Alinea Sept 4 – Gallery Seating

Long time Alinea fan. This is trip 8 over the years. I was interested to see where Alinea was after so much change for the Alinea Group. Nick out. Fire and Supper Club Closed. Grant seemingly no longer doing anything but doing residencies/pop-ups all over the world. Last year's menu getting some dings, especially that all white chicken dish.

TL;DR – Vastly preferred this years menu over last year, maybe last couple. 2 courses in particular are up there with anything I've ever had at Alinea. Fun as always. Service outstanding. Struggle with the having 4 (really 5) dishes that remain on menu year after year, but understand that 1st time visitors would be pissed if they didn't get them.

9PM seating. Reserve Wine Pairing. Gallery

Communal (final composed dish Pic 1)
If you've been you know the drill for the most part. Something cooked inside the room – this time an amazing sauce to top the puffed pasty. Things at the tables will be used in presentation. Fire – lit hanging cauldrons and helped finish BBQ the Poussin. This time there were 5 paintings on the wall of other chefs in like medieval theme. Boulud, Keller, Child, Alice Waters, and… Gordon Ramsey (?!?). Mushrooms, vegetables, and the tiniest of chicken legs. Sauce was the star for me. Solid start.

Fear Factor (Pic 2)
Then we get brought in to kitchen for a small bite and a cocktail. This time they pulled over the oversized Pringles can looking thing that I saw at some of the popups (I think Beverly Hills?) where we punched a hole in to it and pulled out a tempura fried piece of lobster with mango and pickled ginger on a vanilla bean. Really dug this, as the aromas from the can as well as just the vanilla bean were intoxicating.

Aquavit (pix 3)
Very nice cocktail with St George Chile Vodka, Chinola Mango Liqueur, St Germain, and Aquavit. Green Chile dominated the aroma, Mango dominated the taste. Would drink again! Tried scoring the specs on the drink, but would not divulge…

Osetra (pic 4)
Similar Caviar dish they've been serving for a few years. Osetra on top of a custard of some kind. This year was roasted soybean and sake. Really enjoyed the hell out of this, and always love the presentation on that caviar like dish.

Chicago Style Hot Dog (pic 5)
Been seeing this one on social media for a while, and was excited about trying it. Dammit if it doesn't nail it. It's a Chicago Dog through and through. Fun as hell. Served with Postcards that had autographs with some words from Grant. Not sure if we were supposed to give them back, but we asked and they let us keep them.

Sprouted Coconut (pic 6)
This was wild. I guess that older coconuts eventually sprout and then you get a slightly softer creamier part of coconut. That was mixed with Curry for the greatest Coconut Curry you've ever had. When I mentioned above about 2 dishes that were as good as anything I've had, this wasn't one, but damn close.

Peeled Grapes (pic 7, the Asin Tibouk pic 8)
Easily one of the weirdest looking dishes I've seen. Peeled grapes with shaved Marcona Almonds, an extruded almond that gets fried and filled with Marcona Cream. Then topped with some salt from the Philippines called Asin Tibouk, which frankly looked like a dinosaur egg. Slightly sweet, almost a mid meal dessert. Still thinking about the Marcona cream.

Charred (Pic 9)
Damn. Now we're talking. Arctic char brined in a maple syrup, fish sauce concoction for 5 days, then smoked, and finally charred. It was served to everyone on a charred whiskey barrel stave having just had the glass on top removed where it was being smoked again. A real crust on top of what kind of looks like smoked salmon. Fucking amazing. Hall of Fame material here.

Hot Potato, Cold Potato (Pic 10)
I love this dish. Part of me would like to see something new instead. Part of me knows first timers deserve to try it. And I'd eat my body weight in this no matter what.

Fossilized, Tamale, Bone (Pic 11, the tamale alone pic 12)
They give you brushes and stuff to pretend to be an archeologist, which is kinda fun. You get a "fossilized" prawn which has been flattened and under that dust. You get an empanada with prawn, you get a tamale with prawn, you get a bone marrow bite with cashews and potato, and finally you get a green and red chimichurri sauce. Fun. Playful. Dish tasted great, but didn't blow me away.

Explosion (Pic 13)
See everything I said about Hot Potato, Cold Potato. Except I'd eat 2x my body weight in these.

Ramen Egg (Pic 14)
MY GOD. I loved Charred. A lot. This was even better. An egg yolk, miso, garlic, togarashi emulsion. Described as "every debates how many eggs to put in your ramen. We decided to put the ramen in the egg." Honestly, blew my socks off how good this was.

Squab (Pic 15, wax strawberry pic 16)
Endive leaves, a compressed strawberry, squab, thai peppers and a sauce to die for. This was incredibly good and balanced. Also came with beeswax "strawberries" made out of chocolate. Looked perfect, tasted even better.

Wagyu, Shellfish (Pic 17)
Eggplant on Upper Left. Sweet Potato and Turnip on Upper Right. Sauce on Lower Left, and Wagyu Beef on Lower Right. Usually not a fan of eggplant or sweet potato, but these were very good. Also had a Kombu, Yuzu sauce to go with it. Last savory of the night and a tad heavy? Could have been the end of the evening/time kicking in.

Paint (Pic 18)
Blueberry, Oats, chocolate, thyme sauce. Fun and wonderful as always. That said, it's so much at the end of the meal. Could half the portion and it would be too much.

Balloon (Pic 19)
You know it, you love it. I didn't get it stuck all over my hands this year, so good on me.

Menu and Wines (pic 20 wines italicized)
They do such a wonderful job on the white wines, so no surprise again that I was blown away by them. But damn, they killed the reds this year as well. Wonderful representations of Cinsault and Tempranillo. And, they ended with one of my all time favorite wines – Chateau D'Yquem. Lucky for me, my wife does not like dessert wine, so I get an extra glass of it.

Overall
I admit, I was a bit nervous coming in. Last years menu had a miss or two. Has Grant even stepped foot in Alinea this year? Are they just repeating too many things. Again, part of me would be fine seeing Potato, Explosion, Paint, and Balloon go, but I get that people expect them, and look, I know full well they will be there when I make the choice to go. I will say, it's a bit baffling to me that they didn't go over the top to celebrate 20th year in the flagship in Chicago, considering they are globally. That all being said, the menu was stellar this year. Two dishes that are in the Mt Rushmore for me, and 2 others damn close. I know it's easy to shit on Alinea, but my wife and I had a great time. Now, can we figure out a way to try that Space menu at Next..