Entries associated with the tag "Alinea":

Steve Rhodes, of the Beachwood Reporter, weighs in on D.T. Max's excellent New Yorker profile of Grant Achatz and his battle with tongue cancer:

The story also says something about Chicago and, perhaps, its bumbled rush to be seen as sophisticated and worthy. "Chicago prides itself on being a city with more daring restaurants than Manhattan," [Max writes]. "The city also has Moto, an Asian-inflected outpost of molecular gastronomy--and the home-town response was unequivocal. The Tribune exalted the very dishes that the Times suggested were contrived or showy, declaring the P. B. & J. opener 'comfort food fit for the Museum of Contemporary Art.'" Which suggests the locals didn't have the guts to say the whole thing is ridiculous for fear of coming off like hayseeds. But whatever. (To be fair, Gourmet did name Alinea the best restaurant in America in 1997.)

OR it suggests that Rhodes, like blinkered Second City sufferers across our fair city, automatically believes in the inherent authority of Frank Bruni and the New York Times over anything anyone in his "hayseed" town might argue. Never mind Bruni's well-documented bias toward the rustic and Italian (not that there's anything wrong with that!). And never mind that New York is hardly a stranger to the mysteries of sous-vide and nitrogen griddles. But most especially, never mind that "Chicago " is not the one in a "bumbled rush to be seen as sophisticated and worldly." "Chicago" did not force Food and Wine, Saveur, Gourmet, or any of the other national food rags to turn their attention to its exploding, innovative dining scene. The international food media has been falling all over itself for the last two years to cover Chicago--a fact easily obtainable, had Rhodes bothered to do any research--thanks to the ahead-of-the-pack convergence here of the two biggest trends of the 'aughts: locavorism and molecular gastronomy--or whatever you want to call it.

(Also, uh, Steve, Alinea wasn't open in 1997, as the NY'er makes clear. The Gourmet accolade came in 2006.)

Elsewhere in the piece Rhodes argues that high-end dining is "decadent and even immoral" given a global food crisis. This hardy perennial of a topic is more interesting, and one that, quite honestly, I'm all over the map on on any given day. (With reason: it might be noted, for example, that Moto's Homaro Cantu firmly believes that molecular gastronomy  can feed the world--in the form of nutrient-enhanced paper and whatnot. Check out this 2006 Fast Company profile for more on that.) But I do think that condemnations of fine dining on "moral" grounds spring from the same sort of reductive romanticization of cultural authenticity that valorizes the Waco Brothers over Beethoven or hip-hop over ballet. That the cultural product in question is food just makes it more complicated, because starving kids don't need music to survive--the closest analogy is actually probably to the fashion industry, which critics routinely disdain as frivolous and amoral (though those critics may well be clad in $12.99 sweatshop-spun Target tees . . . but I digress). The idea that food is a primary need and art and music are secondary luxuries--isn't that what defenders of school arts programs have been fighting against for years? In a diverse, cosmopolitan society isn't there room for both high and low culture, "dehydrated bacon wrapped in apple leather" and hot dogs? Would Rhodes have us seize the CSO's budget to fund the expansionist ambitions of the Empty Bottle?

I often find the excesses of the restaurant industry depressing and disturbing, but temples of mindless conspicuous consumption like Il Mulino are far scarier than a place like Alinea. Achatz is a visionary and an obsessive determined to explore the far frontiers of his chosen medium. If he was a painter, would anyone find that morally offensive?

A copy of The 100 Best Restaurants of North America and Europe, New York-based food blogger (Opinionated About Dining) Steve Plotnicki's new self-published guide, arrived at the Reader office yesterday. Chicago doesn't feature prominently in the ambitious attempt to move into Zagat and Michelin's territory, to say the least. Alinea does show up in slot six with an impressive score of 106 out of 120 (which puts it in the category of "worth planning a trip around"), but the only other Chicago restaurant that makes it in is Avenues, and its score of 99 only qualifies it as an "important local choice."

With California and New York taking up 32 out of the 50 slots for North America, though, there's not a lot of room left for other areas, and nowhere else in the midwest even ranks in the slim volume. Plotnicki didn't intentionally neglect the Chicago area, as evidenced by a post on LTH forum soliciting participants in his survey. The guide is aimed at "destination diners," or people who arrange their travel plans around dining out, and maybe Chicago just isn't enough of a culinary destination. But it seems more likely that the survey is unintentionally skewed towards New York City because most of the restaurants Plotnicki reviews are there, so most of his fans (read: survey participants) are also likely to be there.

The survey weights the opinions of "experienced diners"--those who review the most restaurants--more heavily than those of less experienced ones, an attempt to add more authority to the populist approach of a survey. (The 100 restaurants included in the guide were whittled down from a list of 1,600, based on the opinions of 900 participants.) Reading Plotnicki's blog, there's no question that he believes that more experience with eating out equals more authority, especially on his part (see his culinary CV, for example). In a blog post yesterday, he slams New York Times restaurant critic Frank Bruni for overrating Dovetail: "Let me tell you, I have been to a lot of restaurants in my life (likely many more than Mr. Bruni) and I could sense that the restaurant didn't warrant the 3-star review as soon as I walked in." Really? Before even tasting anything?

According to the New York Sun, Plotnicki makes no attempt to dine anonymously--his goal, he says, is to "elicit the best possible meal that a restaurant has to offer and in that context anonymity actually hurts instead of helps." Of course it does. That's the point--if you're reviewing a restaurant, you should try to have the experience most diners are likely to have. Even if the quality of food and service are likely to vary from customer to customer, seeking preferential treatment is pretty sure to skew a review. Or a restaurant guide.

Breaking news: Grant Achatz's publicist just released this statement from the chef, regarding his cancer treatment:

Go here for a sneak preview of Grant Achatz's first book, due out next fall from Ten Speed Press.

In other news, Achatz's publicist reports that the chef, who was diagnosed with cancer of the mouth in July, is responding well to chemo: the tumor on his tongue has apparently been reduced by 75 percent, and he starts radiation therapy next week.

Grant Achatz's publicist just released this note from the man himself.

"I wanted to personally report that I have been very recently diagnosed with an advanced stage of Squamous Cell Carcinoma of the mouth. I have consulted several prominent physicians and will likely begin aggressive treatment within the next few weeks. I remain, and will remain, actively and optimistically engaged in operations at Alinea to the largest extent possible. Alinea will continue to perform at the level people have come to expect from us -- I insist on that. I have received amazing support from friends, family, and everyone who has thus far been told of the disease, and I look forward to a full, cancer-free, recovery."

Notorious crankypants Marco Pierre White -- the man who, as the headline for today's Salon story notes, "made Gordon Ramsay cry" -- was in Chicago a few weeks back to promote his new book, The Devil in the Kitchen. Where did he eat? Alinea, of course. But while he gives Grant Achatz props for his technical chops ("This boy, I believe, can win three stars in the Michelin guide"), he found the experience too fussy and controlled. He'll take a rabbit dog any day:

"But when I was in Chicago, I also went to Hot Doug's, and it's amazing. There's a queue like you've never seen. Doug [Sohn, the owner] has got one eye on the kitchen, one eye on the room, and he's taking their money. I loved him -- he's an old-fashioned restaurateur. Even that one, it isn't just hot dogs. They are hot dogs with a difference. [Sohn] has a sausage maker, they work out the recipes -- so you might have a sausage with rabbit, with mustard, and with the onions and cheese on top. What a lunch! But you know, and here's the thing: That boy serves a hot dog -- and a great hot dog, let's not forget that -- but at 4 o'clock he closes the door and he goes home to his family. He doesn't leave anyone else to look over it. Interesting, isn't it? He has the same philosophy as a great chef."

Also, still doesn't like Ramsay.

(Via Bookslut) 

I don't think anyone expects muckracking from the good folks of Chicagoist--their strengths lie more in synthesis, synopsis, and snark. And I'll grant that almost all restaurant coverage is somewhat PR-driven by nature--"Charlie Trotter opens new restaurant" is news, no matter what you think of the man or the restaurant. But this "feature" on Alinea stopped me in my tracks. The brief intro explains that Achatz invited Chicagoist to "sample" his latest 24-course menu, that Chicagoist accepted this offer without hesitation, and that Chicagoist "look[s] forward to working with him on more features soon." It's extra surprising considering the fuss Chicagoist's Scott Smith (who didn't write the Alinea piece) made over the recent ethical debacle over at WGN's Good Eats.