Chris Windus, executive chef at Bluezoo in Orlando, was just given a nice birthday gift from his wife... tickets to Chicago and reservations to eat at Alinea. The following descriptions of each course are in Chris' words. This is definitely a tease, and makes me even more impatient to view the spring release of Mosaic (the preliminary online multimedia section of Chef Grant Achatz's book due out in fall 08). There are no inserted photos of the plates (although some are displayed on the Alinea website). Though unintended, the lack of photos makes an interesting read which forces your mind to focus on the flavors instead of being mesmerized by the beauty and complexity of Achatz's presentations (a definite distraction). If you have a few moments to read through the observations of a damn good chef eating the meal of his life, please pour a coffee or beer (depending on the time of day) and enjoy!
Alinea- January 26th, 2008
The Tour
Side note- I am recalling everything from memory, you do not recieve the menu until the end of the meal. The servers do well to explain but when there is 16 garnishes for one plate they highlight 2 or 3 and then
leave it up to you to figure it out. But when you recieve the menu at the end you try to go back in time course by course and figure out what was what. Most things are easily figured out since most of the flavors and very intense, but some are not so easy even for the best palate. Give me the name of someone you know who has eaten bay leaf gelee before and could recognize it mixed in with over 29 different components and garnishes. Not so easy.
1 Trout Roe- coconut, pineapple, licorice
Served in a wide low rimmed bowl. Hand harvest trout roe from one of Grant's friends in michigan, freeze dried coconut milk sphere, pineapple powder, small dot of licorice, not at all over powering, and pineapple
air. Perfect balance of sweet and salty, very light.
2 Crab-passion fruit, avocado, heart of palm
Served on a spoon, the crab meat was wrapped in passionfruit leather, a micro dot of avocado puree, micro chervil, and cilantro to garnish. As well a small round pinkish wheel, looked like the very tip of an icicle radish that was compressed. The heart of palm was there somewhere but it is hard to recall everything from memory.
3 Yuba-shrimp, miso, togarashi
Cool little black service piece, a small round about 2.5 inches tall with a small well in the center. The well is filled with a white miso sauce, the yuba which was most likely dehydrated and fried sticks in this hole and stands up. A shrimp in cut into strips and wrapped around the yuba and the whole thing is dusted with togarashi. The yuba itself didn't add much flavor, but had a great texture and the shrimp were cooked perfectly, the highlight was the miso sauce and the togarashi, they made the dish.
4 Salsify-caper, dill, smoked salmon
Awesome dish! Serve in a low bowl, bright green dill puree, dots of clear lemon liquid gel placed in random order, 2 small pieces of very intense olive oil poached smoked salmon. The slasify was perfectly cooked and uniform. It was then rolled in 5 o'clock creme fraiche,(assuming this is made everday at 5 o'clock), then it was rolled in a mix of traditional dehydrated then powdered garnishes. Dehydrated julienne of red peppers and red onions add some great texture and sweetness. I was wondering about all the dehydrated ingredients, we are only into course 4, is eating all this dehydrated food going to make me feel full once it hydrates? Everything was pretty small though and with 10-15-20 minutes in between courses we were fine to keep going.
5 Beans-many garnishes, pillow of nutmeg air
For me this was one of the highlights of the meal. The pillow of nutmeg air worked perfectly, the scent perfumed the air throughout the course. The insanely bright white navy bean puree was sitting in the middle of this, again, low rimmed wide bowl. Atop was a piece of crispy pancetta that was sliced and cooked between silpats and possible held in a dehydrator to keep the crispness. On top of this was guiness air, how can you go wrong with that? Surrounding the puree was a sherry sauce, at the edge of the sherry sauce was "many garnishes", we were instructed by our server to mix a small portion of the beans with each garnish. As for as I could make out there was a small lemon marshmallow topped with lemon zest, a piece of garlic confit topped with spices (strong and not my favorite), parsnip leathers, BAY LEAF gelee that was sweet and I would not have known what the hell is was if I didn't get the server to cough it up and tell me, roasted pear cup filled with some kind of dark sauce, mung beans, scallion and a couple more that aren't coming to mind.
6 Duck-butternut squash, banana, thai flavors
The server placed a small piece of glass on the table and told us that this was a landing pad for our fork. OK. The server assistant or whatever the call them, the guys who don't get to where the Armani suits, brought a eggshell colored bowl with a fork resting upon it. He said he would need our help for this one, as he handed us the bowls and said not to put them down. The bowls had round bottoms and would roll off the table if we did, they were about the size of the palm of your hand. We were instructed to eat the food off the fork and drink the soup inside. On the fork was a piece of sous vide duck breast, a thin slice of thai chile, and a couple of the components, inside the bowl was butternut puree with banana froth on top. Good flavors.
7 Sweetbread-cauliflower, burnt bread, toasted hay
This was one of the largest courses. The sweetbreads appeared to be sous vide then breaded and seared. Two nice squares that were ridiculously tender. Little piped dots of black burnt bread puree. There was no mistaking this, it was burnt bread. Next to each dot of burnt bread were piped dots of the toasted hay which had sweet notes and worked well with the bitter as hell burnt bread. It was definately a combination that worked but on there own it would not. The dots of the piped hay and bread held little florets of dehydrated cauliflower giving the dish crunch and intense cauliflower flavor. Very nice dish. This along with momofuku- two totally different styles and levels, but the best sweetbreads I have ever had.
8 Hot Potato-cold potato, black truffle, butter
The staple of alinea arrived. Very small dish with the pin going through the bottom of the bowl. On the pin was a perfect cube of butter, a hot parisienne of potato, and a slice of perigord black truffle. In the dish was a cold potato soup that was a grayish color, probably the evidence of truffle trim that had been added to it. Pull the pin, everything falls into the dish and knock it back like an oyster on the half shell. Awesome.
9 Pork Belly-smoked paprika, polenta, pickled vegetables
Served on the pedistle. I could have eaten 20 of these. A small amount of perfect soft fluid polenta, a small square of pork belly with no resistance to it, for mini parisienne pickled veg atop the pork belly, and a smoked paprika tuile melted on to it. The tuile melted and encased the pork belly and hardened. A crunchy shell, the soft polenta and the crisp veg. Fucking awesome, not to mention the theme of the dish was bbq.
10 Roasted Pear-foie gras, candied fennel, sweet spices
This dish was the "gift from the chef" as foie has been banned in Chicago. So the way around it is, they are not selling it, they are giving it away. A porcelain, high walled, bowl appeared. The top had rendered foie fat that was frozen on a sheet pan and cut to fit the top of the bowl and sit just below the rim but not sinking to the bottom. The foie fat was garnished with the sweet spices and little pipings of what appeared to be fennel top puree. In the bottom of the bowl was a small piece of sous vide foie, a square of roasted pear and the candied fennel. The server then poured a "bitter" soup over the top and the foie disk melted into to bottom of the bowl. I will be stealing this idea. Not the same components but i am stealing this just to let everyone know. Thanks, Grant.
11 Caramel Corn-liquified
A tall shot glass of butter and corn flavored liquid. Topped with caramel froth. I was like eating a bag of caramel corn. Very rich and after the foie and pork belly we were looking for something light.
12 Cranberry-frozen and chewy, bitter orange, chervil
We got our refresher course. Grant is a genious, after those heavy courses, about midway throught the meal we get a nice cleansing bite. It arrived on the clear round that most things from the antigriddle arrive on. I'm still trying to figure out if it was actually from the antigriddle or liquid nitrogen. It was a perfect sphere of cranberry puree. Maybe it was set and rolled on the antigriddle? Anyway, it came with a little pin in it to pick it up an eat it, it had little pipings of bright bitter orange puree along the top and sides, and a little piece of micro chervil.
At this point in the meal our water glasses and napkins were exchanged for fresh ones.
13 Chicken Skin- truffle, corn thyme
Described as the most awsome chicken mcnugget on earth. I have to disagree. It was dry, stuck to our teeth, and suprisingly lacking in the flavor department. I'm thinking how can this be bad. It is everything we love, but the texture and too many dried components made it unnappealing. Next.
14 Scallop-suchoke, orange, chamomile vapor
Aromatic as a mother. Two bowl set up. The bottom bowl holding orange rind and chamomile. The server added steaming hot water to in and immediately you get the orange then the chamomile. They sear the scallop traditionally and cut in in half to split it between the two diners, it rests in a suchoke puree. Good solid dish.
15 Apple Cider-walnut milk, cinnamon, vegetable ash.
Coolest shot glass on the planet. A sphere holding the cider floating in walnut milk. After Ed's first trip to Alinea we tried to replicate this. As far as we can tell, a frozen sphere of cider in dipped into cinnamon flavored cocoa butter forming a shell. Then let the interior defrost. The shell if super thin and fragile, and the mouth of the shot glass does not make it easy to get it in there. It takes sure hands and patience.
16 Wagyu Beef-maitake, cedar branch aroma
A bowl full of warm cedar branches arrives with a pin sticking out of it. We are instructed to pull out the pin and take the bite off the pin. On the pin is a piece of seared, fat riddle, luscious wagyu. Topped with maitake mushroom and a little yuzu. Tender as hell and the heating of the cedar branches release the essential oils for an awesome aroma.
17 Black Truffle-explosion, romaine, parmesan
The anti plate is here. Atop of it is a spoon with a ravioli filled with liquid truffle, wilted romaine and a giant slice of perigord truffle on top of the rav. Pasta was thick but necessary to encapsulate the liquid. One of the longest waits in between courses but also Saturday night at peak rush.
18 Lamb-mushroom, red wine, diverse embelishments
Cool plate, sous vide lamb saddle covered with a red wine sheet and clamshell mushrooms. 16 different garnishes. The highlights are lentil ragout with chicory roll, enoki mushroom, cayenne puree, blood orange, mustard seeds, dehyrated and ground wild rice with a square of kaffir custard on top. Good.
At this point the butter and bread was removed as we were going into the sweet arena. I missed this earlier so I'll go back. We had two kinds of butter, a house churned cow's milk butter with hawaiin black sea salt and a goat's milk butter. Throught the dinner there was at least 5-6 different kinds of bread paired with certain courses.
19 Transparency-of raspberry, rose petal, yogurt
Super thin sheet of raspberry film dusted with rose petal and freeze dried yogurt. This was intense and really good. The service piece was a clamp that was 2 metal round pieces with a hidden spring holding the transparency. The server like to have fun with it, as it was set down they would put it on the table at an angle so when he let go and was describing the dish it was rocking back and forth in front of you.
20 Bacon-butterscotch, apple, thyme
Everyone has seen this picture on the website and it is as good as it looks. Interesting side note. My wife does not eat pork for some reason that is beyond me, but we told our servier this at the beginning of the meal and instead of bacon arrived kampachi prepared and appearing identical to my piece of bacon. She gave me a nibble and it was pretty damn good. On her previous courses they had subbed the pork belly for big eye tuna, and the pancetta on the beans dish for something as well but it escapes me. They did an awesome job of dealing with that. They actually replaced everything with something else instead of just leaving it off.
21 Maple Syrup-banana, parsnip
Small bernadaud dish with a cover. Piped parsnip and banana puree with liquid nitrogen frozen dots of blis maple syrup. Put some of the puree on your spoon and touch the maple dots and the stick to the puree, then eat. Really, really good.
22 Chocolate-egg, pomelo, smoke
Chocolate baguette crisp, chocolate covered egg yolk, pomelo sauce in the well on the plate, and a chocolate cake with a liquid center that when broken oozed into the pomelo sauce.
23 Licorice Cake-muscovado sugar, orange, hyssop
Served on the antenna, coated with spun muscovado sugar, super strong flavor here. I'm not big on super strong licorice so this was not a favorite but it looked awesome.
24 Persimmon-carrot, red curry, spice aroma strip
We were first instructed to eat the listerine breath strip at the top right of our plate which was perched atop a needle that was held standing up by some molded parafin wax. The strip was actually described as brown spice flavor. I picked up notes of allspice, clove, nutmeg, brown sugar. The persimmon cake was poach instead of baked, and there was an alginate like sphere of super potent ginger liquid that had to be eaten along with the ground carrot and spices to tone it down. All in all it was good.
By this point I was getting full and my palate was running the Boston Marathon, 26 miles of flavor and I was looking for that edge to get me through. So I got a nice french press of coffee and was ready to power
through. I had lost count of courses and did not know how much more was coming, 5 hours in and not knowing whether the end was in sight. Getting restless at this point.
25 Pumpkin-brown sugar, tempura, cinnamon fragrance
Here was the burning stick I was waiting for. Frozen pumpkin puree that had a super light tempura coating perched on Grant's spider looking contraption.
26 Coffee-five ways
Served on the peacock. Five mini cubes of coffee gel on the little removable pins. Each one with it's on mini garnish. The idea was coffee around the world to finish the meal. French-anise flavored, Chinese-chinese almond- intense almond flavor, felt like I ate a bag of almonds from this potent brunoise piece of chinese almond. Latin- had a chili fub and dyhydrated pepper on it, spicy. American- the garnish was a dot of caramel. There was another one but my brain has been fried by this meal.
I had the honor of entering the kitchen and watching service from a corner for about 10 minutes. The whole kitchen is pretty much portable except for the one range and salamanders. All the burners are induction and portable so as the menu changes the kitchen changes. Everyone working nonstop, clean and quiet. I could see Grant and sous chef Jeff Pikus in the back left corner of the kitchen plating up the sweetbread course. I want to know how this place works. How the hell do they expedite? No one is saying anything, I didn't hear "go in this," or "10 pork bellies right now." If they were talking they were whispering to the person next to them. I watched the young cook who looked like an extern (probably getting paid nothing) plating the pork belly course, fast clean and precise. I didn't want to disturb them after all it was saturday night and they were still pumping at 11:30pm. When I turned around i could see Grant walking slowly through the kitchen, not a hurried movement, very calm, and almost intimidating. I had seen Grant at the Beard awards when we went with Todd, his cooking station was set up 2 down from ours. I saw him again in September at the ICC in New York with early signs of his battle with cancer. Honestly I wouldn't of recognized him if we were on the street. His therapies have not doubt taken a toll on him but he has powered through it. This guy is amazing, I was star struck, thanked him for a wonderful meal, I was tongue tied. All I could say was thank you, thank you for inspiration. I can't imagine what the world would be like if we all had an ounce of this guy's passion, definitely better.
