This weekend we celebrated our anniversary by dining at a very interesting 5 star restaurant, Alinea. Its chef and owner, Grant Achatz, is a graduate of Culinary Institute of America and a protégé of Thomas Keller, serving as his Sous Chef at French Laundry for four years. In 2001, Chef Achatz joined Trio in Evanston, IL where under his lead, the restaurant was awarded 5 stars by the Mobil Travel Guide in 2004. Chef Achatz opened Alinea in 2005, and immediately attracted the attention of diners by offering a modern approach to cuisine featuring molecular gastronomy. Having recently begun molecular gastronomy experiments of my own, I have really looked forward to the dining experience at Alinea.
Alinea is in a residential area of Chicago, hidden amongst townhouses. As we opened the door, all we saw was a mysterious dark corridor with a few dim lights. We walked along and initially didn’t see an opening to the restaurant at all. All of a sudden, the doors in front of us opened as if by magic, and we found ourselves in the foyer of the restaurant, whereupon we were greeted by the staff. After this grand entrance, we were escorted upstairs and seated in a spacious and well lit room, featuring sleek modern furniture, black tables, and comfortable tan chairs, matching tan-colored walls with modern art.
We chose the tasting menu which included a total of fifteen courses. The comprehensive wine list included a number of delightful Burgundies, from which we chose the Vosne-Romanee Malconsorts 2003, a Premier Cru wine from Domaine Francois Lamarche. A great wine for such a tasting menu, the Malconsorts balanced notes of concentrated fruit with a rich satisfying earthiness that paired well across the variety of delicate flavors throughout the meal.
We started with Roes, including a duo of Steelhead Trout and Arctic Char caviars served with toasted brioche foam and egg-dill whipped crème fraîche. The saltiness of the caviars, cured with fleur de sel, paired wonderfully with the light buttery flavors of the “traditional garnishes”. This was a perfect start to an evening of exploration, an example of the interplay of flavors and textures to come throughout the evening.
Next, we were presented with two kinds of butters: a light and creamy goat milk butter and a delicious cow milk butter topped with Hawaiian lava salt. The goat’s milk butter was our immediate favorite, melting softly into the well textured breads that accompanied each course. In fact, the breads were actually brought to us between each savory course, serving as a specifically paired transition between these courses. The breads were all amazing and included cilantro lime bread, shallot and thyme brioche, honey and coriander bread, a savory pear cookie, and finally a perfectly baked, traditional American dinner roll.
|
 |
Our second course was Pork Belly, consisting of two parts. First, we were instructed to drink from a shot glass containing a transparent liquid of Thai green chilies and lemongrass. The aroma of this liquid was extremely spicy, as if smelling very hot chilies up close. However, because of the distillation process, this intriguing drink was actually not spicy to taste, but in fact full of intense mouthwatering flavors that whetted our appetite and prepared our palate for the main part of the dish. The tender pork belly was served in a crunchy fresh iceberg lettuce cup, infused with cucumber juice and enhanced with various Thai flavors. Spicy pepper sauce served on the side added a little bit of heat, and basil seed vinaigrette was a surprise ingredient that provided a lovely sweet and sour finish to the dish.
The White Asparagus course arrived in a narrow glass, and as we were pondering on how we were going to eat it, the waiter lifted the glass and the contents spilled in a bowl below. The complexity of textures and flavors in this dish was incredible. This smooth blended asparagus soup was flavored with white pepper, with a creamy arugula emulsion at the very bottom. Mixed in the soup were fruit and honey-flavored tapioca pearls, and a juicy tips of white asparagus, marinated in what we thought was sweet vinegar. On the top, we tasted honey foam, a liquid nitrogen frozen marzipan, and bananas. This soup was full of lovely sweet spring flavors.
Chef Achatz loves to pair shellfish with flowers. The Lilac course represented this pairing beautifully. Strong floral notes of fluffy white lilac “pillows”, together with hints of light sweet honeydew gellée and foam, were wonderful accompaniments to delicate Diver scallops, mussels, and razor and littleneck clams. Tangy and crispy thin slices of celery were a great addition to this dish. After salty, spicy, and sweet notes dominant in the first three courses, this fourth course brought these flavors all together in a wonderfully choreographed composition.
A Soft Shell Crab tempura course featured warm Maryland soft-shell crab accompanied by a duck confit and a five-spice, spicy prune sauce reminiscent of hoisin sauce. The predominant vegetable here was carrot puree, however, there were a number of occasional others. For example, I was surprised and delighted to taste a pickled ramp. A garnish of cream with black sesame seeds added another intriguing dimension to the taste. We loved the Asian fusion flavors in this “treasure hunt” dish.
In contrast, the next course was Blue Crab, a cold parfait with delicious warm Maryland lump crab meat immersed in a carrot puree and duck confit. The parfait was topped with ginger ice and lychee juice, offering a burst of spicy and bright flavors. The contrast of temperatures between the warm crab meat and the cool ginger lingering on our taste buds was very unique. We thought this was an incredible dish and one of our favorites of the evening.
A delightful surprise for me was the next course of Hot Potato, Cold Potato – a well-known signature dish of Chef Achatz that I really wanted to try. This dish consists of a chilled potato soup infused with black truffle juice, served in a tiny wax bowl. Over the bowl is a skewer of a hot potato ball cooked in clarified butter, parmesan cheese, butter, and chives, topped with a large slice of black truffle. When the skewer is removed the potato, the garnishes fall into the soup and are slurped all at once. The flavors of black truffle and potatoes combined wonderfully, with an excellent contrast in temperatures. Like the contrast in crab presentations in the previous two dishes, this was a wonderful playful all-in-one creation.
Next was a not-so traditional “steak and potatoes”, including a small portion of Wagyu beef, perfectly cooked and seasoned with a chef-created “A1” sauce in powered form. The “potato” side consisted of creamy potato custard, crusted with crumbled salt vinegar potato chips. Recreating the essence of A1 sauce with molecular gastronomy, the powered result lacked only the familiar smell of steak sauce. Thus, as a special effect to satisfy our sense of smell, our waiter filled our black vase centerpiece with hot water containing dry ice and aromatic elements of A1 sauce. The result was a volcanic explosion, filling the air with a thick vapor and smoky rosemary aroma. This was a very unique presentation, and the rich marbled Kobe beef satisfied wonderfully with the accompaniments provided.
The following three courses, to make the transition from savory dishes to desserts, were presented at the same time, and we were instructed to proceed in a particular order from right to left. First was a glass consisting of a solid yogurt sphere, suspended in a delicious tangy pomegranate juice. The sphere also contained liquid yogurt inside. Swallowed from the glass, the concoction acted as a tangy palate cleanser. Next, we found a glass tube filled with layers of hibiscus, crème fraîche, and bubble gum flavored tapiocas. We had to suck the contents from the glass tube, experiencing initial tangy floral notes of hibiscus followed by the creaminess of crème fraîche and a final sweet finish of bubble gum flavor. The final course in this trio was a signature “Bacon”, hung on a silver wire. The thin crispy piece of bacon was wrapped in ribbons of butterscotch and apples, and garnished with thyme. The saltiness of the bacon, with the sweetness of the butterscotch and apples were a great flavor combination. In combination, this trio was the most playful part of the meal, engaging us in first in sucking yogurt and bubblegum and then tearing our food from a string; it definitely made us smile.
Atop aromatic pillows filled with lavender scented air that provided an incredible aroma, we found a plate of a very unique Rhubarb dessert. The rhubarb was presented in three different forms – crystallized, freeze dried, and ice-cream featuring both sweet and sour flavors. The accompaniments included an incredibly light and delicious sweet goat milk cheesecake, and savory onion marmalade with cotton candy. The sweet, sour, and savory flavors worked wonderfully well together, producing a fabulous rhubarb and cheesecake dessert.
A Chocolate dessert was next, also comprising many wonderful parts. Freeze dry chocolate was served with malted ice cream, blueberries and blueberry gellée, along with chocolate mousse and whipped cream. Almost hidden in the middle of this dish was a centerpiece sphere of maple sap consommé. When pierced by a fork, the sphere released a wonderful juice of maple sap all over the plate, providing a permeating maple flavor across all the elements of this fantastic chocolate dessert.
While sipping a dark-brewed Panamanian coffee, selected from several different varieties offered, we were presented with yet another dessert. This was a tiny disk of mustard ice cream and passion fruit sorbet flavored with allspice. The cool spice taste of this unusual frozen creation was very refreshing.
Finally, as if in celebration of the fact that we made it through the whole menu, we were presented with a “sweet potato pie”; this was actually a sweet potato fritter bite flavored with bourbon and brown sugar, served on a burning cinnamon stick. The cinnamon was mild and provided a wonderful aroma for this warming and delightfully sweet finale.
Alinea deserves a place as one of the top restaurants in both the United States, and indeed in the world. Our experience showcased culinary playfulness with a range of flavors and textures. With a few stage props, some careful planning, and little bit of mystery and magic, this was a wonderful dining experience celebrating an evolving modern style.
First of all, there was Brazilian coffee. This strong coffee is ground to a very fine powder, and this consistency makes it perfectly suited for using in cooking to add that powerful coffee flavor. Another product was Mascavo sugar, an unrefined sugar from sugarcane which is similar to brown sugar but more natural and with a stronger flavor. I also got a container of Doce de Leite, a caramel dessert made from sweetened condensed milk. 
For BSI this week hosted by Reeni at 
Ingredients: (yields 1 cup) 
