Quick question: do they have wine pairing? Thanks.

onix wrote:Quick question: do they have wine pairing? Thanks.

Yes

I do have a few questions about Alinea. We are thinking of going soon. However we don't drink any alcohol at all for health reasons. Would this be a problem?

Also did anyone who has ever eaten there, left any food on their plate and not finish a course? It does look like a lot of food and I am wondering about how to pace and whether anyone got a plate they just did not care for and could not finish.

toria wrote:I do have a few questions about Alinea. We are thinking of going soon. However we don't drink any alcohol at all for health reasons. Would this be a problem?

Also did anyone who has ever eaten there, left any food on their plate and not finish a course? It does look like a lot of food and I am wondering about how to pace and whether anyone got a plate they just did not care for and could not finish.

No and no. Really, it's not a lot of food. Many courses are one bite. In some cases, I'm not sure how you would leave a bite on the plate.

toria wrote:I do have a few questions about Alinea. We are thinking of going soon. However we don't drink any alcohol at all for health reasons. Would this be a problem?

Also did anyone who has ever eaten there, left any food on their plate and not finish a course? It does look like a lot of food and I am wondering about how to pace and whether anyone got a plate they just did not care for and could not finish.

For your first question, does that include alcohol as an ingredient in a sauce/etc? That might be a bit harder. We went recently and didn't order wine (had a couple homemade sodas instead), but:

* the first three courses are little mini edible cocktails, and are definitely boozy. They will sub these out if you really don't drink, but we had them and enjoyed them.

* the 1900s-era course we had (they seem to be changing it frequently) came with a gratis glass of wine, but I'm sure if you said "no alcohol at all", they wouldn't offer it.

My wife always gets too full when we go. One solution we found was to split the wine pairings, but even still she doesn't really finish the food (she's pretty little though).

It would only include drinks and not something where it had been used in cooking provided the alcohol burns or cooks off. We do put wine in some sauces and gravies when we cook.

toria wrote:It would only include drinks and not something where it had been used in cooking provided the alcohol burns or cooks off. We do put wine in some sauces and gravies when we cook.

I wouldn't assume that because it's been "cooked" at Alinea that all or most of the alcohol has burned off. The edible cocktail bites at the start of the current menu certainly still contain a decent amount of alcohol. If you don't want to consume any significant amount of alcohol, you'll want to make that clear when making the reservation. Given some of the crazy requests they've dealt with with in the past ("No visible vegetables" comes to mind), I'm sure they'll be happy to oblige.

Not to derail the thread but did someone actually request 'no visible vegetables'?

Stephen wrote:Not to derail the thread but did someone actually request 'no visible vegetables'?

Guilty as charged!

As KL posted, the opening 'cocktails' are definitely boozy but if you mention your restriction when you make your reservation, I'm certain they'll be willing and able to accommodate it.

=R=

Stephen wrote:Not to derail the thread but did someone actually request 'no visible vegetables'?

Yep.

kl1191 wrote:

Stephen wrote:Not to derail the thread but did someone actually request 'no visible vegetables'?

Yep.

I'd like to think that this was simply a challenge - ok, Achatz, use your fancy kitchen science and make me some invisible vegetables - but somehow I doubt that was the case.

-Dan

Okay good advice.

toria wrote:It would only include drinks and not something where it had been used in cooking provided the alcohol burns or cooks off. We do put wine in some sauces and gravies when we cook.

The last time we went, they explicitly asked if we were okay with uncooked alcohol when they confirmed the reservation. In a party of four, we had two that chose to say no to uncooked alcohol. The edible cocktails had the same flavors, but no alcohol.

gleam wrote:* the 1900s-era course we had (they seem to be changing it frequently) came with a gratis glass of wine, but I'm sure if you said "no alcohol at all", they wouldn't offer it.

For this course, they poured a housemade soda instead of the red wine.

We also had a treenut allergy that was seamlessly accommodated, so I think they can pretty much handle any reasonable dietary restriction.

Stephen wrote:Not to derail the thread but did someone actually request 'no visible vegetables'?

I could never own a restaurant because upon hearing that request I would have cancelled their reservation and told them go bother someone else.

I do have one more question about getting reservations. I heard they only take them on the first day of the month for the next two upcoming months or even farther out. What time should one begin to call on Feb 1st?? Any helpful pointers would be appreciated.

They take reservations two months from when you call, so you don't need to wait until the first of the month.

I picked the day I wanted my reservation, counted back two months and then, a couple of months before then, marked that day on my calendar. In some ways it's only added to the anticipation.

Does anyone have any kind of opinion on the best seat at Alinea? I was eying those corner tables along the wall.

gorp512 wrote:Does anyone have any kind of opinion on the best seat at Alinea? I was eying those corner tables along the wall.

I've sat in just about every area at Alinea and found virtually no difference between any of the seats. The only exceptions are possibly 2 big round tables in the front room of the top floor. They're awesome but you have to have a group of at least 5 to sit there, iirc.

=R=

ronnie_suburban wrote:

gorp512 wrote:Does anyone have any kind of opinion on the best seat at Alinea? I was eying those corner tables along the wall.

I've sat in just about every area at Alinea and found virtually no difference between any of the seats. The only exceptions are possibly 2 big round tables in the front room of the top floor. They're awesome but you have to have a group of at least 5 to sit there, iirc.

=R=

Thanks for the input. I have a thing about sitting in the middle of the room. No real explanation. Just prefer to sit on the sidelines whenever possible.

gorp512 wrote:

ronnie_suburban wrote:

gorp512 wrote:Does anyone have any kind of opinion on the best seat at Alinea? I was eying those corner tables along the wall.

I've sat in just about every area at Alinea and found virtually no difference between any of the seats. The only exceptions are possibly 2 big round tables in the front room of the top floor. They're awesome but you have to have a group of at least 5 to sit there, iirc.

=R=

Thanks for the input. I have a thing about sitting in the middle of the room. No real explanation. Just prefer to sit on the sidelines whenever possible.

Thinking about it, I don't recall there being any tables in the middles of any of the rooms there. Even the ones that aren't exactly in corners are adjacent to walls.

=R=

ronnie_suburban wrote:

gorp512 wrote:

ronnie_suburban wrote:I've sat in just about every area at Alinea and found virtually no difference between any of the seats. The only exceptions are possibly 2 big round tables in the front room of the top floor. They're awesome but you have to have a group of at least 5 to sit there, iirc.

=R=

Thanks for the input. I have a thing about sitting in the middle of the room. No real explanation. Just prefer to sit on the sidelines whenever possible.

Thinking about it, I don't recall there being any tables in the middles of any of the rooms there. Even the ones that aren't exactly in corners are adjacent to walls.

=R=

I was going to say the same thing...I don't think there are any tables that could be considered in the "middle". I'll add that we got one of the large tables in the front room upstairs with a party of 4, but it was a pretty late seating, so I don't know if that's normal.

I was going to say the same thing...I don't think there are any tables that could be considered in the "middle". I'll add that we got one of the large tables in the front room upstairs with a party of 4, but it was a pretty late seating, so I don't know if that's normal

I was just going off pictures, I thought there was a section of 2 tops parrallel to the wall?

gorp512 wrote:

I was going to say the same thing...I don't think there are any tables that could be considered in the "middle". I'll add that we got one of the large tables in the front room upstairs with a party of 4, but it was a pretty late seating, so I don't know if that's normal

I was just going off pictures, I thought there was a section of 2 tops parrallel to the wall?

They're along the wall.

=R=

toria wrote:I do have one more question about getting reservations. I heard they only take them on the first day of the month for the next two upcoming months or even farther out. What time should one begin to call on Feb 1st?? Any helpful pointers would be appreciated.

wendy wrote:They take reservations two months from when you call, so you don't need to wait until the first of the month.

Unless they have changed the policy in the last few months, they open a full month's worth of reservations on the 1st of each month. In other words, you can make reservations for any day in April on Feb 1. (But you can also make reservations on other days.) My guess is that the last Saturday in April will be fully booked well before the end of February.

The phone lines open at 10:00 AM. Both times I have gone to Alinea, I started calling at 10:00 AM on the first of the month, and kept calling until I was able to get through. In both cases, I was able to get the day and approximate time I wanted (although in one case, we reserved a Wednesday).

When I made my March reservation, I had called for a good hour before someone picked up. When they did, they said " Sure, you can make a reservation, but we weren't going to take them until Monday ( It was New Year's Day). Who was on the line for the past hour then if they weren't taking reservations? Doesn't matter to me as I got the time and date I wanted, but I just found it odd.

Alinea booksite went live about ten minutes ago: http://www.grantachatzmemoir.com/excerpts-gto.html

On a couple of recent visits (one pre, one post, Michelin 3-star award), I was able to experience some of the more playful (read: off-menu) dishes that I have ever had in any fine dining establishment.

Special Guests
About a month ago, five of us were dining at the rear, long rectangular table (number 41), when about half way through, we had a pheasant dropped off at our table.



It had been de-feathered, but still had its head and tail feathers attached to the body. It laid on snow and evergreen branches, all of which sat on top of a silver serving tray. Note that some of the branches burning and gave off a wonderful aroma.



Nothing was said by the front of the house (FOH) staff, instead, we sat there for a while pondering what would come next. Were we to pick at it, sans utensils, like Ron's meal up-thread?



Until this young man came along. Jeremy, a runner, who opens up by welcoming us and telling us that this pheasant had come from Indiana, and was just killed no more than 48 hours ago. Jeremy also tells us that this was made possible by he and his dog, who were hunting just the other day. The following day, Jeremy brings the pheasant to the restaurant, as a present to the Chef. Grant, thanks him, and tells him he knows just what to do with it.



As Jeremy is talking, the other FOH staff clear the pheasant from the table. They bring in a copper-claded (I'm guessing a 5 quart) sauté pan. It was a cassoulet of the pheasant. As Jeremy starts to walk off, we were so amazed with this story, that we hoped that he would be able to try some of the cassoulet (if he hasn't already).



The FOH staff starts to bring in the support items; bread, herbs, spices, garnishes, utensils, plates, etc. In addition, they have us make extra room on the table for another surprise. The surprise was a chair, and Jeremy. Chef Achatz also thought that it would be a great idea for Jeremy to join us. Now our table is seating six.



We are then informed, that since this has been set up as family style, that we should serve ourselves. We decided to give that honor to the eldest at the table, me.



While I was dishing out the cassoulet, everyone was enjoying a very nice bottle of Château Prieuré-Lichine Margaux. The cassoulet was dense. Not only did it have the pheasant (in all forms), but it also had sausage, pork belly (and maybe other meat products further in). It was very rich and tasty. This dish allowed us multiple servings, and we thankfully took advantage of it. I could come to Alinea just for this dish.


The Alinea Forest
On a different visit to Alinea, we had the opportunity to try another off-menu item. This one also came midway through our meal, and was code named either "cheese and crackers" or "angelica branch."



It starts with us finishing a dish at one of the round tables in front room of the restaurant (the 20s). The FOH staff asks us to move to another table, with no explanation. We then walk to one of the tables in the middle room (the 30s), where on the table are branches, leaves, burning candles, and dinner ware.



The FOH gives us a very brief description on the dish (if we can still call it that), and no real instruction on how to approach eating it. So we treat like a cheese and cracker buffet table. We see something that looks like a cracker, and something that looks like cheese, and you can guess what happens next.



We sat at the table for almost 30 minutes as we nibbled on what was in front of us. During that time, Chef Achatz was observing (from afar) us interact with the Angelica Branch. It was quite an experience to forage around for food in a restaurant. In the end there were still more cheese and crackers left on branches.



For me, the Alinea experience (I can't call it dinner/meal anymore, because it is more than just the food), just keeps on getting more interesting. Grant is true to the definition of the name of the restaurant. He does not need to re-tool, re-conceptualize the restaurant. By definition and nature it just keeps progressing. I am glad that they got their well deserved Michelin 3-star rating. I am glad they continue to push boundaries. But most of all, I am glad to be able to experience it.

Unbelievable. Thanks for sharing!