From the reviews I’ve read of Alinea, I’m fairly certain that anyone with even a passing interest in food would find their food “better”, for lack of a more exact term. Sure, you might not want to spend the money on it, or even think it’s worth the money, or want to get dressed up, or sit for the time it takes to have dinner at a place like Alinea, but if a dish of their food magically appeared in front of you, I’d be willing to bet that you’d think it was pretty damn good if you put it in your mouth. I’d even be willing to say that their food was better than a lot of other food.
Of course, I haven’t been there yet. I’ll give a report after I try it for myself.
What sort of sick bastard wouldn’t pick up a perfectly grilled lamb chop by the bone to get the last bit of meat off of them? If not being allowed to do so is the price of visiting a fancy restaurant, I think I’ll stick to my neighborhood Lebanese restaurants where it is perfectly acceptable.
We did the full tour, with wine, and it actually was around $800. Most of the courses are one or two bites, and after several hours of one or two bites we had to stop at course 18. We were way too full. Part of the fun of Alinea is the fact that it is done with a tongue-in-cheek (no pun) irony. The waiters actually do advise you on how to approach each course. It’s fun and not pretentious at all–it is certainly not for everyone. If you can afford it, it really is a once in a lifetime experience. Although I wouldn’t want to do it again. I don’t see how they can sustain repeat business. I did get their coffee table book showcasing the courses (as art). Just for proof that we did it–:eek:
I will happily admit I’m something of a finicky eater. I don’t like coconut - blech. I don’t like mushrooms. I like my steak well done, and anything less is unacceptable. So while I’m sure they make really tasty stuff, if the stuff they’re making it from isn’t to my taste I’m not going to like it. YMMV.
Ditto. Plus, I’ve never been a fan of the “Food As Art” movement. It’s a restaurant, not an art gallery. I’d much rather est at Chez Panisse any day. Especially this Wednesday.
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Cool, thanks for the info. Part of the reason I’m going for the smaller tour is I’ve heard from more than one person that the longer tour is very filling. I’d be pissed to pay that much and not be able to finish!
Do you remember how long it took you?
Sure, that makes sense, nobody likes/can eat everything.
For what it’s worth, they do ask about food issues/allergies when you make the reservation. Mr. Athena has some seafood allergies, and they asked me a lot of questions about it and made notes on our reservation. I got the impression that they were VERY accommodating. I was sort of tempted to ask them for carb counts on all the courses (I’m diabetic, I need to be able to estimate carbs to dose insulin), but I think that’s taking it a bit too far. I do wonder what they’d say if I asked, though!
They’d probably handle it without a bobble. From what I’ve read, they have anticipated this sort of thing and prepared for it. They are definitely on the ball.
Athena–I’m sure it wouldn’t be a problem at all. As you probably know, the chef has had a lot of health problems so I would bet he would be accommodating. It’s been about a year and a half since we went, and I seem to think it took about 3-4 hours for the 18 courses. And I was quite impressed that our bill was prorated for the courses we weren’t able to eat. I think they called it an incomplete flight or something of that nature. So you really only pay for what you do get. Makes me mad that we crapped out before the dessert courses, though.
I went to Moto (sort of Alinea’s “little sister”) a few years ago and this was the menu - at least, as much as my sister and I can remember. I think there were 22 courses so some were obviously forgettable; the ones with the stars were the ones we agreed we reallyreallyreally adored, as opposed to the courses we simply liked.
Our pre-dinner drink was warm, made with vodka, served in a martini glass, and called (if I remember right) “pancakes and bacon”.
So, yeah, to get back to the OP: Of course the portions are tiny when there are 20 courses.
Menu - Edible paper stuck to herb-infused flat bread.
Nitro sushi roll - Deconstructed salmon roll. Fish on bottom, sprinkled with herbs, “won ton wrapper” deepfried flat on top, sprinkled with freeze-dried nori, topped with a small amount of cheese that had been “simmering” in liquid nitrogen.
Italian food - Pizza soup on the left; Caesar salad soup on the right.
*Maple squash cake - Squash in maple broth in a large shot glass. Pureed squash cooked in nitro and came out looking like angel food cake, but literally melted in your mouth.
Synthetic champagne - Small amount of fruit juice in a glass, then another juice squeezed in to produce the bubbles.
***Goat cheese snow - Nitro-ed goat cheese that mouth-melted like the squash cake
Fluke & orange - Er. It was fish. With an orange. Squeeze the orange, eat the fish.
Miso & grilled tuna - Rare tuna served on a stainless steel “grill”. Grill had been soaked in nitro. The cold actually produced grill marks on the tuna. Sprinkled with a spicy miso.
Gooseberry & mint - One whole gooseberry. One pureed and frozen gooseberry. I don’t remember the other one.
*Caramel apple with bacon - ½ cooked apple on the bottom covered with cheesy caramel and bacon
Rabbit & aromatic utensils - Served on stainless steel with spiral utensils with sage stuffed into the loops. Essentially BBQed and served with whole and mashed red scarlet runner beans.
Jalapeno & cilantro - Jalapeno gelato
Al pastor with avocado - Marinated, slow-roasted duck with an avocado salsa.
*Chicken-fried mac-n-cheese - Cooked macaroni then freeze dried. Chicken bits. Sauce was an extra-cheesy Alfredo.
****Fruit & pasta - Rigatoni made from lychee stood up in a lychee-cheese sauce.
3 cotton candy stages - Edible paper, cotton candy truffle, and a 3rd thing we didn’t like and can’t remember.
**Flapjacks prepared table side - …by squirting the batter onto a nitro-ed stainless steel tray with a syringe.
Carrot cake planet - Small bit of freeze-dried then reconstitute carrot cake (sucked) served with what looked like an orange but was actually sort of a hollow ball made of nitro-ed carrot cake puree
***Cherry bomb - One cherry-covered chocolate.
Doughnut soup & pancake
**Chili-cheese nachos - Cinnamon-sugar tortilla chips drizzled with chocolate, sprinkled with some kind of sweet cheese.
