little less prior to going.” Amen.

Despite my insistence that I had absolutely no interest in trying Grant Achatz’s brand of high-tech cuisine, the Lovely Dining Companion knows me better than I do myself and so we went last Saturday. In retrospect, it having been Yom Kippur, I can safely say that I can’t imagine a better way to break a day-long fast (on one’s birthday) than to eat at Alinea.

I was more than skeptical, I was downright opposed to trying Alinea. Why? Because several years ago, at the annual Food & Wine bash at the MOCA, I tried some cockamamie invention on an impossibly high-tech “skewer.” The skewer reminded me simultaneously of the pins they use to display butterflies and some Tom Swift-y gizmo that he’d copped from the hospital. The food was decidedly not to my taste—so much so that I’ve completely blocked any memory of what it even was. I’ll take my food the old-fashioned way, thank you. Identifiable items served on good old-fashioned plates, with forks and knives!

Silly me.

Since we came back from Alinea, I’ve done quite a bit of reading about Achatz and about Alinea. The best piece has been Corby Kummer’s piece, “The Alchemist.” That it appears in a magazine entitled Technology Review is precisely the kind of information that would have confirmed me in my ignorant opinion had I known of it before we went. If you’ve been to Alinea and haven’t read it, I’d urge you to do so. It’s remarkably insightful. If you haven’t been, let me emphasize dddane’s suggestion above: the less you know the better. While foreknowledge won’t ruin your meal, an essential element of dining at Alinea is the theatricality involved.