Grant Achatz: one tough m%therf*cker

There is a fascinating and extraordinarily well-written profile of Grant Achatz, by D.T. Max, at The New Yorker's web site:

A Man of Taste

As the men talked, Achatz sometimes paused—his voice was hoarse—and opened a container that he kept with him, coated the heel of his hand with a white chalky liquid, cocked his head, and rubbed his hand along the inside of his mouth. The liquid was Lidocaine, a pain reliever.

Ten months ago, Achatz was given a diagnosis of tongue cancer. He was informed that if he did not start treatment immediately he would die. “You have Stage IV cancer,” he remembers being told by a doctor at the University of Chicago Medical Center. “There is no Stage V.” Doctors removed lymph nodes from his neck; a pink scar now extends from an inch below Achatz’s left earlobe to an inch above the collarbone. He was also given twelve weeks of chemotherapy treatment, which made his hair fall out, and six weeks of radiation, which nearly swelled his throat shut, and caused the skin inside his mouth and on his face to peel. “They burned me so bad I had to wear a burn mask,” he recalls. The therapy also destroyed his sense of taste. Although it is slowly returning—the process can take a year or more—he is in the precarious position of having to create and serve food that he cannot really taste.

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Looks absolutely fascinating...it's printing as I write and I know what I'm reading on the el home! Thanks for calling this to our attention, Ron.

[edited a couple hours later to add: Really quite interesting piece. Particularly on the effect of his cancer/treatment on his senses and on how he thinks/cooks now. Intelligent article and enjoyable; a nice companion to Corby Kummer's much earlier (1/07) one.]

PS Something about that picture reminds me of Gomez Adams (maybe a little Lurch in there, too....)

Really interesting article, thanks for pointing it out-
you just can't help but root for him...

Thanks for posting, ronnie.

I was fascinated by his statements near the end of the article about his tastes slowly coming back, and how this gave him a new perspective on the relationship between flavors. Part of this guys' survival is, no doubt, his optimism and his will to make the very best of what to others would be a career-if-not-life-ending situation.

It was interesting, too, that he addressed the inevitable Beethoven comparison -- that he composed music while deaf -- with the question, "Yeah, but did it make him happy?"

I want to know how he got the heel of his hand inside his mouth.

tnfbe wrote:I want to know how he got the heel of his hand inside his mouth.

That was my first thought, too! I tried and tried with my own mouth and the heel of my hand, and no matter which way I twisted and turned, couldn't get the heel of my hand to touch the inside of my mouth.

It looks like ther is going to be a couple extensive articles on Chef Achatz in the next issue of Chicago Magazine, according to Dish.

stevez wrote:It looks like ther is going to be a couple extensive articles on Chef Achatz in the next issue of Chicago Magazine, according to Dish.

Sounds like a prelude to the much anticipated Alinea "cookbook" (in quotes because I believe these recipes are going to be even harder to reproduce in your kitchen than those in the Trotter cookbooks).

My friend JJ Goode wrote this article for Men's Vogue:
http://www.mensvogue.com/food/articles/ ... rantachatz

BTW, from JJ's article:
Twice during our conversation, he dipped into his pocket for a little bottle of lidocaine, dumping a bit of the painkiller on his fingers and quickly rubbing it in his mouth to numb the persistent burn. A sip of hot coffee, wine, or balsamic vinaigrette still sets his mouth on fire.

David Hammond wrote:

stevez wrote:It looks like ther is going to be a couple extensive articles on Chef Achatz in the next issue of Chicago Magazine, according to Dish.

Sounds like a prelude to the much anticipated Alinea "cookbook" (in quotes because I believe these recipes are going to be even harder to reproduce in your kitchen than those in the Trotter cookbooks).

It also lines up with Alinea's 3rd anniversary, which is this week. I've seen a few of the recipes (at the beta of the book's Mosaic web site) and they are pretty straightforward. But much like the FL cookbook, the 'master' recipes are divided into sub-recipes for separate components and some of the 'master' recipes are comprised of multiple components.

As for the New Yorker piece, I was struck by the man's ability to focus and deliver in the face of serious illness and tremendous pain. I think for myself, I'd probably curl up into a ball and withdraw from the world under similar circumstances. It's pretty heroic stuff, IMO.

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I'm a happily married woman, but that article engendered a crush of Lisa Simpson propotions. Tell me I'm not alone.

On a more serious note, Achatz's story is a true inspiration -- one that helps keep day-to-day frustrations in perspective. I only had the pleasure of eating at Alinea once. It was the most charmed meal of my adult life (only the lobster boils we had as kids on Long Island come close).

great article, and very inspirational.

Although Alinea is a restuaurant I would never go eat at(not my style), I am rooting for Chef Achatz to make a full recovery, and to keep practicing his art at the high level he has in the past.

You're not the only one with a Lisa Simpson crush. Ever since I saw that attractive mug on the cover of Chicago magazine, my crush was solidified.
This was a great article, and Grant is truly an inspiration. I just wish I could afford to eat at Alinea-hopefully one day!

Hey, all. Here's a link to the story about Grant and his cancer in Chicago magazine. As the story's writer, I feel slightly awkward posting about it, but, hey, may as well put it out there.

http://chicagomag.com/Chicago-Magazine/ ... 08/Burned/

Jennifer Tanaka wrote:Hey, all. Here's a link to the story about Grant and his cancer in Chicago magazine. As the story's writer, I feel slightly awkward posting about it, but, hey, may as well put it out there.

http://chicagomag.com/Chicago-Magazine/ ... 08/Burned/

Jennifer,

We welcome the input and appreciate greatly your full disclosure.

Regards,

jennydran wrote:You're not the only one with a Lisa Simpson crush. Ever since I saw that attractive mug on the cover of Chicago magazine, my crush was solidified.
This was a great article, and Grant is truly an inspiration. I just wish I could afford to eat at Alinea-hopefully one day!

I *heart* Grant too!

Two questions from the article, not to diminish the "Grant Achatz: one tough m%therf*cker" sentiment all all, with which I wholeheartedly agree--

1) Was it just me or did the author make it sound like a changing, seasonal menu was something special to Achatz or nevertheless somewhat rare among chefs in general? I'm thinking specifically of the passage on p. 84 of the paper issue:

...many successful chefs leave their menus mostly unchanged, season after season. But this is not a route that Achatz is willing to take.

Isn't a changing menu pretty commonplace with certain types of restaurants these days? There's a lot for which Achatz has been innovative and bold. Maybe I'm wrong, but the menu thing--just purely in terms of a menu that changes with the seasons--isn't one of them.


2) A somewhat related question from the same passage about signature dishes. The author quotes Achatz as saying,

Thomas has his Oysters and Pearls"--a signature dish. We just don't do that. We develop dishs that we feel are great and then eventually replace them. (pp. 84-85)

Hasn't Hot Potato, Cold Potato become an Alinea signature dish? I had it almost two years ago. The author had it as part of his meal in March of this year (p. 87). Maybe I'm not understanding the author's definition of "signature dish"?

Overall, I think it was a good article. It made me decide that it's time to go back to Alinea. I will call today for a reservation.

happy_stomach wrote:Two questions from the article, not to diminish the "Grant Achatz: one tough m%therf*cker" sentiment all all, with which I wholeheartedly agree--

1) Was it just me or did the author make it sound like a changing, seasonal menu was something special to Achatz or nevertheless somewhat rare among chefs in general? I'm thinking specifically of the passage on p. 84 of the paper issue:

...many successful chefs leave their menus mostly unchanged, season after season. But this is not a route that Achatz is willing to take.

Isn't a changing menu pretty commonplace with certain types of restaurants these days? There's a lot for which Achatz has been innovative and bold. Maybe I'm wrong, but the menu thing--just purely in terms of a menu that changes with the seasons--isn't one of them.


2) A somewhat related question from the same passage about signature dishes. The author quotes Achatz as saying,

Thomas has his Oysters and Pearls"--a signature dish. We just don't do that. We develop dishs that we feel are great and then eventually replace them. (pp. 84-85)

Hasn't Hot Potato, Cold Potato become an Alinea signature dish? I had it almost two years ago. The author had it as part of his meal in March of this year (p. 87). Maybe I'm not understanding the author's definition of "signature dish"?

Overall, I think it was a good article. It made me decide that it's time to go back to Alinea. I will call today for a reservation.

I was at Alinea last weekend and it was fantastic, as usual. I hope you enjoy your upcoming meal as much as we enjoyed ours.

You're right. The concept of a changing, seasonal menu is hardly exclusive to Alinea and Chef Achatz but it isn't universal, either, even among fine dining establishments. Perhaps this comment reflected the writer's relative lack of experience with food writing.

I do think that Hot Potato, Cold Potato and Black Truffle Explosion (this one goes back to Chef Achatz's Trio days) have become signature dishes of a sort at Alinea but even so, they're not always on the menu. They reappear from time to time. I get the feeling (and I'm by no means sure) that by referrring to 'signature' dishes, the writer is specifically talking about dishes that permanently reside on certain menus; dishes that can be ordered at any time. For a while, Chef Achatz did make a point of saying that dishes would not reappear on his menu but certain special events provided a basis for bringing some of them back, and the response was overwhelmingly positive. I'm guessing that had something to do with their occasional reappearance from that point forward.

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ronnie_suburban wrote:I was at Alinea last weekend and it was fantastic, as usual. I hope you enjoy your upcoming meal as much as we enjoyed ours.

You're right. The concept of a changing, seasonal menu is hardly exclusive to Alinea and Chef Achatz but it isn't universal, either, even among fine dining establishments. Perhaps this comment reflected the writer's relative lack of experience with food writing.

I do think that Hot Potato, Cold Potato and Black Truffle Explosion (this one goes back to Chef Achatz's Trio days) have become signature dishes of a sort at Alinea but even so, they're not always on the menu. They reappear from time to time. I get the feeling (and I'm by no means sure) that by referrring to 'signature' dishes, the writer is specifically talking about dishes that permanently reside on certain menus; dishes that can be ordered at any time. For a while, Chef Achatz did make a point of saying that dishes would not reappear on his menu but certain special events provided a basis for bringing some of them back, and the response was overwhelmingly positive. I'm guessing that had something to do with their occasional reappearance from that point forward.

Thanks--that all makes sense. I'd love to have a completely new menu, but I also wouldn't mind too much if I experienced Hot Potato, Cold Potato again for dinner on July 25th.

happy_stomach wrote:Thanks--that all makes sense. I'd love to have a completely new menu, but I also wouldn't mind too much if I experienced Hot Potato, Cold Potato again for dinner on July 25th.

It, Black Truffle Explosion and Bacon were all on the menu last Saturday, which may or may not have been due to the "3rd anniversary" interval.

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Grant Achatz Tells How Working On a Classic Muscle Car Helped Influence His Cooking

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB1000142 ... ml?mod=itp

Nice. Can't take the Michigan out of the boy...