IAmtheFMan
Member
So this 4th of July, instead of partaking in the usual revelry of drunken grilling and dangerous fireworks, my friends and I decided to go to Alinea. As I'm sure some of you are aware, Alinea is one of the highest ranked restaurants in the country, if not the world. It's headed by Grant Achatz who worked with Thomas Keller before setting off on his own. Since then, it's won numerous awards, and has been praised as one of the biggest draws for foodies to Chicago. So why'd we decided to go on the 4th? Well, it was the only time we could get reservations (that we booked about 2 months ago) and my friend and I had finished probably our most grueling year of work. This was our celebration.
Short version: this was one of the most incredible meals of my life. It's not something I'd do every day... hell if I do it again, likely not for a few years, but the whole thing was an experience from start to finish. I was absolutely amazed by the creativity of the food, and the combination of flavors. I'll try to spare the borderline, scarily-sexual descriptions of the food that you get in a lot of foodie blogs, and just try to focus on my thoughts during the whole thing.
One note: I did NOT bring a camera, because 1) I didn't want to be that annoying guy with the flash camera going off every 10 minutes, and 2) I wanted to enjoy my food, without the stress of trying to "document" my time there. All the pictures that are coming up are from finding them on the web from blog sites, etc. I also don't have pictures for all of the courses either which amazes me that Achatz is constantly changing his menu all the time.
Long version::
Like I mentioned, we made this reservation 2 months ago. That gave me enough time to save money for this excursion.
The last two weeks, my diet pretty much consisted of this:
Ah, dehydrated nitrate-laden Korean noodles. Where would I be without you?
Anyhow there were 4 of us that went. My friend from work, one of her friends, and then my friend who lived 2 hours away. Our reservation was at 7:30. I put on my best wedding/funeral/strip-club suit and I was on my way.
The first thing I noticed was that there's no sign outside. When the cab dropped us off, I was confused but luckily there was a dude waiting for us opening the door. Otherwise I probably wouldn't have found it. The entrance was weird too. The hallway tapered off like in that Simpsons episode when they rebuilt Flanders' house with the small Barney-door. The hallway to the left was the restaurant proper.
After we got seated, we were told about the two menus; one was a 13 course tasting one, and the other was a 26 course tour. We had anticipated this, and we knew full well that if we were doing this... we were gonna go all out. They also had an option of wine pairings which was 3/4 the cost of the food. I and my work-friend opted not to do this, but the other two went for it. So there we waited, in abated anticipation of this 26 course monstrosity...
Courses:
English Pea: This was the starter. It was a dehydrated soup, freeze-dried and thawed a bit with sherry, inberico and a pearl of honeydew. I normally don't like pea soup, but this was really good. Creamy with the hint of sweetness. A nice way to start off.
Lobster: I really wish I could find a picture of this. This was essentially a lobster, breaded with lychee and gruyere with a vanilla bean stick as a skewer. This was really good, and one of the highlights of the night.
Yuba::A Yuba stick with shrimp wrapped around it with a miso sauce, and togarashi. This was very good, but after the lobster was a little less fantastic.
Chao Tom: This came out the same time as the Yuba. It was a sugar cane with a shrimp flavor, and mint. You were meant to bite in, chew then spit it out into a napkin. Biting into this, you immediately got the shrimp, but as you chewed the sweetness kicked in.
Distillation: This was a tease of the next course afterwards. It was literally a shot of a distillation of flavors. I think we picked up on lemongrass, curry, and cucumber on it.
Pork Belly: Easily one of the highlights of the evening. When we first sat down, there were 4 flags of rice paper in the middle which sat there until this course. For this though, we were given this apparatus to place the rice paper in along with ingredients on the glass including red onions, cashews, curry, coconut, cucumber, lime. Pork belly was then placed in the middle of the rice paper, we added the other ingredients and ate this like a wrap. This was really, really good...
The flags (again not my pics):
The other ingredients:
Deliciousness of pork belly being added:
Fantastic.
King Crab: This was a multi-tiered course. We had a bowl that was brought out, which revealed a King crab panna cotta with a basil jelly underneath. This was then removed, to reveal a King crab salad, and finally this was removed revealing a King crab rich consomme. The last layer was really rich and creamy.
First part:
Second:
And finally:
Octopus:: This was a quick bite of an octopus with red wine over a fava bean soup. This was okay but not as good as the previous courses.
Lamb: This was okay. There was lamb three ways, part of the loin, fat and another part (didn't catch which part.)
Hot potato: It looks like this is kind of a signature dish of Alinea. It's a potato with a truffle over it, you pull the pin, it goes into the cold potato soup and you take it as one shot. The truffle with the potato and the mix of the hot and cold was great.
Malt, Bacon, and Nutella: These three came out at once. This seemed like a palate cleanser. The Malt was a mix of berry, and toffee. This was one of the best sweet items of the night. The bacon was hanging on this see-saw thing and was flavored with butterscotch, apple and thyme. You initially got the sweet flavors but then the saltiness of the bacon came out and it was one of the best pieces of bacon like, ever. The nutella was a freeze-dried concotion, but when you put it in your mouth it melted into a perfect creamy combination of bread, banana and chocolate.
The back is the bacon swinging thing, front left is the malt, and on the right is the nutella spoon.
Corn: A little simple, freeze dried corn with butter. A LOT of butter.
Surf clam: This was a play on Clam Chowder. There was an emulsion of clam, with a thyme foam and bacon, and celery and oyster crackers. Very tasty and creamy.
Oxalis pod: I'll be honest, I'm trying to remember this one... but I can't. It's not sticking out in my head mainly because the next several just kept getting better.
Salad: Radishes, kumquat, and dill with a powdered ranch. Pretty good but nothing to write home about.
Sardine: This was a no-hand dish; sardine with horseardish, pepper, cress and tomato. You were meant to lean forward and take it in one bite. The novelty was interesting, but ultimately only okay.
Squab: My oh my. This was the one that floored me in terms of presentation, and taste. This was inspired by Achatz's summer memories. First the plate; it was a birchwood log, slightly burned to give off the aroma of the wood itself. There were then strawberries that were charred on it, with lettuce and squab. Let me tell you, the combination of the strawberries and tender squab, with the aroma of the wood was simply astounding. I had a huge smile on my face with this one.
Black truffle: I guess this is going head to head with the hot potato as the signature Alinea dish. It's a ravioli in a half dish (no bottom) with romaine and parmesan. You put this in your mouth, and it explodes black truffle. It's basically a black truffle ravioli Gusher. I loved it, but your enjoyment of this is really out of how much you like truffle.
Tournedo: A dish as an homage toEscoffier. First off we got these really nice goblets and a wine in them (don't remember which one,) and the plates were from the early 1900's apparently. This was a wagyu beef. Super tender.
Dessert time:
Lemon Soda: This was a small packet which dissolved in your mouth. Nice flavor.
Bubble Gum: A tube of hibiscus, creme fraiche, tapioca. Meant to be sucked out all at once. Tasted EXACTLY like bubble gum.
Transparency: A Raspberry leaf. Really flaky, but very fruity.
To the left is the transparency. In the front is the bubble gum tube.
Earl Grey: This was also a hell of a presentation. We were presented with pillows infused with Earl Grey scent, and then had this dish of a crumbled cookie with flavors associated with Earl Grey; lemon, pine nuts, and a carmelized white chocolate. Holy hell this was awesome.
Chocolate: Okay so for the finale, they cleared the table, put on a silicon table cloth, then poured coconut, menthol, chocolate syrup, cookies, other stuff I can't remember and then freeze dried dark chocolate on the table. This was HUGE and we barely finished this amongst the four of us.
So that was it. We got there at 7:30, and I checked my phone afterwards and saw that it was close to 12:30. I sat there in gastronomical bliss. We then got an individual menu of what we had (and the wine pairing list for the other two.) We had them signed by Grant Achatz too.
One of the best meals of my life. Would I go back? Absolutely... bank account allowing. As evinced below, this was NOT a cheap meal. Two got the wine pairings, and me and my friend split a separate bottle.
What was the final damage? 1502.38. Worth the experience? Hell yeah.
I know that there's bitching in the French Laundry threads about how going to a place like this is a complete waste of money, and LOL go to Chipotle and buy booze/drugs/hookers with the rest, but that's missing the point. The whole experience was immaculate, and God knows I'm gonna remember this meal for the rest of my life.
Back to Neoguri.
Short version: this was one of the most incredible meals of my life. It's not something I'd do every day... hell if I do it again, likely not for a few years, but the whole thing was an experience from start to finish. I was absolutely amazed by the creativity of the food, and the combination of flavors. I'll try to spare the borderline, scarily-sexual descriptions of the food that you get in a lot of foodie blogs, and just try to focus on my thoughts during the whole thing.
One note: I did NOT bring a camera, because 1) I didn't want to be that annoying guy with the flash camera going off every 10 minutes, and 2) I wanted to enjoy my food, without the stress of trying to "document" my time there. All the pictures that are coming up are from finding them on the web from blog sites, etc. I also don't have pictures for all of the courses either which amazes me that Achatz is constantly changing his menu all the time.
Long version::
Like I mentioned, we made this reservation 2 months ago. That gave me enough time to save money for this excursion.
The last two weeks, my diet pretty much consisted of this:
Ah, dehydrated nitrate-laden Korean noodles. Where would I be without you?
Anyhow there were 4 of us that went. My friend from work, one of her friends, and then my friend who lived 2 hours away. Our reservation was at 7:30. I put on my best wedding/funeral/strip-club suit and I was on my way.
The first thing I noticed was that there's no sign outside. When the cab dropped us off, I was confused but luckily there was a dude waiting for us opening the door. Otherwise I probably wouldn't have found it. The entrance was weird too. The hallway tapered off like in that Simpsons episode when they rebuilt Flanders' house with the small Barney-door. The hallway to the left was the restaurant proper.
After we got seated, we were told about the two menus; one was a 13 course tasting one, and the other was a 26 course tour. We had anticipated this, and we knew full well that if we were doing this... we were gonna go all out. They also had an option of wine pairings which was 3/4 the cost of the food. I and my work-friend opted not to do this, but the other two went for it. So there we waited, in abated anticipation of this 26 course monstrosity...
Courses:
English Pea: This was the starter. It was a dehydrated soup, freeze-dried and thawed a bit with sherry, inberico and a pearl of honeydew. I normally don't like pea soup, but this was really good. Creamy with the hint of sweetness. A nice way to start off.
Lobster: I really wish I could find a picture of this. This was essentially a lobster, breaded with lychee and gruyere with a vanilla bean stick as a skewer. This was really good, and one of the highlights of the night.
Yuba::A Yuba stick with shrimp wrapped around it with a miso sauce, and togarashi. This was very good, but after the lobster was a little less fantastic.
Chao Tom: This came out the same time as the Yuba. It was a sugar cane with a shrimp flavor, and mint. You were meant to bite in, chew then spit it out into a napkin. Biting into this, you immediately got the shrimp, but as you chewed the sweetness kicked in.
Distillation: This was a tease of the next course afterwards. It was literally a shot of a distillation of flavors. I think we picked up on lemongrass, curry, and cucumber on it.
Pork Belly: Easily one of the highlights of the evening. When we first sat down, there were 4 flags of rice paper in the middle which sat there until this course. For this though, we were given this apparatus to place the rice paper in along with ingredients on the glass including red onions, cashews, curry, coconut, cucumber, lime. Pork belly was then placed in the middle of the rice paper, we added the other ingredients and ate this like a wrap. This was really, really good...
The flags (again not my pics):
The other ingredients:
Deliciousness of pork belly being added:
Fantastic.
King Crab: This was a multi-tiered course. We had a bowl that was brought out, which revealed a King crab panna cotta with a basil jelly underneath. This was then removed, to reveal a King crab salad, and finally this was removed revealing a King crab rich consomme. The last layer was really rich and creamy.
First part:
Second:
And finally:
Octopus:: This was a quick bite of an octopus with red wine over a fava bean soup. This was okay but not as good as the previous courses.
Lamb: This was okay. There was lamb three ways, part of the loin, fat and another part (didn't catch which part.)
Hot potato: It looks like this is kind of a signature dish of Alinea. It's a potato with a truffle over it, you pull the pin, it goes into the cold potato soup and you take it as one shot. The truffle with the potato and the mix of the hot and cold was great.
Malt, Bacon, and Nutella: These three came out at once. This seemed like a palate cleanser. The Malt was a mix of berry, and toffee. This was one of the best sweet items of the night. The bacon was hanging on this see-saw thing and was flavored with butterscotch, apple and thyme. You initially got the sweet flavors but then the saltiness of the bacon came out and it was one of the best pieces of bacon like, ever. The nutella was a freeze-dried concotion, but when you put it in your mouth it melted into a perfect creamy combination of bread, banana and chocolate.
The back is the bacon swinging thing, front left is the malt, and on the right is the nutella spoon.
Corn: A little simple, freeze dried corn with butter. A LOT of butter.
Surf clam: This was a play on Clam Chowder. There was an emulsion of clam, with a thyme foam and bacon, and celery and oyster crackers. Very tasty and creamy.
Oxalis pod: I'll be honest, I'm trying to remember this one... but I can't. It's not sticking out in my head mainly because the next several just kept getting better.
Salad: Radishes, kumquat, and dill with a powdered ranch. Pretty good but nothing to write home about.
Sardine: This was a no-hand dish; sardine with horseardish, pepper, cress and tomato. You were meant to lean forward and take it in one bite. The novelty was interesting, but ultimately only okay.
Squab: My oh my. This was the one that floored me in terms of presentation, and taste. This was inspired by Achatz's summer memories. First the plate; it was a birchwood log, slightly burned to give off the aroma of the wood itself. There were then strawberries that were charred on it, with lettuce and squab. Let me tell you, the combination of the strawberries and tender squab, with the aroma of the wood was simply astounding. I had a huge smile on my face with this one.
Black truffle: I guess this is going head to head with the hot potato as the signature Alinea dish. It's a ravioli in a half dish (no bottom) with romaine and parmesan. You put this in your mouth, and it explodes black truffle. It's basically a black truffle ravioli Gusher. I loved it, but your enjoyment of this is really out of how much you like truffle.
Tournedo: A dish as an homage toEscoffier. First off we got these really nice goblets and a wine in them (don't remember which one,) and the plates were from the early 1900's apparently. This was a wagyu beef. Super tender.
Dessert time:
Lemon Soda: This was a small packet which dissolved in your mouth. Nice flavor.
Bubble Gum: A tube of hibiscus, creme fraiche, tapioca. Meant to be sucked out all at once. Tasted EXACTLY like bubble gum.
Transparency: A Raspberry leaf. Really flaky, but very fruity.
To the left is the transparency. In the front is the bubble gum tube.
Earl Grey: This was also a hell of a presentation. We were presented with pillows infused with Earl Grey scent, and then had this dish of a crumbled cookie with flavors associated with Earl Grey; lemon, pine nuts, and a carmelized white chocolate. Holy hell this was awesome.
Chocolate: Okay so for the finale, they cleared the table, put on a silicon table cloth, then poured coconut, menthol, chocolate syrup, cookies, other stuff I can't remember and then freeze dried dark chocolate on the table. This was HUGE and we barely finished this amongst the four of us.
So that was it. We got there at 7:30, and I checked my phone afterwards and saw that it was close to 12:30. I sat there in gastronomical bliss. We then got an individual menu of what we had (and the wine pairing list for the other two.) We had them signed by Grant Achatz too.
One of the best meals of my life. Would I go back? Absolutely... bank account allowing. As evinced below, this was NOT a cheap meal. Two got the wine pairings, and me and my friend split a separate bottle.
What was the final damage? 1502.38. Worth the experience? Hell yeah.
I know that there's bitching in the French Laundry threads about how going to a place like this is a complete waste of money, and LOL go to Chipotle and buy booze/drugs/hookers with the rest, but that's missing the point. The whole experience was immaculate, and God knows I'm gonna remember this meal for the rest of my life.
Back to Neoguri.
