6 posts tagged “food”
Jenny, her parents, and I were in Chicago last week while Jenny's dad was attending a medical conference. Having learned of this Windy City sojourn about a month-and-a-half ago, I decided that this was the perfect opportunity to try to score a table at Alinea, which has been getting a ton of great press and word-of-blog since it opened a few years ago.
While I figured a reservation for four might be hard to come by on six weeks notice, I called the restaurant, left our possible dinner dates, and after a few nervous days of waiting, heard that we were scheduled for Thursday, April 26th, at 6:30. The only choice left: Which menu? Each night, the chef offers a different 12- and 24-course tasting menu. Adjustments can be made for food allergies or vegetarian preferences, but for the most part you are in the capable hands of the master.
At some places, tasting menus seem like a little bit of a trendy afterthought -- really just intended to upsell the splurge-prone foodie -- but at others, Alinea obviously included, these bite-sized orchestrations are really central to the idea of the restaurant. Frankly, giving myself over the chef's choice is my favorite way to enjoy most new dining experiences -- whether it's my local hangout or a 3-star landmark restaurant. "Give me your best stuff."
That said, it was pretty much a no-brainer that we'd go with the 24 courses. Maybe if we lived in Chicago and had the option of returning for more, but seeing as this would probably be our only Alinea experience for a while, I opted for the whole enchilada -- the four-hour "tour."
In the weeks leading up to the dinner, I was a little apprehensive about how my in-laws would respond to that many hours of dining. I wasn't really worried about the amount of food, since Korean meals can easily have 20+ dishes on the table at a given time, and when we were in Korea last year, we ran into some mammoth quantities of food. I was just hoping that sitting upright, rather than on cushions on the floor, would soften the blow. In order to allay my worries, Jenny began a propaganda campaign to prep her mom and dad on the extraordinary nature of the meal. The website was met with much approval from my mother-in-law, a devoted Food Channel viewer. My father-in-law expressed cautious anticipation and cagily hedged his bets by making reservations at a Chicago steakhouse for the following evening.
Finally, the evening arrived. It didn't disappoint. From the unassuming facade of the restaurant to the surprising optical illusion of an entranceway to the gorgeous dining areas to the attentive, comfortably friendly staff, you definitely feel like you are enjoying a very special experience.
Then there's the food. Each course offers a different "featured" flavor. Some courses are the size of an amuse bouche, some are mini-entrees, some come as a "flight" of preparations. Each course is served on incredibly beautiful and wonderfully unique dinnerware custom-designed for Alinea.
I could go on and on about each dish, but the pictures will have to suffice for now. Needless to say, Jenny and I are looking for a good excuse to get back to Chicago as soon as possible.
A couple of notes:
- Jenny's coverage is here, including hilarious time-lapse reaction shots of her dad.
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We sat next to a lone diner who seemed a just slightly out of place, but we eventually started a conversation with him and learned that he was the local security for a visiting celebrity who was eating in the corner -- El Hijo del Santo, a very famous Mexican wrestler who wore his mask the entire meal, much to the amusement of the staff, guests, and Santo's dinner companions.
Here are some of my favorite courses:
Click on the collection for the whole shebang...
Spinach, mushrooms, tomatoes, Brussells sprouts. Anything green and cooked. Now, I like all of the above. Mmmm.
