Rouget with artichoke, garlic, and bottarga
I've been meaning to write this up for a long time. We were in Chicago, me for vacation and Joe for work. By chance it coincided with Joe's birthday, and as a special birthday dinner he tried to set up a reservation at Alinea, but alas! they were fully booked. They put us on the cancellation list, but we didn't raise our hopes. So I cruised around Chicago while Joe went to his meetings. On Sunday the 24th, I dragged him off to the Shedd Aquarium (which I knew he'd love). We tossed some nicer clothes in the trunk "just in case" we ended up somewhere more upscale for dinner.
Cut to 4:45pm at the Shedd Aquarium. We're sitting in the Oceanarium. The dolphin show is just about the
start when Joe's cell rings. It's Alinea. They have an opening for 5:30.
Do we want it? Can we be there?
I think it is a rule of the
universe that if you need to change clothes in your car in a parking
garage that was full of cars but empty of people, suddenly your area
will not only be filled with people, but the owners of the cars parked
on either side of you will also return when you are squirming and
contorting yourself trying to pull up panty hose while sitting in a car.
We made it, and the dinner was fabulous. The staff, well-informed of our mad-dash from the Shedd to Alinea, were amused and treated us really well. We even got to visit the kitchen and meet Chef Grant Achatz.
Watch a slideshow of our meal, or click to go directly to the photographs and their text descriptions on flickr.
Our custom menu, presented to us at the end of our meal.
Neat! Though it would be challenge to figure out how to eat some of the items!
Posted by: Steven Harper Piziks | February 01, 2009 at 03:36 PM
How lucky! I've read about the tubes but can't be convinced that it would be pleasant, no matter how tasty. What did you think?
Posted by: Maggie | February 01, 2009 at 07:47 PM
The tube was delicious. It was all fantastic. My least favorite was the duck with mole, but that was a personal taste preference. Joe loved that one. He loves all things mole. We both were totally amazed by the rhubarb, ginger, basil (shot glass with green liquid and golden ball). The cold potato, black truffle, butter soup was utterly delicious. Really, if I start down this road I'll end up naming all the dishes.
Posted by: Kitchen Chick | February 01, 2009 at 10:24 PM
OK! I'll bite (sorry..). How do you eat "the tube" - just dump it out onto your plate? Suck it out from one end?
Posted by: j | February 02, 2009 at 12:20 PM
ooooh....I wanna go to Alinea so badly!
Posted by: Jaden, Steamy Kitchen | February 06, 2009 at 12:14 AM
j: yep, you suck it out from one end. The other end has a plug of gelatin which will come loose when enough suction is applied.
Jaden: it's worth it.
Posted by: Joe, Kitchen Chick's husband | February 06, 2009 at 10:50 AM