Alinea has made a name for itself in the Chicago food scene for mixing food and science. For starters you actually order over the telephone when you make reservations--they offered the twelve-course chef's tasting menu for $145 or the twenty-six course tour for $225. Its Lincoln Park address is very discreet, and if it weren't for the valet parking men we would miss the front entrance. Opening the doors you walk down this long, dark hallway highlighted in red, and once you get to the end a pair of automatic double doors opens in front of you, just as you ask yourself how to get in. The actual entrance is a bit cramped, in spite of the long hallway, and I found myself dodging people serving food. The host was able to find my reservation, and he reiterated our request that my wife didn't care for shrimp and olives.
We went for the twelve-course tasting menu, and we decided to also go with wine pairings , which was worthwhile, as, like the dishes, it creates an element of surprise. Wine pairings expose you to new wines, and the wines will (hopefully) pair better than the food. In addition some of the wines by the bottle were marked up roughly three times retail price--two times is ridiculous enough, but three times is terrible. Wine prices in general at restaurants are ridiculous, but it's somewhat easier to justify pairings just because when you're in a restaurant like this you want to let the sommeliers show their stripes as much as the chefs.
For our first entree we started out with salmon roe on a vanilla bean with a solidified sugar serving as the binder for the cilantro, coconut, and lime. It was paired with a cocktail of Roederer Brut with Roussane, Spiced Mead, and Curacao. With champagne dominating the flavor the Roussane stood out more, but the spicy mead was subtle and almost non-detectable until we got to the end of the glass. You had to be diligently concentrating on the flavors in order to pick them out.
Our second entree was a deconstructed caprese salad, consisting of gelatinous olive oil and balsamic vinegar, chilled mozzarella foam, and a basil sorbet. There were heirloom tomatoes, as well as cubes of tomato bread powder. Deconstructed dishes can sometimes be more gimmicky than tasty, but this one was well-executed and very flavorful It was served with a Domaine Sigalas Assyrtiko "Santinori", a refreshing Greek wine that paired well with the "salad".
Next, we had cauliflower coated Gruyere cheese squares in an apple soup (with cream I believe), also impressive and delectable. It was paired with a Tocai Fruliano, a nice middle-of-the road northern Italian white (2007 Ronco delle Cime), though maybe not something I'd go out of the way to buy.
This was followed by deconstructed popcorn (actually liquidized), served with a ball of butter (where you had to take your fork to poke the membrane) and curried lobster. The popcorn's taste was fantastic, and the lobster/butter/curry combination was dynamite. The wine pairing, a French dry Muscadet (Chareau-Carre Muscadet "Comte Leloup de Chasseloir, Ceps Centenaires" 2003) from the Loire Valley in the northwest regions of France. This was my first time trying Muscadet, an orange colored wine, and its unique bottling ("sur lie") meaning it is bottled when the yeast was not drained from the vat, giving it a unique flavor and complexity. This technique is also used in champagne and sparkling wine, although Muscadet is not a sparkler.
The wagyu beef, served to us earlier , having been in liquid nitrogen and attached to chopsticks, was next draped over maitake mushrooms and dates with blis elixir (aged sherry vinegar with maple syrup). The entire dish literally melted in my mouth and created an explosion of flavor. It was paired with nice food-friendly Littorai "Savoy Vineyard" Pinot Noir from Anderson Valley in California.
Lamb came afterward, served with tiny Peruvian potatoes that are maybe a 1/4-inch long, long strings of fried potatoes that stood up on the plate, as well as sunflowers and spice. The lamb, while tender and succulent, was a tad too salty for me (and I love salty foods). The pairing, a 2004 Cims de Porrera "Classic" Priorat was fantastic, a truly wonderful Carinena and Garnacha blend with berry flavors, spice, and the right amount of oak. I would run out and buy this bottle if it were available, for sure.
Duck followed, in a delicious mole with a cube of foie gras--maybe the best foie gras I have ever had. It was surrounded by warm chiles, almonds, and various seeds to provide aroma for the dish. The pairing was a rich and complex 30-year Palo Cortado sherry called Bodegas Tradicion. Being a sherry fan I was very happy to have it served to me and would be more than happy to serve it to friends.
Next was a waxy membrane of concord grapes containing yogurt, mint, and hot peppers, where you put the ball in your mouth to let it pop. A watermelon slice hanging on a single long rod was placed on our table thereafter, and it was seasoned with coriander, soy sauce (tamari) and bonito (fish flakes).
We saw a hanging piece of sugared bacon in what is now our tenth course, shellacked with butterscotch, apple, and thyme. The servers next came out with a pillow filled with smoke, which was to prepare for our next course of a small bowl of pumpkin and Gruyere along with blis maple syrup (sherry vinegar mixed syrup), It was served with a very rich, viscous South African port-style wine called Klein Constantia "Vin de Constance". The maker also has enough grace to not call it a Port (just like it's not Champagne if it doesn't come from the Champagne region).
Our final course was bits of chocolate served with dried bits of olives, figs, and a pine (not pine nuts) ice cream., and the closest thing I could describe it as was like a Greek retsina wine, but only in an ice cream form. The beverage pairing was memorable, with it being a Christina Drouin "Coeur de Lion" Pommeau de Normandie, which is a bright red apple liqueur. The best way I could describe it is a cross between calvados (a French apple brandy) and perhaps an unfermented apple cider, only with a more pungent flavor. Its strong taste was not to everyone's liking (my wife hated it), but I thought it paired beautifully with the dish. Once our plates were taken away we were given a shot glass of tiny bits of dried caramel with salt that melted in our mouths for the finale.
In sum, having been to Moto two years ago, it seemed worthwhile to make a comparison of Moto to Alinea, and we found it hard to compare. My conclusion is that Moto's presentation is much more dramatic, whereas Alinea tends to focus more on flavors and is less chemistry class. Alinea, in my opinion, does a fine job deconstructing things (and more so than some other restaurants that I've visited recently). Service overall was relatively good for its price point (as to be expected of course), although there were some long, awkward periods of no service in the beginning, and all servers could answer all the questions I asked them. Even the people taking away the food could answer the questions.
Alinea isn't for everyone, and I believe it does deserve a lot of the recognition it has received. It caters to a very small percentage of the dining public, but there would be a large percentage of the population with means who would not like it. To which I say, "Go to Gibson's", order a pricey bottle of California Cab, and tell me about their steak. I'm dying to hear.
Alinea
1723 North Halsted
312-867-0110
Great website and posting on Alinea! I'm heading to Alinea this Saturday so your wine tips are very helpful! Thanks for sharing!
I'm really looking forward to my visit!
Posted by: Vivian Keller | January 16, 2009 at 09:36 AM