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In the sports world, there are a handful of athletes that you are fortunate enough to have been able to watch; Michael Jordan and Tiger Woods initially come to mind. You could explain them to the next generation, but they just won't get it. In the same light that our generation doesn't understand the enormity of Mohamed Ali or John Wooden. For foodies, one of those guys is Grant Achatz. If you look at a gallery of his creations, it would be stretch just to imagine these dishes, but to have the ability, the resolve, and the gift to present it on a plate (or pillow), is awe inspiring and I'm just fortunate enough to have been to experience his food.
$225 Tour Menu 24 Courses
Due to the number of courses, I won't write a bunch of comments about each, but rather primarily rank the dishes and mention the highlights for each dish. I prioritized the dished by a 1 (dishes I loved), 2 (dishes I thought were good) ,or 3 (dishes that I didn't care for). I had 11 #1s, 8 #2s, and 5 #3s. The pictures really do more justice for this place than my written review.
(Entrance)
Light cheese filled and one of the first times I thought salmon roe actually complimented a dish, rather than overwhelm it with salt.
They hand this dish to you so I forgot to take a picture of it before I ate it. A well prepared dish.
(Utensils)
The presentation on this one was cool. It comes on the plate within a cylinder. Then, they pull the cylinder and the dish pours out on the plate. The flavor on the mushroom cream propelled this one to the top.
#16 Apple
Fresh flavors of apple and celery. Cool interlude between dishes.
The monkfish was presented three ways: fried, grilled, and pate. Very good, but too normal for Alinea.
They bring this one out on a pillow that is filled with juniper air and then puncture it, so there is this aroma of juniper. Pretty cool. The dish itself was good, but not memorable.
One of the best tasting dishes I had. He knows how to use truffles. The serving dish was cool because it had an opening in the bottom.
#6 Short rib
One of the best presented dishes I had, next to the coconut. Layered with Guinness (beer) gel, it looked liked a piece of art and tasted great. I could have done without the peanuts. The rating was more for the presentation.
Nothing special to me, but the flavor was good. It was a yuzu flavored with saffron and sprinkled with powdered sugar.
I love maple so it may be my bias. The chestnut base had a good flavor too.
Two things stood out on this one. The ginger liquid filled ball, it's explosive and I liked it. The brioche pudding was the star of this dish, very rich. I could bathe in this stuff.
It was a chocolate-licorice cake and it was well-executed, I could have done without the hay on the top. You are supposed to put the whole thing in your mouth without the use of your hands. I think women could learn a lot from this dish.
Not for me. I didn't care for the gel around the crab and the rice on the side looked nice, nothing special on the flavor.
Rumor has it; the chef calls this one, Master of the Universe. I forgot to asked why they served it with bananas, it was odd to me. And way too much powder on the plate. It was the only dish that I thought didn't work. None of the flavors went together.
Like the yuzu, it was good, but nothing special.
One of my favorite for the presentation and the quality of the lamb. I would consider it a simple dish, each lamb piece with a different sauce, but it was near perfect. I also liked the change to chopsticks. It was served on this hot coal that seared the bottom of the lamb. That's hot.
One of his signature dishes and for good reason. It's a warm potato ball in a cold soup with truffles. You pull the pin out and the potato falls in the soup. Again, the presentation and the truffles make the dish.
Just way too much granola for the venison. Once you take the granola off, the meat goes well with the accompanying sauces.
This was the chef's complimentary dish. I just liked the fact that I could get foie gras in Chicago. It was a foie gras mouse encased in cinnamon bun dough. Sweet goes with foie gras and it worked well.
I'm certain there is cocaine in this dish. It's the one I still crave today. That olive oil ice cream is something Ben or Jerry should look into to. Looking around a lot of other people seems to like this dish, also.
I'll remember this one for some time. It had the best presentation of the evening. The coconut ribbon across the middle reminded of the 60s when brides use to wear white to weddings, I miss that color. Taste wise, the cornmeal cake was the star.
Not sure if it was the wine kicking in at the time, but I stared at the chocolate for a few minutes. Like in that one Seinfeld episode when Elaine stop having sex and she was starring at the tires go 'round and 'round. I just thought it was cool how they coiled the chocolate.
It came wrapped around a cinnamon stick, crisp on the outside and a rich, juicy bite of caramel on the inside. Great dish.
It's just bacon with a strip of butterscotch. I would take this one off the menu.
