I'm really sorry I'll be out of town for this. He's set the bar extremely high. I'm looking forward to the reports.

the Rogue Chefs was the underground dinner group. they did one or two dinners and then literally disappeared. All i am saying is that a very similar thing happened in PDX. They tried to use portlandfoodanddrink.com as a media branch and they got flamed, ok, so of course there is no direct coleration, just an unfortunate incidence. However, personally, i think there is a coleration between these in the sense that young chefs are trying to get their vision out and they are going about it the wrong way. Unless you look at the fact that all this commotion may be a good thing, esp if they can walk the walk.

I agree that if you don't use the media to spread your vision, you will be cooking for yourself. However there are smart ways to go about it and there are absurd ways. I think this is a situation of the latter. thank you

I hope none of the guests have an incidence of coleration after the dinner.

-Will

Porkatarian wrote:However there are smart ways to go about it and there are absurd ways. I think this is a situation of the latter. thank you

This I agree with. Hopefully, getting flamed initially (and still being treated with a bit of suspicion) has taught him the error of his ways. I think his offer of treating a pair of LTHers to a gratis dinner was a clever idea, and I'm hopeful that it's a sign that he has, in fact, found that some methods of marketing are more effective than others.

To be (maybe too) honest, I think the next big thing he needs to learn is a little humility. The multi-paragraph hype & spiritual talk are a bit much, in my opinion.

At the very least, he has the cojones to go out on his own & try to make it, regardless of industry (something I'd love to do, but seem to lack a suitable idea and the aforementioned cojones to actually follow through on). I hope it works out for him.

Oh, also:

Porkatarian wrote:BTW sous vide is 'illegal' in chicago, learn your facts, son, gyst (get your shit together)

Unless something changed recently, this isn't true. There was a period a few years back in New York when sous vide cooking was temporarily banned until they could figure out a way to regulate it (from a food safety point of view), but this was never the case in Chicago. Here, the only health code I could find is that the vacuum sealer has to be kept in a separate part of the kitchen, away from all other cooking & food preparation surfaces, to prevent cross-contamination by nasty organisms that thrive in anaerobic environments and warm (but not boiling) temperatures, like Clostridium botulinum.

copy that.

this sounds alot like the Clandestino dinners that have been happening here for quite some time.

Actually it is a $250 fine the first time you are caught with a cryo vac machine without a HACCP program. Worked in a few Chicago restaurants were it was moved into the chefs office every time the health inspector came by to visit!

This isn't a "restaurant", however, it's a dinner party. I'm assuming that Forlines doesn't have a business license, a restaurant permit, hasn't been inspected, etc, etc...

I doubt that the rules for sous vide would apply to this endeavor. It's more like if you were hosting a dinner party at your house and asking everyone to pitch in fifty bucks for ingredients. At least, in theory....

Forget theory. In reality I doubt that the health dept would feel that way. He's charging $ for his "dinner party" in @ a commercially licensed kitchen. Maybe he doesn't feel the need to wash the silverware in the proper cleaning solutions or hold the food @ the proper temp either?

Maybe our distinguished young master who's trying to circumvent the inconvenience of the kitchen hierarchy feels that those rules don't apply to him either? I'd wager they do but would bet he has a couple asinine paragraphs as to why they shouldn't.

I would imagine that a business such as Kitchen Chicago, however, would know the rules and make sure those who used the space knew the rules. He's not doing this in a warehouse, and I doubt that a large, commercially licensed operation that offers a shared-space kitchen would escape the attention of the health department.

Cynthia wrote:I would imagine that a business such as Kitchen Chicago, however, would know the rules and make sure those who used the space knew the rules. He's not doing this in a warehouse, and I doubt that a large, commercially licensed operation that offers a shared-space kitchen would escape the attention of the health department.

In fact, Kitchen Chicago does not allow anyone to operate anything out of their space without first proving that they have a food service sanitation certificate and a liability insurance policy.

I stand corrected. I forgot that this event was being held in Kitchen Chicago.

Hi,

At a bare minimum, Suburban Ronnie attending will at least guarantee better pictures of the food offered than those present on Forsine's website.

I have seen those vacuum sealers outside the vicinity of restaurant kitchens.

I look forward to the reports: good, bad or indifferent.

Regards,

Wow! I have been able to check LTH only infrequently over the past month or so and totally missed this thread. I, too, got an email from Andrew and figured it was due to my name/address being everywhere and us holding similar events in our kitchen. Now I see that it was because I'm on LTH. I was curious about the dinner, but unable to go (can't do Saturdays, sorry), and am looking forward to the reports.

Cathy2 wrote:At a bare minimum, Suburban Ronnie attending will at least guarantee better pictures of the food offered than those present on Forsine's website.

I promise a report, no matter what. I will bring my camera and plan to take pictures but will only post them if the quality of meal warrants it. If the meal isn't deserving of the time/effort it takes to prepare the pictures for posting, I won't bother doing so.

=R=

ronnie_suburban wrote:

Cathy2 wrote:At a bare minimum, Suburban Ronnie attending will at least guarantee better pictures of the food offered than those present on Forsine's website.

I promise a report, no matter what. I will bring my camera and plan to take pictures but will only post them if the quality of meal warrants it. If the meal isn't deserving of the time/effort it takes to prepare the pictures for posting, I won't bother doing so.

=R=

Since I am really crappy photographer, I'll take pictures and post them if the meal sucks. When you see whose pictures get posted first, you'll know how the meal was

Just back from the dinner. It was absolutely charming.

The Kitchen Chicago venue is a mighty impressive place -- high ceilings, dramatic lighting, great look over all, and fabulous views of the city from the large, modern, spotlessly clean, well-furnished kitchen.

As for the food, I'll let others go into details on that (though I'll say that, while Grant and Homero are safe, I thought it was all quite nice, the flavorful, well-seasoned, crisp-tender, sous vide-cooked veggies, all purchased this morning at Green City Market, were a real highlight, the baby beet salad with arugula and goat cheese was excellent, the little potatoes served with the main course were outstanding, the parsnip puree-stuffed puff pastry appetizers were yummy, and the mojito sorbet palate cleanser was delicious). The thing I want to focus on is the people. This was the nicest, sweetest, homiest gathering imaginable. (Jygach and I got there a little early, so we had a chance to chat with a lot of the people before things kicked into high gear.) Andrew is as young as I imagined from previous communication -- 23, his mom said (yes, his mom was there, as was his older brother). All the servers (and boy did they hustle -- did a better job serving than many pros), the musician, and the photographer are all friends of Andrew's, some in from out of town for this event. The love, excitement, sense of purpose, and joy were bubbling out of everyone there. Everyone should have friends like this.

Andrew's mom said she started him cooking when he was very young, even grinding their own wheat and baking bread together. By the time he was 14, he'd be offering to cook dinner for mom and dad, when he thought they could use a break. That's why she was pleased when he got the chance to go into the cooking apprentice program. Andrew himself was sweet, worried, excited, self-effacing, hopeful, and passionate about the idea of building this into a place where people can come together "to learn and play" -- a sort of latter day salon for people who like food. A very good saxophonist played (when he wasn't waiting tables), a young artist displayed her photography, episodes of Planet Earth were being projected on a wall -- it was all designed to create conversation and fun. After dinner, Andrew told me he hopes to get things running smoothly enough that he can come out and spend more time talking to people, helping spur on the mingling and community that he envisions for the venue.

It's hard to guess who exactly will be drawn to this, long term. I think it's geared more for people who are newer to organic and experimental cuisine -- a crowd as youthful as the enthusiastic friends who excitedly talked about the new food experiences with which Andrew had provided them. I'm hoping Andrew finds the right crowd and realizes his vision of "a venue for expression for all to meet and discuss what is on their minds." I want it for more than just Andrew, however, because the whole joyous community around him is so delightful. It's impossible to not want to see that level of enthusiasm and hard work rewarded in some way.

I should note, for those concerned about whether or not I might be biased in my comments, that I did accept a discounted admission fee for the dinner (half price). I thought it was important to go, as I'm a great believer in supporting dreamers, but I'm broke (book still isn't on the bestseller list, alas). However, if there was any bias at all it was not caused by the discount; it was caused by my natural "rescuer" response, as a result of the pretty over-the-top attack on the original poster. So I found another LTHer to join me, and I headed off to the rescue. However, that said, I stand behind everything I wrote. They were adorable and enthusiastic and joyous. As Mike G noted in this wonderful post on his Sky Full of Bacon blog -- http://skyfullofbacon.com/blog/?p=251 -- I was not writing a professional review, and while I didn't go because I admired the OP (as Mike G notes admiring someone he interviewed), I did go expecting to at least give the kid a break. It turned out to be a fun dinner, full of hope and dreams and some tasty food. But as I said above, I'm leaving the detailed descriptions of cuisine to others.

I had fun last night, and gained respect for Andrew's approach to food. Sometimes people criticize Alice Waters for being a "great shopper" instead of a great chef. It's a criticism she's rightly happy to receive, and I saw in Andrew the same sort of passion for sourcing wonderful ingredients, then trying not to screw them up. He talked about having spent the morning at the Green City Market, and sounded like a kid in a candy store as he described the bounty of gorgeous, fresh produce he found.

When I asked Andrew how he made the broccoli soup, our second course, he said, "3 ingredients: broccoli, water, salt. With broccoli that intense and fresh, you don't want to mess with it." He was right, as the simple, somewhat chunky puree was very good, as long as one really likes broccoli. There was a fourth ingredient he didn't mention: rich, pungent Saxon Creamery sheep's milk cheese which Andrew lightly shaved atop the soup. An excellent touch.

He handled the 3 varieties of beets in the first course (beet salad with arugula) just as well. They were very sweet and had just the right texture. The man knows how not to screw up great beets. He chose good arugula too, and topped the salad with what he called "a complex goat cheese from one of the market vendors". He had tasted a dozen cheeses or so to determine what would go best with this salad, and settled on what I'm fairly certain was Prairie Fruits Farm Krotovina, a fantastic sheep/ goat combo cheese with a bloomy rind and a layer of ash running through the center.

I was skeptical when I heard that our next course would be red wine poached tilapia, as I usually find tilapia bland and texturally boring. I have to say, however, that he poached this very well and managed to bring out every ounce of richness that this fish is able to supply. Nicely done. The dish was also served with asparagus that had been cooked sous vide to, as Andrew put it, maintain the intensity of the flavor. I don't know if it was the cooking method or what, but the asparagus did indeed have a great, clean asparagus taste, and it was nicely tender.

The next course was one of the two failures of the evening: pork loin, also cooked sous vide, and served with some sort of fruity tangy cream sauce which I guessed was raspberry and yogurt pureed together and stiffened up with some chemicals. The sauce didn't work for me, but the real problem was that the meat seemed to have cooked about twice as long, or at twice the temperature, that it should have. If cooking meat sous vide is one of the things Andrew calls "experimental," I think he might need to go back to the laboratory.

Our five course meal was generously turned into 6 (or 7 if you count the hors d'œuvres) when we received two dessert courses. The first was a very nice yellow cake (semolina, perhaps?) with some terrific strawberries and very good vanilla ice cream. Simple, clean flavors that were well executed. Unfortunately, the final course left a literally and figuratively bitter taste in my mouth. Chocolate mousse with peanut butter that had been maltodextined into a chalky white cross between a powder and a paste. It also needed salt, sugar, or something else to make it taste good, but I don't think any flavor enhancement could have saved that unpleasant mouthfeel. The mousse itself was bitter, made even more so by the addition of very bitter cocoa nibs. I don't have much of a sweet tooth, but even I thought this needed more sugar. I also thought the mousse felt greasy rather than rich and creamy on the tongue.

Probably because it didn't fit my overall impression of Andrew as a chef who's passionate about local, seasonal ingredients, I have not yet mentioned what might have been my favorite bite of the night: pastry puffs which were filled with luxurious, intensely parsnippy cream that had the texture of a custard. The warm puffs were served as an hors d'œuvre for guests as we arrived.

I had fun last night, and had the dinner been positioned just a little differently, I'd have called it a smashing success. Andrew is a young guy with a genuine excitement about food that's like wide-eyed child's wonder and amazement at Disneyland. What might have come across as pompous and phony online is humble and very real when you meet the guy in person. Is Andrew going to change the face of Chicago food by introducing us to new techniques and "the future of dining"? Clearly not. But for 50 bucks, I thought it was great to have a multi-course meal made almost solely of the best market ingredients served by enthusiastic chef and his friends in a very cool location.

Thanks for the review, Kenny. Based on your review, it sounds to me that he needs to drop the faddish devotion to "molecular gastronomy" and just focus on simple, seasonal, and local. The fact that you mentioned Waters and not Achatz in your review spoke volumes.

Glad to hear that it was a success and I hope all this was a good learning experience for the Chef.

Best,
M

eatchicago wrote:Thanks for the review, Kenny. Based on your review, it sounds to me that he needs to drop the faddish devotion to "molecular gastronomy" and just focus on simple, seasonal, and local...

That's the direction I'd go, but I don't know if it's right for him. As excitedly as he spoke about shopping the farmer's market, he was also quite passionate about the promise of modern cooking techniques. I like chefs with a vision, and while I don't think he's figured out how to execute his Waters/Achatz fusion idea flawlessly yet, I'd encourage him to keep trying. According to a close friend of his who sat with us during dinner, Andrew has as much fun reading and researching all things culinary as he does cooking. I view this Kitchen Chicago thing as his learning lab, and it's fun and affordable enough that it just might be worthwhile for customers to pay for the opportunity to be his guinea pigs, even if we're the subjects of some failed experiments along the way.

I had a fun time at Soylent Fuchsia on Saturday night but I don't think I liked the food as much as Kenny or Cynthia did. Before I get into that, though, I have to say that Andrew is a charming, talented kid with a wonderful family and great friends. Having met him in person (something about which I am very happy), I can say that whatever brashness he appeared to have conveyed at the beginning of this thread was more an instance of puppy-like exuberance and enthusiasm than cockiness or braggadocio. I now feel like I have proper context for him and I can appreciate the earnestness of his efforts (both here and at the actual event).

That said, I still thought there was a fairly large disconnect between the edginess of what was touted here and the reality of the experience. The meal was, for the most part, fairly conventional. The fact is, techniques like sous vide are fairly commonplace in kitchens across the world these days and to be on the edge, you're going to have to do more than cook something in an immersion circulator. For me, preparations were mostly competent but never really better than that. And in some cases, they were worse.

As Kenny mentioned above, shopping was done quite well. Ingredients were, for the most part, well chosen, and they represented the season and the region respectably. But that wasn't the case across the board. I recognize and accept that not everything can (or should) be local or seasonal but the featuring of dried apricots in one appetizer and tilapia in the fish course made me feel that Andrew was, perhaps, in a bit over his head. Had the meal not been touted as it was, I might not have even noticed these things. But it was and I did and the rest is history . . .



The banquet space at Kitchen Chicago (324 N Leavitt) is nothing short of awesome.



A look from the other end of the room.



There's tons of kitchen space at Kitchen Chicago. Here's a look at an auxiliary baking kitchen that wasn't even in use for this event. A huge walk-in is available, also.

We started out with some appetizers that were served during the pre-meal mingle . . .


Dried Apricot, Mascarpone and Almond
It was probably just the (bad) luck of the draw that the apricot was nearly flavorless but as far as choices went, a bite like this should be saved for February, when there are fewer alternatives. Given the season and the fact that most of the shopping was done at Green City Market, this was an extremely odd choice.



Puff Pastry with Parsnip Puree and Herbs
Very tasty and I liked the fact that Andrew made his own pate a choux but the double-starch aspect of this offering was a bit of a turn-off for me.



Compound Butter with Lemon Zest and Fresh Herbs
This butter was on the table when we arrived and it looked great. We eagerly awaited a vehicle for it.



Bread Basket
Bread was really disappointing. I thought these were all fairly flavorless and texturally, they seemed like they were a day old or had been sitting around for a while.



Andrew Curtis Forlines
Before the service began, Andrew came out and spoke to people in the dining room about the meal.



Salad of Beets, Arugula, Goat Cheese and Dehydrated Tomato
The variety of beets was pretty well prepared. I had a couple of bites that were nearly raw but they were mostly tender and sweet. The greens were dressed well but I had some pretty big, inedible stems on my plate. I loved the goat cheese (identified above by Kenny) but thought the dehydrated tomato was an odd inclusion. This time of year, if the tomato isn't good enough to serve raw, don't bother with it. Conceptually, this was a relatively conventional offering. I didn't find it particularly original, edgy or inventive. Still, it was tasty.



Broccoli Soup with Sharp Cheddar and Herbs
For me, a devotee of broccoli, this may have been the best dish of the meal. I didn't love the texture, which was more like a coarse puree than a soup but the flavors and aromas were very successful.



Red Wine-poached Tilapia with Asparagus and Red Wine-Beurre Rouge Aioli
I loved the almost florally fresh asparagus but the fish was bland and lifeless. I thought the aioli worked well, though. As I mentioned above, I also thought the use of tilapia was odd. If you're not going to use a local protein, why use tilapia -- especially when wild salmon and halibut from Alaska are readily available at the moment? One person at our table said this limp piece of fish, with its pale red color, resembled a used bandage.



Andrew prepares the intermezzos



Frozen Mojito Shot
Really nice. Refreshing and vibrantly tart while maintaining a good balance with the restrained sweetness.



Slide Show
Unfortunately, the show was fairly small and was shown on a wall which was to the backs of half the diners in the room. This show wasn't really a part of my S.F. experience because it was happening behind me.



Pork with Emulsified Sauce, local carrots and potatoes (never heard a description from our server)
The carrots were wonderfully sweet and even though they had grill marks, they had a raw texture - still tasty, though. The potatoes were excellent, with a remarkably creamy texture. The pork, as noted above, was extremely dry and the sauce, which didn't pair well with it flavorwise, wasn't enough to save it. Something went wrong here, plain and simple. If I'd invited friends over for dinner and it turned out like this dish, I would have insisted that we order out. I'm sorry if that sounds harsh but it's the truth. Life's too short to eat (or serve) meat like this.



Smoke Element
I think this was rosemary but I don't really know. It arrived on our table after the pork dish had been served. I thought the smoke smelled very nice but it wasn't enough to salvage the pork.



Cake with Fresh Berries and Vanilla Ice Cream (details unknown)
Ok dessert. This is one of those kinds of desserts that when contestants make it on Top Chef or Next Food Network Star, they get bitched out for mailing it in. Here, I thought the berries and ice cream were nice but the cake had nothing to it and was nondescript. The inclusion of mint and thyme in the dish weren't enough to sway me.



Burning Cinnamon Element
This arrived on our table after the berry cake was served. I'll assume it was an homage to Alinea because it was too derivative to have been anything else. Here, though, I didn't feel it added anything to the course with which it was served.



Peanut Butter Powder with Chocolate Mousse and Cocoa Nibs
Not the most attractive plate and not very tasty, either.

Even though the food was just ok, I still enjoyed the experience. Andrew's got charisma, and he's also fortunate to have the unconditional support of his friends and family, who think he's "a genius." I'd trade every ability I have to have had that kind of backing when I was 23. And he certainly cares about what he's doing but you simply cannot do what you do not know. And that's the crux of the story here, for me.

Running a kitchen requires a complex set of skills that are learned through experience and passed between cooks. One would have to be remarkably exceptional to succeed in this world without accruing experience via the traditional channels. For all the sincerity and effort here, I felt like the meal was heavily limited by Andrew's base of culinary knowledge. I think he has potential and if he has the passion for cooking that he appears to have, he'd be well-served to get out into the industry and start learning from a variety of experienced cooks and chefs. It wouldn't hurt to become a more experienced diner, as well.

Kenny mentioned something to me during the event indicating (paraphrasing) that if Andrew had pitched himself and the event in a more accurate manner (i.e. developing cook will do his best to make a meal at a reasonable price), it would have been more successful. I agree completely. In fact, I told Kenny that the concept, as he described it, seemed far more compelling to me than what we'd experience on this night. But again, having met Andrew, I understand that he is actually a humble fellow, so perhaps that got lost in the translation this time around.

I appreciate the moxy and the dedication that Andrew possesses. I had a very nice time at Soylent Fuchsia. I hope that down the road, I'll get to try his food again, after he's got a bit more mud in his cleats.

=R=

Just a thought, but since there were only about half as many guests as Andrew had hoped for, perhaps tilapia was a budget-driven choice. He did say in one post up-thread that he thought he was approaching the break-even point with guests, but if he went all-out at Green City Market, it's likely that halibut or wild salmon would be out of range.

Cynthia wrote:Just a thought, but since there were only about half as many guests as Andrew had hoped for, perhaps tilapia was a budget-driven choice. He did say in one post up-thread that he thought he was approaching the break-even point with guests, but if he went all-out at Green City Market, it's likely that halibut or wild salmon would be out of range.

Maybe so. But some other, more flavorful, locally-farmed fish (yellow perch, for example) or locally-raised chicken would both have been better choices than this in my opinion because they're also cheap, preparable in a wide variety of ways and either would have been more in line with the stated philosophy.

=R=

ronnie_suburban wrote:

Cynthia wrote:Just a thought, but since there were only about half as many guests as Andrew had hoped for, perhaps tilapia was a budget-driven choice. He did say in one post up-thread that he thought he was approaching the break-even point with guests, but if he went all-out at Green City Market, it's likely that halibut or wild salmon would be out of range.

Maybe so. But some other, more flavorful, locally-farmed fish (yellow perch, for example) or locally-raised chicken would both have been better choices than this in my opinion because they're also cheap, preparable in a wide variety of ways and either would have been more in line with the stated philosophy.

=R=

While I don't know where Andrew got his tilapia, I will say that there is lots of locally-farmed tilapia available from Aqua Ranch. The ingredients Andrew chose were inspired by shopping trips to the Green City Market and Cassie's Green Grocer. Cassie sells the Aqua Ranch tilapia, so perhaps that's why he chose it. Still maybe not the best choice (though I actually liked it quite a bit more than I anticipated), but it does seem consistent with Andrew's stated philosophy.

ronnie_suburban wrote:I had a fun time at Soylent Fuchsia on Saturday night but I don't think I liked the food as much as Kenny or Cynthia did.

I think our opinions of the food are actually relatively close. I liked a couple of things more than you did, but I wonder if one contributing difference came from where we each sat. While you got stuck ( ) with a table full of LTHers, I sat with Andrew's mom, dad, brother, and close childhood friend. That enabled me to very quickly shift my mindset from what Andrew seemed to be touting the event as to one of someone who'd been lucky enough to get invited to an intimate gathering where proud family members celebrated a major milestone in the life of someone they love.

I easily had a good enough time, and liked the food enough to encourage others to try it for the $50 price tag. But that recommendation is about the whole experience - including touring the fantastic kitchen with its skyline view, enjoying the cool loft dining space, and chatting with a passionate, hard-working young cook and his guests.

Kennyz wrote:I easily had a good enough time, and liked the food enough to encourage others to try it for the $50 price tag. But that recommendation is about the whole experience - including touring the fantastic kitchen with its skyline view, enjoying the cool loft dining space, and chatting with a passionate, hard-working young cook and his guests.

I'd also encourage folks to get into the larger aspect of what he's trying to do -- create community, conversation, and a wider experience. Go expecting to mingle and chat. If you're a struggling artist, talk to Andrew about showing some of your work. If you play an instrument, volunteer to perform. If you're a videographer, take a DVD and have that projected. I even saw an ad on Craig's list from Andrew looking for additional artists to participate. The idea extends beyond the meal to creating an entire experience.

Also, if you are younger and, unlike Ronnie_Suburban, are not on a first-name basis with the entire staff of Alinea, you might actually run into a few culinary techniques that you haven't seen before.

And speaking of Alinea -- one of the things I remember from back in Grant Achatz's Trio days is that, if a plate didn't go back empty, he'd send the waiter out to find out why the dish didn't work. Also, on Fridays, he had a discounted lunch (I think it was $65) where he'd try out the experiments, to see what worked for people and what didn't, and to get feedback. So even for a world-class chef, there was a learning curve -- and maybe feedback is another valuable thing we can supply to Andrew.

Even though I didn't really comment much on the food, I don't disagree with Ronnie's comment that I enjoyed the meal better than he did, but that's because I went for a different reason. I knew it wasn't going to be Alinea, but I thought it sounded brave and hopeful, and anyone who knows me know that I'm all about pursuing your dreams.

thanks, all, for the thorough and well-thought-out reviews.

Kennyz wrote:While I don't know where Andrew got his tilapia, I will say that there is lots of locally-farmed tilapia available from Aqua Ranch. The ingredients Andrew chose were inspired by shopping trips to the Green City Market and Cassie's Green Grocer. Cassie sells the Aqua Ranch tilapia, so perhaps that's why he chose it. Still maybe not the best choice (though I actually liked it quite a bit more than I anticipated), but it does seem consistent with Andrew's stated philosophy.

Understood and agreed about the provenance of the tilapia but I still wished for something more flavorful, regardless of its origin. In any event, there were only 2 items I thought were poor choices, so that leaves a huge percentage of the ingredients as being successful, IMO.

Kennyz wrote:I think our opinions of the food are actually relatively close. I liked a couple of things more than you did, but I wonder if one contributing difference came from where we each sat. While you got stuck ( ) with a table full of LTHers, I sat with Andrew's mom, dad, brother, and close childhood friend. That enabled me to very quickly shift my mindset from what Andrew seemed to be touting the event as to one of someone who'd been lucky enough to get invited to an intimate gathering where proud family members celebrated a major milestone in the life of someone they love.

As for our table, what struck me the most wasn't the other LTHers, it was my non-LTH friends. I don't think they had any preconceived notions about the experience and they were really looking forward to it. In a sense, their reactions, which were largely negative, may have been the most meaningful. Take away the friends, family and curious LTHers who were giving Andrew the benefit of the doubt and you're left with these folks who may have had the most unbiased opinions in the room (not that they can't be picky bastards on occasion ).

Kennyz wrote:I easily had a good enough time, and liked the food enough to encourage others to try it for the $50 price tag. But that recommendation is about the whole experience - including touring the fantastic kitchen with its skyline view, enjoying the cool loft dining space, and chatting with a passionate, hard-working young cook and his guests.

I think Andrew should relax and just follow his passion, which doesn't really appear to be m.g. It was definitely a fun evening and if I have any regrets, it wasn't over the money we spent, it was over the Saturday evening we burned (even though I always love hanging out with fellow LTHers). That's why I'm happy I went but would be unlikely to do it again in the near future.

=R=

Cynthia wrote:Also, if you are younger and, unlike Ronnie_Suburban, are not on a first-name basis with the entire staff of Alinea, you might actually run into a few culinary techniques that you haven't seen before.

Cynthia,

You're a fairly seasoned diner. Did you encounter any techniques that were new to you at this meal?

Cynthia wrote:And speaking of Alinea -- one of the things I remember from back in Grant Achatz's Trio days is that, if a plate didn't go back empty, he'd send the waiter out to find out why the dish didn't work. Also, on Fridays, he had a discounted lunch (I think it was $65) where he'd try out the experiments, to see what worked for people and what didn't, and to get feedback. So even for a world-class chef, there was a learning curve -- and maybe feedback is another valuable thing we can supply to Andrew.

When I mentioned to Andrew after the meal that the pork was really dry, he actually seemed surprised by my comment. If he hadn't tasted the pork, he should have. If he'd tasted it and thought it was ok, then he could certainly benefit from more experience.

Cynthia wrote:Even though I didn't really comment much on the food, I don't disagree with Ronnie's comment that I enjoyed the meal better than he did, but that's because I went for a different reason. I knew it wasn't going to be Alinea, but I thought it sounded brave and hopeful, and anyone who knows me know that I'm all about pursuing your dreams.

I too, knew it wasn't going to be Alinea (in fact, I was fairly certain of that). But I went in with an open mind and hoped that I'd be surprised and pleased. As for pursuing dreams, heaping praise on Andrew for this meal seems disingenuous to me. It reminds me of those people who humiliate themselves on American Idol because for their whole lives, their friends and family tell them what great singers they are, even though they are not. Then, they go on the show and get sorely needed reality checks. Attaining some dreams, like cooking, requires more than gumption. It requires training and experience. I wholly applaud Andrew's pursuit of his dreams and feel that getting additional training would be the single best thing he could do to achieve them. Advising anything else would be incorrect and unrealistic, IMO. In fact, if he were my son, that's exactly what I'd advise him to do.

=R=

I went to this dinner minus any Alinea or Moto expectations. However, as others have stated, the bar was set rather high and my curiosity was piqued. Here are my thoughts on this dining experience.

The banquet room at Chicago Kitchens was stunning and the tables were set in a clean, modern style with white napery. Fresh vegetables artistically arranged in white bowls served as attractive table adornments.

We arrived a little early and had the opportunity to spend a few minutes chatting with Andrew the chef who was delightful, modest and very eager to please. In person, he bore absolutely no resemblance to the brash screen persona. Assisting Andrew were his very supportive family and friends who pitched in as sous-chefs and servers. Collectively, they provided a great deal of charm to the total dining experience.

Unfortunately, the food component of the evening was considerably less appealing. Many of the dishes such as the beet and arugula salad and the cake with berries and ice cream,
were competently executed but not particularly imaginative. Sadly, the dishes where the chef attempted to be more innovative were much less successful. The red wine poached tilapia had a grayish hue and the red wine rouge aioli sauce it was paired with was less rouge and more a brownish sludge. The whole effect was, to my eyes, rather unappetizing. The pork course was clearly overcooked and the accompanying berry sauce was overly tart and did not marry well with the meat. The second dessert course – chocolate mousse with malodextined peanut butter – was, simply, a bittersweet mistake.
Many of these courses made me wonder – “Did he actually taste this dish?”

Andrew’s interest in sourcing fresh local ingredients is laudable. However, it is disappointing that this interest did not reach beyond produce and extend to the sourcing of good local bread.

Andrew’s desire to forge a path for himself in the world of food is evident. I hope he will take more time to develop his palate and technical skills.

In light of how this thread started, I'd be especially curious to get Andrew's take on the evening. I'd love to know how he felt it went -- high points, low points, what he thought succeeded and what, if anything, he'd do differently in the future.

=R=