snekse wrote:

ronnie_suburban wrote:

Louisa Chu wrote:Ron - these are gorgeous. Are we going to get Anthony's POV too? I see he had his big gun out too.

I'm not sure about Anthony's images. He jumped on a plane to France for 2 weeks the morning after our meal, so it'll be a while before they appear, in either case. He certainly has a better eye than I do and he was sitting on the brighter side of the table, so I hope he does post them because they should be superior to mine.

Great pictures Ron. Thanks for sharing. The menu looks very appealing. Though I have to agree with Louisa, I'm very interested to see YT's photos. Hope he has fun in France and all, but his Alinea pics are always a great deal of fun to look at.

Yes, he's the master . . . and he was the first to do it, too . . . the day after the restaurant opened

=R=

ronnie_suburban wrote:

snekse wrote:

ronnie_suburban wrote:

Louisa Chu wrote:Ron - these are gorgeous. Are we going to get Anthony's POV too? I see he had his big gun out too.

I'm not sure about Anthony's images. He jumped on a plane to France for 2 weeks the morning after our meal, so it'll be a while before they appear, in either case. He certainly has a better eye than I do and he was sitting on the brighter side of the table, so I hope he does post them because they should be superior to mine.

Great pictures Ron. Thanks for sharing. The menu looks very appealing. Though I have to agree with Louisa, I'm very interested to see YT's photos. Hope he has fun in France and all, but his Alinea pics are always a great deal of fun to look at.

Yes, he's the master . . . and he was the first to do it, too . . . the day after the restaurant opened

=R=

He may be the master but you are a student who rivals the master, my little grasshopper.

I cannot wait to eat there. i have reservations on Dec 21rst. I really want to take some pics as well but don't want to make a scene of it. Was anyone else there taking food porn pics?

davecamaro1994 wrote:I cannot wait to eat there. i have reservations on Dec 21rst. I really want to take some pics as well but don't want to make a scene of it. Was anyone else there taking food porn pics?

Yes, not only was my dining companion taking pics, but so too were other diners in the restaurant, and this is frequently the case at Alinea.

The key, as is advised throughout these forums, is to shoot without a flash. If you follow that procedure you should prevent a "scene" from breaking out.

Have fun!

=R=

I think it's not uncommon - just don't use a flash. The staff certainly did not seem to mind.

The photos I took help me remember an amazing experience - http://flickr.com/photos/kaplanbr/sets/ ... 335995096/

And also prompted me to start a group on flickr with alinea photos - http://flickr.com/groups/512533@N25/pool/

Enjoy your meal!

Believe me, I will have fun.

I just found this site and I have been looking for a Chicago foodie based forum. This is great. I was actually on Andrew Zimmerns website since that is the only forum I went to that seemed active. Glad I found this one

have you guys seen the promo for the book?

http://www.alinea-book.com/

very cool promo video

The promo looks cool. What is the mosaic they are referring to? Also, it states demonstrations and behind the scenes looks. Is there a DVD as well?

davecamaro1994 wrote:The promo looks cool. What is the mosaic they are referring to? Also, it states demonstrations and behind the scenes looks. Is there a DVD as well?

Mosaic would be the website produced for the owners of the book and that's where the extra bits would be (assuming I understand the promo site)

Only just getting to this...

ronnie_suburban wrote:I had the great pleasure to experience Alinea's newest menu this past Wednesday. Chef Achatz was in the house, intense as ever, after a couple weeks off for treatment. It's been said that 'half of cooking is thinking about cooking' and it was abundantly clear that chef Achatz had had some time to 'think about cooking' during his absence from the restaurant. The meal we enjoyed was the most tightly composed progression I've experienced in my many trips to Alinea. The delicious courses delighted our senses, evoked unforeseen emotions and captured the essence of the season masterfully.

Wonderful meal indeed. Glad to have Chef back in action. Ron is correct in saying that it was "intense as ever." Some of the dishes look so simple and playful, yet the flavors were uber complex. Things got started on a good heavy foot and things did let out until mid-meal, only to let it gain momentum for launching you into an equally complicated set of dessert items. Interesting to see how they are using breads (all now made in house) to compliment / finish off the dish. As far as dishes that stood out, there are just way too many dishes to list. Nice to see Martin also contribute to new stuff at the restaurant. The black matte color of some of the dishes provides a welcome contrast to the glossy white and shinny metal materials used.

Louisa Chu wrote:Ron - these are gorgeous. Are we going to get Anthony's POV too? I see he had his big gun out too.

Grant's work is more breathtaking than ever. If his medium were not food there would be absolutely NO question that he is one of the great artists working today.

Yes, kudos to Ron for another round of amazing work, and yes I had my big gun out as well.

Chef's current situation reminds me a cancer survivor and Tour de France multi-winner Lance Armstrong. If Chef follows a similar post-therapy attitude to that of Lance, then lookout folks, cause things will only get better (and out of control).

ronnie_suburban wrote:I'm not sure about Anthony's images. He jumped on a plane to France for 2 weeks the morning after our meal, so it'll be a while before they appear, in either case. He certainly has a better eye than I do and he was sitting on the brighter side of the table, so I hope he does post them because they should be superior to mine.

My eyes are only better, because they have been bionic'ly altered (read: lasik).

Louisa Chu wrote:

ronnie_suburban wrote:

snekse wrote:

ronnie_suburban wrote:

Louisa Chu wrote:Ron - these are gorgeous. Are we going to get Anthony's POV too? I see he had his big gun out too.

I'm not sure about Anthony's images. He jumped on a plane to France for 2 weeks the morning after our meal, so it'll be a while before they appear, in either case. He certainly has a better eye than I do and he was sitting on the brighter side of the table, so I hope he does post them because they should be superior to mine.

Great pictures Ron. Thanks for sharing. The menu looks very appealing. Though I have to agree with Louisa, I'm very interested to see YT's photos. Hope he has fun in France and all, but his Alinea pics are always a great deal of fun to look at.

Yes, he's the master . . . and he was the first to do it, too . . . the day after the restaurant opened

He may be the master but you are a student who rivals the master, my little grasshopper.

00: CENTERPIECE




01: DUCK butternut squash, banana, Thai flavors


02: RAINBOW TROUT cucumber, kombu, coriander


03: YUBA shrimp, miso, togarashi




04: CARAMELIZED ONION ROLL


05: BEANS many garnishes, pillow of nutmeg air




06: BREAKFAST RADISH & HORSERADISH KNOT


07: SWEETBREAD cauliflower, burnt bread, toasted hay




08: BLACK TRUFFLE explosion, romaine, parmesan


09: BEEF HEART fig, long peppercorn, celery root




10: PORK BELLY smoked paprika, polenta, pickled vegetables




11: ROASTED QUINCE foie gras, candied fennel, sweet spices
















12: CRANBERRY frozen and chewy, lemon, parsley


13: PINEAPPLE bacon powder, black pepper


14: BROOK TROUT ROE corn, Blis maple syrup




15: APPLE CIDER walnut milk, cinnamon, vegetable ash


16: TAGLIATELLE white truffles, parmesano reggiano






17: SCALLOP parsnip, orange, chamomile vapor




18: MILK & HONEY ROLL


19: HOT POTATO cold potato, black truffle, butter


20: KUROGE WAGYU matsutake, cedar branch aroma




21: RED PEPPER BREAD


22: LAMB in cubism




23: MAYTAG BLUE ginger, pear, tarragon


24: TRANSPARENCY of raspberry, rose petal, yogurt


25: GUAVA avocado, brie, key lime juice






26: LICORICE CAKE muscovado sugar, orange, hyssop


27: CHOCOLATE passionfruit, lemongrass, soy




28: PUMPKIN brown sugar, pie dough, burning leaves

Stunning, Anthony . . . just amazing.

=R=

I have never eaten at a place such as Alinea and I would like to. I do have a question and a confession. I will eat almost anything except I am not adventurous when it comes to meats. I do not eat duck, organ meats such as beef heart or sweetbreads, or like roe or the like. Is there still hope for me to eat at a place such as Alinea? Is there a way to order to avoid eating such things while still enjoying what else they have?? I do like seafood and most fish just not fish eggs or oysters.

toria wrote:I have never eaten at a place such as Alinea and I would like to. I do have a question and a confession. I will eat almost anything except I am not adventurous when it comes to meats. I do not eat duck, organ meats such as beef heart or sweetbreads, or like roe or the like. Is there still hope for me to eat at a place such as Alinea? Is there a way to order to avoid eating such things while still enjoying what else they have?? I do like seafood and most fish just not fish eggs or oysters.

Almost every high end place like this will work with almost any request (even vegan) - when you make a reservation you can let the person on the phone know what your restrictions are. It may be easier to just ask for "seafood only" but I'm sure if you wanted a beef course, and just not a heart, you could make that known.

toria wrote:I do not eat organ meats such as beef heart or sweetbreads

Beef heart is just like celery heart, sweetbreads are just like sweetmeats: only, in both cases, less crunchy.

I was there Friday night for our anniversery. I also took some pictures though with my blackberry. They did not turn out near as well. It is curious though that I received some different entres. How old were these pictures?
My wife and I did the full tour with the wine tasting as well. That and tip will run you $400 a person. It was awesome and anout 3/4 of the way through we were both getting very full. The last wines were very sweet as well. Though I thought the price of the wine pairing $125 a person was a bit excessive considering 2 oz glass and 11 glasses. Next time I would just go with a bottle of wine. I think my favorite courses were the shrimp, sweetbread, and butternutsquash soup. All of which I could eat until I explode.
This was definately an experience I am glad I got to check out.

I went to Alinea on Sunday night, for the first time and thought it was so innovating and different, just amazing.

Instead of typing the usual review on each dish, I thought I'd keep it simple. We had the tasting menu with the wine flight and luckily we got an extra three dishes, that were part of the tour, not sure why maybe because we were asking about the the tour, but we all enjoyed that.

The service was great; our table just had very bad luck which we made a joke about with the waiters. One of the people I was with spilt their water on me and my scallop dish, a waiter dropped a glass behind one of my guests and a waiter spilt a glass of wine on another. Oh, and there was a hair in my chocolate dish, but once I pointed this out, they replaced the dish right away. I'm sure this is a common affair in restaurants as it really cannot be controlled, and I was okay with that.

All in all, highly recommendable for a treat. Also, I thought it was neat when we were being walked to our table upstairs, Chef Achatz was standing at the top...I wonder if he does that for all guests or maybe we just lucked out to see him.

I did not see the chef anywhere so maybe you got lucky. Glad to see you had a great time. If you do not mind me inquiring what was the price of the wine pairing with the tasting as opposed to the tour?

The wine pairing was $100 with the tasting.

What is it with the tour?

Also, do you get 8 glasses of wine with the tour?

Shaggywillis wrote:Also, do you get 8 glasses of wine with the tour?

My one experience with Alinea's tour was that you got about 12 glasses of wine over the course of dinner. Not every course was accompanied.

I got the impression, too, that I could have asked for even fewer glasses. It's not that I don't enjoy wine, but I don't know how much enjoyment I got from drinking a glass with so many courses (my taste buds, in a wholly good way, were a little over-taxed towards the end, I think). As I recall, too, the wine pairing cost is based on the price of each glass, and it would have been easy to ask for 8-10 of the best glasses, rather than the whole line-up. But this was a while ago, and they may have changed the pricing structure.

Shaggywillis wrote:The wine pairing was $100 with the tasting.

What is it with the tour?

Also, do you get 8 glasses of wine with the tour?

The standard wine pairings are priced at about 2/3 the cost of the menu. This applies to both the Tour and shorter menu. Upgraded pairings, which include some harder to find vintages, etc., are priced at the same level as the menu. As others have posted, it is not a 1:1 ratio on the pairings. Some are meant to go with more than one course. There is no set quantity of wines, either. The quantity tends to vary slightly, depending on the menu, etc.

=R=

Shaggywillis wrote:The wine pairing was $100 with the tasting.

What is it with the tour?

Also, do you get 8 glasses of wine with the tour?

The standard wine pairings are priced at about 2/3 the cost of the menu. This applies to both the Tour and shorter menu. Upgraded pairings, which include some harder to find vintages, etc., are priced at the same level as the menu. As others have posted, it is not a 1:1 ratio on the pairings. Some are meant to go with more than one course. There is no set quantity of wines, either. The quantity tends to vary slightly, depending on the menu, etc.

=R=

That would of been nice to select just a few. I think you summed it up best when you said the taste buds get overwhelmed. There were 11 glasses with the tour. I think in hindsight I would of been happier with 2 bottles of wine for the $250 we paid for the pairing.
Next time..............I will know better

Good point. I figured if I was going to eat at Alinea, then I would do the wine pairing as well.

How long does the tour take to finish? It took us about four hours for the tasting, we did get three extra dishes and coffee at the end.

Shaggywillis wrote:Good point. I figured if I was going to eat at Alinea, then I would do the wine pairing as well.

How long does the tour take to finish? It took us about four hours for the tasting, we did get three extra dishes and coffee at the end.

It took us about 4.5 hours and we started rushing towards the end we were both getting quite full and all the mixing of wine was making us groggy.

It took us four hours for 15 courses and we were so tired, as well, at the end, we thought we might pass out if they brought another pillow.

My experiences at Alinea have run from just under 4 hours to 6.5 hours. I've always done the Tour but the 6.5 hour experience was for a special 34-course dinner to celebrate a friend's 34th birthday. Generally speaking, the house is happy to accomodate, so if you prefer a specific type of pacing, just let them know, preferably when you make your reservation.

=R=

My gift to my best friend for her 40th birthday was to take her to Alinea. It was a meal we've been anticipating for about four months now and as you can imagine, it exceeded every expectation we had and those we didn't know we had. We saw God many times throughout the meal.

I didn't take photos as the menu I thought was the same as that earlier in the post and I could never match the the beauty of Ronnie and Anthony's photos, but now I kick my myself for not taking some as there were some new courses:

Chicken, mushroom, red wine, diverse embellishments. I wish I could remember the embellishments, but there were about six different dabs of this and crumbs of that and sauces.

Cauliflower - chestnut, burnt bread, toasted hay. The toasted hay was actually the sauce in the dish. Some of the cauliflower was roasted, some crisped, some wrapped in brioche, I think.

Persimmon - carrot, red curry, spice strip. This was an amazing composition of dollops of an incredibly moist carrot cake-like concoction and crumbles of a shortbread-like treat.

Chocolate - egg, pomelo, smoke. This included what they called a chocolate "baguette" a log of a chocolate shell filled with a lovely cream. There was also a small chocolate ball filled with egg yolk. Also smoked salt I believe, and another smoke element that I can't quite remember.

(I should probably have my LTH membership revoked both for forgetting the pictures and for the wimpy descriptions above )

We did the tasting menu of 12 courses and were crying uncle at about the 8th course. I can't imagine how we would have ever managed the tour of 24 courses, but many have. Perhaps something to train for.

Wine pairings were brilliant and we had an amarone that I must hunt down zealously so I can have it again (Tommaso Bussola "BG" Amorone della Valpolicella Classico 2002).

We also caught a quick glimpse of Chef Achatz in the kitchen on the way out. I've looked into kitchens before but there is something truly striking about this view at Alinea- I don't know if it was lighting, or the layout, or how the doors frame the space but I could have lingered watching for hours.

I don't know that there are any more accolades I could heap on Alinea that wouldn't sound like a cliche so I'll stop here and start saving my pennies for the next visit.

Hellodali wrote:My gift to my best friend for her 40th birthday was to take her to Alinea. It was a meal we've been anticipating for about four months now and as you can imagine, it exceeded every expectation we had and those we didn't know we had. We saw God many times throughout the meal.

I didn't take photos as the menu I thought was the same as that earlier in the post and I could never match the the beauty of Ronnie and Anthony's photos, but now I kick my myself for not taking some as there were some new courses:

Chicken, mushroom, red wine, diverse embellishments. I wish I could remember the embellishments, but there were about six different dabs of this and crumbs of that and sauces.

...

(I should probably have my LTH membership revoked both for forgetting the pictures and for the wimpy descriptions above )...

I don't think that you should revoke your membership, because you have documented, IMHO, a very important thing. Chicken. I think this was the first time chicken was ever used as an ingredient in Alinea. Can you tell us more about this dish. Went to the web site and saw nothing about chicken on the menu.

Good news. Grant Achatz's cancer is in remission!

www.chicagotribune.com/features/lifesty ... 9319.story