Alinea

By Lu

Our first course at Alinea

The new year has started on the right foot! 2012 - if it is going to be the end of the world, at least now I could say I have dined at Alinea. It may not be The Fat Duck or El Bulli. But, El Bulli is closed. Fat Duck, well..it's in London. Alinea is here in my back yard, Chicago, and what shame if I couldn't even say that I have dined there.

Alinea is one of the two Chicago restaurants with three Michelin stars, and some have compared it to some of the greatest restaurants in the world. It is ranked sixth in the 2011 Acqua Panna and San Pallegrino's World 50 Best Restaurants. It is also the highest ranking US restaurant on that list.

The chef there, Grant Achatz, is one of the celebrated Chicago Chefs. He was famed for his work in Trio and he used to work for my hero, Thomas Keller, at the French Laundry. He had tongue cancer at one time and for someone with that type of ailment and can create amazing tasting food is just one of a kind.

My friend Tina and I have talked about going to Alinea for a long time. It's not cheap so we have postponed it for several times or we just talked about going and never really made effort to make it happen. Until my friend, CK, asked all of us if we were interested to go there for New Year's Eve. How cool would that be? So, both Tina and I said "hell yeah!"

After the rigorous reservation process, we  got tables for New Year's Eve. Yes, reservation was a crazy experience in itself. They've always been booked way ahead in advance so it wasn't just about picking up the phone and calling. No, that would be too easy and it wouldn't be part of the memorable experience. It was a lot of work. The reservation line only opens on the first day of the month for reservation two months later. We called in October to get the New Year's Eve date. That day, both CK and I were on the phone for hours just trying to get through. I had my iphone, my blackberry, and skype on my ipad ringing off the hook. After an hour hearing busy ring tone, it really put you in a bad mood and you could literally going postal. Yet, when I got through, I was overjoyed. It felt like a victory.

After all that, everybody backed out since the price on New Year's Eve was inflated to almost double the already pricy $210 per person. If you want to do a wine pairing on New Year's Eve, it would have been over $500 per person. I was still game, but none of my other friends were. So, we had to reschedule. Along came November 1st, and guess what I was doing at 10 AM? Yep, on the phone. Guess what I was doing at 11 AM? Yep, on the phone.

We changed our reservation to January 14, so we could get the regular priced menu that I heard had even more courses than the inflated New Year's Eve one. I was so excited to go. However, there's nothing simple about this dinner. It evoked so much emotional and dramatic experiences in every nuance of the dinner. We had 11 people who would want to go. Alinea wouldn't allow a table that big. So, we had to get several reservations. We managed to get tables of six, four, and two. Then, figuring out who would sit with whom were a joy in itself. Alas, we got it figured out with little casualties. Thank you to all the friends who at the end showed mercy and working along.

Plus for me, it was a two month long struggle of do it or not do it. I wanted to ask this boy I like to go with me. But, I was such a chicken that I didn't dare to open my mouth and ask though I had two months to work up the nerve. We even talked about going to Alinea together one fine day at the golf course. So when the plan was concocted, I couldn't think of anyone else to ask but him. But, it sounded like a lot - asking him first, with 10 of my friends, and a whopping bill at the end. So, I never asked him. Regret? I have a few.

Before the day came, CK  got a call from Alinea saying - "Listen, we knew you had several reservations. We're very exclusive and please keep in mind that there's no table hopping, and we may not be able to seat you close to one another."

It rubbed him the wrong way. It was rather harsh I thought since we never even asked to be seated close to one another, and that they had to warn us to behave. I understand the whole concept of exclusivity and intimate small table to minimize  noise. But I think it sounded stuffy already. When Ri and I dined at the Blackberry Farm in Tennessee, it was like that too. Yes, it's a great prestigious resort but we got such a stuffy cold service. I remember thinking out loud  - "come on..we're in Tennessee for pete's sake. We're in a farm and what about that Southern Hospitality?" I like great high end food as much as the next guy, but I dislike stuffy service. I still prefer warm type of service. I had a hunch that I wouldn't feel warm and fuzzy at Alinea.

The day finally came. I was still excited. We valet parked the car in front of this unmarked brownstone looking building. There was just one small stand alone sign for the valet parking saying that it was for Alinea. We came in the front door and it was this cool hall way with pinkish purplish light. Then, a metal door to the left side, open automatically. The hosts greeted us, and to the right I saw the open kitchen filled with a lot of chefs working. We saw our friend Alvin on one table on the first floor. He was part of the four top we had. He hailed at CK, "Hey chief!" CK wanted to go to him to say hi, but our hostess wouldn't let him. She just simply wouldn't let him and she took us upstairs. They really did a good job in splitting us up and it felt they did it on purpose. It became personal to CK especially after the snub by the hostess. She couldn't care less about being nice about it or apologetic for not being able to allow him. It felt more like you wanted to dine here, you followed my rules.

The kitchen

CK complained to our server about it. The server was nicer and he tried to appease CK, and offered if he wanted to talk to the GM. Even if you dined at Denny's and you complained; they would offer if you wanted to talk to a manager. If you said no, the manager usually still showed up anyway. Not here. He never made an appearance. CK was miffed  throughout the meal. I told the server to please not spit on our food.

The decor was clean and upscale, just as I was expected. It was very modern inside. It was my type of decor. I liked it instantly. There was this elegant centerpiece on our table made of some type of clear glass. It was pretty. We had five people on our table - CK, Sab, Evi, Nate and me. CK was the only one who did wine pairing on our table. I can't do wine pairing. I can't barely finish one glass, let alone 20.

The first course came. It was a nice starter of clean straightforward flavor. It was called "Char Roe" and it basically had Arctic Char Roes, served with carrot, coconut and curry broth. The taste was very Asian and it felt familiar to me. So far so good.

The seafood platter!

Next, they presented us with the sea bed itself. It was a reef covered with sea weed. On top of that we found our next four courses. A Mignonette of Oyster Leaf - a spinach that has been treated somehow so it would taste like a raw oyster. It was quite crazy to say the least! The first magic trick of the night. Though I must say even though I thought it was neat, I still prefer that gooey slimy real oysters that I love!  Next to it, we had the King Crab which again tasted a little Asian to me with the five spiced. It was delicious. Then, sea urchin with banana with shaving of black truffle on top. It looked like a banana pudding. Mh..mh..sea urchin and I actually liked it sweet like that. Then, lastly the razor clam that was served with shiso and soy - another Asian flavor. The clam was a tad chewy for my taste but I still liked it. The whole presentation was just grand. When they brought it to the table you were like...what is that!

The Yuba

The sixth course was awesome and fun to eat. Another Asian inspired. It was called "Yuba" and it was a shrimp cooked with miso and togarashi or Japanese red pepper flakes. It also had ribbon of bean curd skin wrapped around it that gave the crunch. It was great, but we were like wow..so far, it has been very very Asian. We never expected to eat tofu skin at Alinea. We usually eat that in a hot pot or dim sum restaurant in Chinatown for like 5% of the cost to eat at Alinea. Lol.

The seventh course was super cool. They put this apparatus on our table. It looked like a coffee maker or even some type of apparatus you can find in a chemistry lab. The top part was a compartment filled with aromatics - there were bonito flakes, herbs, and a bunch of stuff in it. Under it, it was a beaker for water. Then, they lit it on fire. The heat pushed the water up to the aromats compartment. It cooked in there then it filtered this clear broth back down to the water beaker. That was quite a show. Then, they served us the scallop dish. They made the scallops to look and taste like agedashi tofu. Then, they poured the broth they just made in front of us to the scallop tofu that had the silkiest texture ever. Yummy.

Scallop Agedashi Tofu

The eight course was a course you didn't have to use your hand to enjoy. From afar, it looked like a flying bee. They used this pedestal with a flexible arm that could barely be seen as it was so thin. It was in a curve and on top of that you found that bee made with a squid head/tentacles, fennel, orange, and wooly pig which was a type of ham. All you had to do was opening up your mouth and took that bee in one flick of a tongue. So fun!

The squid bee

Lo and behold, the next course was that glass centerpiece. I really didn't pay much attention to it before. But it turned out to be ice instead of glass. Since the server started to put that in front of us and gave us straws, I  then realized the fact that the centerpiece had been melting. There were three pouches inside the centerpiece that had some type of frozen liquid there before. Those were our palate cleanser. It was beet juice with hibiscus and licorice. I never thought I would suck on the centerpiece.

The Centerpiece and me having fun drinking from it

The Scup

The tenth course was unexpected. It was a whole deep fried fish! If I knew I would have brought my condiment of Sweet Soy Sauce (Kecap Manis) with me and a scoop of white rice. The scup (fish) had been sous-vide which meant that it was put in a vacuumed bag, then cooked in a very low and controlled static temperature so it would cook evenly without changing the texture and the appearance. Then, it was deep fried to perfection. It had a bouquet garni of basil and garlic on top of it. It was the juiciest flakiest fish I have ever tasted with perfectly crispy skin. I really appreciated the technique to yield such a clean flavor. It was served with caponata, and some type of fried flat breads. My friends in the table didn't really appreciate as much as again they thought they could have had this in Chinatown. They thought it was a good fish, but no wow factor for them. Though it had basil and garlic, and caponata which to me screamed Mediterranean influence, it was still very Asian to my friends. CK didn't expect to gnaw on two fish heads at Alinea.

The eleventh course was so good! It was called Hot Potato Cold Potato. It was a tiny cup we had to hold with our hand, and on the side there was a tiny needle that held a tiny kebab made with cold potato and truffle. We had to pull the needle off with one pull, and the kebab fell onto to the soup and became a topping. Then, take a swig!  I felt this great sensation of two contrasting temperatures of potatoes, silky soup and that truflle. Did I taste the truffle!

The twelfth course was my favorite and by this time my iphone was running out of battery and I didn't take a good picture of it. It was blurry. Darn it. They came with these white pillows. Inside the pillow was a bag filled with scent of juniper berries and you could smell this aroma of a forest like you were not sitting in a dining room, but somewhere else as you were picking up wild mushrooms. The dish came and they sat it on top of the pillow. It was mushrooms - all kinds of wild mushrooms and the big chanterelle was my favorite. You could smell the sumac, and the juniper. It was simply tasty. Now, this was A+ for me! I just love that umami earthy flavor of the dish.

Then, they had placed the centerpiece with another one and it looked like flag pole with flags of red cabbage. From far away, we all thought it was some type of dehydrated meats. Then, they brought this interactive dish. It looked like a sushi plate, but they told us to slide open the top, and take out these two legs. Then we had to put it together to assemble a stand. They told us to take one of the braised cabbage leaf and put it on the stand. All the other things on the sushi plate  - paprika, pickles, mustards, we had to put on the cabbage. Then, the server added braised venison on top of it and we had a lettuce wrap.

The Truffle Explosion

The fourteenth course was unbelievable though a touch salty for my taste. It was a ravioli of some sort filled with black Truffle with basil and Parmesan Reggiano on top. I didn't think much of it and I just put it in my mouth and I had a truffle explosion. Oh la la. I liked!!

The spoons of Miro..that's the Foie Gras!

The fifteenth course was inspired by a Spanish artist, Miro. They placed several spoons on the table with no plate. It was supposed to be a gradation of flavors so you could play and choose where to start. There was a gelee, some type of berries, I am forgetting some of the smaller ingredients, but the main stars were the perfectly cooked piece of squab, and foie gras. The foie was heaven heaven heaven. I of course saved the best for last.

The sixteenth course was my least favorite of all. It was chestnut soup garnished with quince, celeriac, and veal heart. The heart was great, but the chestnut soup didn't do anything for me. I didn't like it.

Now... time flew by. We started at 6:30 PM, and we were entering dessert courses now, and it was after 10 PM already! Yeah, this dinner was long, but yet I was enjoying the show. The whole experience wasn't just dining, but it was very theatrical.

The first of the dessert courses which was the seventeenth course now was an apple fritter stuck on a lit incense stick made with cinnamon. It had brie and onion as well. It tasted like a beignet. My Asian friends started praying with the incense. So funny.

The eighteenth course was pretty cool. It was huge, and it was called "Winter in New Hampshire." But it basically rocks covered with snow that tasted like peppermint. Pretty tasty. It was garnished with a meringue cookie and dried fruit. I just really went for the peppermint snow. Everything else on the plate wasn't as memorable as the tasty cold snow. Another cool thing on this presentation was the colorless hot chocolate. It looked like a cup of water but it tasted like Hot Chocolate!!

Peppermint Snow

Colorless Hot Chocolate

The Jello Shot

The nineteenth course was another fun one. We were given a tube that looked like and should be a scented potpourri for your diffuser in the bathroom. Instead, this was food. On one end it was sealed with papaya jelly, and inside was liquid that had been infused with thai basil and finger lime. All we had to do was to put one of the ends of the tube in our mouth. We took one suck and that whole tube was empty! Mh...yum yum. I wanted three more of those.

The finale - usually the chef himself does the presentation. However, I guess he was out of town. So we didn't get to see Chef Grant Achatz and got our menu signed by him. Another chef came and did the presentation of the dessert finale. The server put this canvas on our table. The chef came and put a chocolate sphere in the middle. She poured liquid nitrogen into it and the whole table was covered with cold smoke. Then, she started painting the canvas with different sauces - chocolate, caramel, red wine reduction, etc etc. Then she grabbed the sphere and smashed it gently and it broke into pieces on the table as it spilled what were inside it: cotton candy, cookies, meringue pieces, crumbles, ect. It was quite a show.

The dessert finale

At this time, our friend CK, disappeared for some time. He got sick. Oh oh... did he get singled out for his comment in the beginning and was given Visine on his food? Lol. We started joking around as none of us got sick but him. He probably just had too much wine, and he said he's a little allergic to licorice or beets. But it wasn't CK's night at Alinea.

Overall we had a great time and I enjoyed the whole food show. Our other tables - the four top consisted of Alvin, Lynn, Sandrine, and Scott told us they had a great time too and they even made a commotion with breaking a wine glass. Talking about a revenge for not being quiet and orderly. It was an accident of course but they told me the whole restaurant stared. The two top consisted of Tina and her mom had a pleasant evening without any blunders. Tina's mom looked radiant and happy. She said she enjoyed the food show but she wouldn't spend the money again.

A restaurant like this usually do not give you great service because they want you to come back. They do it for the finesse of a top tier restaurant. Most of them know that many of their patrons are there for a once in a lifetime experience, special occassions, or out of towners who may not come back. I knew when Ri was at the French Laundry in Napa Valley, they got impeccable service and just loved the whole experience. They got to talk and chat with Thomas Keller, and received five star serving. They were told by their server that since it was a once in a lifetime experience for some people, they wanted to make sure it was up to par. I thought the service at Alinea was great as well other than the stuffiness that's borderlining of being rude at the beginning by the hostess. She was pompous. A great host could have made patrons adhered to their rules in a way that's comforting to them instead of feeling like they weren't the king and they were lucky to dine there. Uh uh. It was not a state dinner with the President or the Queen of England. It just wasn't.

I wasn't blown blown away like it was the best thing ever. However, I sincerely appreciate all the efforts and techniques used to create all the creative offerings. It was worth the time, all five hours of my day,  and money. I would do it again. Just not anytime soon. I could check this one off of my list.

Thanks to Sandrine for photos of kitchen and dessert finale.

Alinea
1723 N Halsted, Chicago IL 60614
312-867-0110

Christmas In The Tropics

By Crivenica

Some of my Christmas cookies

While my sister labored joyously to create a delicious Christmas feast last month, I was happy that I at least managed to bake some Christmas cookies and share them with family and friends. It was a little tradition that I’ve taken to heart for a few years now. I took pleasure in cutting out the cute Christmas shapes and putting colorful icing on them. But, man...my back always ended up hurting after being at it for hours. Though, the back pain is always worth the look in David’s and friends’ faces when they saw and ate them.

However, aside from the cookies, David and I didn’t do anything very Christmasy at all this year. No decoration, no tree, no our traditional Christmas dinner of General Tso’s chicken, and no presents. But there was nothing to cry about because we opted to meet  up with friends from Nepal and spend the Christmas weekend on the gorgeous beaches around Labuan Bajo.

The Labuan Bajo Port & Fish Market

Labuan Bajo is a small town at the west tip of the island of Flores, that is quite natural and rustic. It took two 1.5 hours flights for us to get there. First flight from Jakarta to Denpasar, then another hop in a smaller plane to Labuan Bajo. This little town is where you need to go when you want to go to the Komodo island to see the Komodo dragons. I was hoping to do that, but unfortunately David and I planned this short trip at last minutes and we didn’t get a chance to go to the Komodo island or Rinca island to see those interesting creatures. However, we did get to relax on the beach and snorkeled in one of the clearest water I have ever been in.

The view from the lobby of Waecicu Eden Beach Hotel

We didn’t stay in the town, but had to take a boat to our hotel, The Waecicu Eden Beach Hotel. The boats were all made of wood and have a small motor, so though our hotel was not that far from town, it took about 20 minutes to get there. The hotel is a small cluster of cottages built on a side of a hill, with its small lobby and eating area right at the beach. As we moved closer, the hotel looked so pleasant and it was actually done quite nicely.  Unfortunately, we did have some issues with it. 

Me - relaxing

We knew we wouldn’t have any air conditioning and we were quite prepared to sleep with only fans on. However, we only found out that there was no electricity at all when we arrived, and the hotel only turns on its generator during dinner time until 10:30 pm. Hence, we slept three nights in the still air, even with our balcony door and windows open. I was surprised that there was hardly any breeze at all. And though, the staff there were nice, they were not well trained. They did what were already set for them to do well, but once you asked them for something a little different, they became a bit confused and reluctant. So, my advice is unless you can sleep comfortably in the heat and are not a stickler for good service, you may want to look for alternative accommodation. 

However, for what it was, the Waecicu Resort does have a good view. I did enjoy the lazy day we spent on their small beach. Our friends, Robin, Pam and their two daughters taught us to play Bananagrams and a complicated card game that I couldn’t seem to master. After the games, we just laid around reading. And as evening rolled in and we waited for our “Christmas dinner” of fish and chicken, we sat in the lobby with our glasses of refreshing mango-pineapple or pineapple-lemon juice, watching a spectacular sunset coloring up the sky. Though, a sweaty sleepless night awaited us, we had quite a pleasant Christmas night with our friends.

One of the hundreds sunset pictures David took

The next morning, we woke up early to catch a boat to Labuan Bajo and meet up with Louis, a guide, a connector and just simply a very good guy that a friend, Nila, has connected us with. With a very short notice, on Christmas day, Louis had managed to set up a full day of fun for us. First, he took us to Goa “Batu Cermin” (Mirror Stone cave) , named so due to the shimmering surfaces of its stalactites and stalagmites when light is shone on them. It was a pretty cool experience to go through the caves. The way gets so small that we had to literally crawl to get through and be really careful with our heads. I was doing so great in the cave, but I didn’t pay much attention when we were out of the cave and I nailed my skull against an overhanging rock. It hurt! 

But the bump on my head was soon forgotten as Louis drove us to our boat for the day. He had set up for us a boat that would take us to three snorkeling spots: Sambolo island, Seraya island, and the Bidadari island. There are more beautiful snorkeling and diving sites further away, but since we only had that day we focused on those three spots. We were not disappointed. The spots were perfect for me, especially the first spot, Sambolo island. Even from afar, I could see the white sand beach, and clear turquoise water. It was so beautiful, I got so excited. And when we got into the water, it was so warm and calm. I had a stupendous time snorkeling. The life I saw under water, while I literally had to be really careful breathing through the snorkel, was breathtaking. The experience made both David and I wanting to do this more often. It’s too bad we didn’t have a waterproof camera because I would’ve loved to put up some pretty underwater pictures here. 

Sambolo - white sand beach

I could stay in this water forever...

At the end, though we did complain about the hot nights, we were definitely glad that we went to Labuan Bajo. It is such a beautiful part of Indonesia that everybody should visit. And it was a very enjoyable trip when you have someone as great as Louis to help take care of you. We had such a wonderful day snorkeling, we devoured the simple but tasty lunch of fish, rice, stir fry veggie, and fried noodle that the boat crew prepared for us. And it only costed us less than Rp500,000/person (USD50/person). So, let me know if you’re planning a trip to Labuan Bajo and need a guide there. I’ll be happy to give you Louis’ number. 

Now, though the tan is still quite fresh on my skin, I wonder when we’ll get to go snorkeling in such a beautiful place like Sambolo again. I really hope soon.