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<\/a>Hello all, this post will start a short series called “Drifted” Appetite.\u00a0 We will be writing about food and travel away from the Driftless region.\u00a0 Come take a virtual vacation with us.\u00a0 First, let’s go to Chicago.<\/p>\n
After waiting patiently for several months, we finally got to eat at Alinea<\/a>, the premiere restaurant to experience molecular gastronomy in North America.\u00a0 Chef Grant Achatz<\/a> is one of the experts in the field.\u00a0 The meal consisted of twenty artfully arranged courses, ten pairings of wine, and about four hours of pure pleasure.\u00a0 I decided not to take any pictures (except for the desserts using my cell phone) so I could be fully engaged with the entire presentation.\u00a0 If you know me, I’m very snap happy when holding a camera.\u00a0 It took a few days to get used to the idea but I thought it was a sound decision in the end.\u00a0 I have to admit, I did buy the 400 page Alinea cookbook<\/a> online once we got back to our hotel room as a souvenir.<\/p>\n 1723 North Halsted was a dimly lit two story brick building without indication that it was a public place.\u00a0 There was a small sign for valet parking nearby.\u00a0 We entered a dramatic purple lit hallway that felt as if we were walking through a lens.\u00a0 At the end, a sliding door opened up to a large room.\u00a0 It looked very sterile with\u00a0 the dominant color being white, accented with greys, browns, and\u00a0green.\u00a0 There was a staircase to our left and the kitchen to our right.\u00a0 The hostess asked if we wanted to see the kitchen in action.\u00a0 The staff was busy, moving around precisely and quietly.\u00a0 It looked like a kitchen with invisible food.\u00a0 Like a mannequin, Chef Achatz stood at one end of an island, a hand at his chin, the other arm across his body supporting an elbow, while seriously staring at something.\u00a0 Keith whispered, “He kinda looks like one of those vampires from the Twilight movies.”\u00a0 I whispered back “I would probably\u00a0let\u00a0him suck my blood.”\u00a0 We laughed quietly then a man came by to take us to one of the upstairs dining rooms.<\/p>\n Entrance, Finale, City, Winter<\/em><\/p>\n A roughly cut block of ice about a foot high sat on our table.\u00a0 Through it we could see two blood red, test tube-shaped objects.\u00a0 We were told that the centerpiece was going to be part of the meal.\u00a0 A spoon and a fork sat on little white pillows.\u00a0 I was beyond excited of what was to come.\u00a0 About five servers plus the sommelier took turns bringing the dishes with a brief explanation on what was before us and how we were to consume it.<\/p>\n The first dish and the first taste to me was the most beautiful.\u00a0 Elegant yellow orange pearls of trout roe sat in a small bowl, next to it a small spoon of coconut paste, a cube of carrot in gel form, young coconut meat, and the lightest hint of a curry sauce.\u00a0 Everything worked in harmony.\u00a0 The intensely flavored coconut paste brought me back to my childhood in the Philippines. Our neighbor across the street had these miniature coconut trees.\u00a0 Everyone got excited once the fruits were ready.\u00a0 The meat was different from regular coconuts.\u00a0 It was thicker, slightly sticky, with a little bit of a bite, and flavorful.\u00a0 I couldn’t tell whether the taste I just had\u00a0matched the flavor in my memory but for sure it had awakened it.\u00a0 I also pictured the many times Grandpa brought home a large burasi<\/em> or mullet fish.\u00a0 My brother and I got excited because it meant we were going to eat some of the delicious roe.\u00a0 (Besides the roe, I loved getting to eat the belly and the eyeballs of course!)<\/p>\n The next four items on the menu were served at once on top of a seaweed covered log.\u00a0 Our favorite was the sea urchin<\/em>.\u00a0 Served on a half shell were ribbons of black truffle on top of the sea urchin on top of some custard with the slightest hint of banana.\u00a0 The oyster leaf<\/em> with mignonette served on half an oyster shell was intriguing because the leaf tasted exactly like an oyster.\u00a0 I joked to Keith that they probably ran out of real oysters.\u00a0 The yuba<\/em>, beancurd skin, was spiral wrapped with shrimp then served on a very small vase, standing straight up with some sauce at the base.\u00a0 It was crunchy, a little moist from the shrimp, and a hint of fieriness from a dusting of togarashi<\/em> (chili pepper).\u00a0 After that, a coffee siphon was brought over\u00a0for brewing dashi.\u00a0<\/em> Later\u00a0it was poured\u00a0over the scallop<\/em> acting like a square of agedashi (aged tofu) which was pleasant and\u00a0lightly sweet with the addition of soy milk.<\/p>\n The woolly pig <\/a> <\/em>(a super cute and very tasty animal) along with fennel, orange, and baby squid was presented on a metal sculpture at the end of a skewer leaning at an angle.\u00a0\u00a0 We were instructed to simply lean over and eat it off the structure.\u00a0 Finally, it was time to consume the red substance from our centerpiece.\u00a0 We were given two glass straws, six-eight inches long and half an inch in diameter.\u00a0 There were two holes on top of the ice to place the straws.\u00a0 We had to stand up and then lean over to drink it.\u00a0 I realized how funny we must have looked when the table of six behind Keith had to drink from their centerpieces.\u00a0 It was like watching well dressed cows drink from a trough.\u00a0 I was not too crazy about the flavor which was a mix of beet, hibiscus, and licorice juices with a hint of saltiness.\u00a0 Keith surprisingly enjoyed it considering that he hates beets and licorice.\u00a0 I’ve never consumed hibiscus.\u00a0 To me, the flower was something we muddled with water as a young girl.\u00a0 My playmates and I used the concoction to blow bubbles using the spine of a coconut leaf bent into a round shape at one end.<\/p>\n Menu Part I<\/em><\/p>\n The circles indicate the portion size and flavor.\u00a0 The sweeter course circles are toward the right and the more savory ones are to the left.<\/em><\/p>\n All right, I hope you’re you still with me.\u00a0 I feel as if I’m eating everything all over again as I do this write up.\u00a0 For the tenth course, a scup fish<\/em> fried whole, dressed with grilled lemon slices on a plate colored with dark green mint and a pale yellow garlic sauce was brought to the table with a bowl of eggplant caponata (<\/em>the best one I’ve ever tasted) and some panella<\/em>, Sicilian chickpea cake.\u00a0 We were told that Chef Achatz had recently been to Sicily and learned to make this meal from an older Italian lady.\u00a0 It was a meal with history, having been passed from mother to daughter for many generations.\u00a0 Though traditional compared with the rest of the meal, it didn’t seem out of place.\u00a0 Just in case you were wondering, I did eat the eyeballs.\u00a0 I was quite full after this course but we had to keep going.\u00a0 I wondered what might have happened if I had ordered the last ten courses “to go”.<\/p>\n The hot potato<\/em>, cold potato was served in a small wax bowl with a slanted spear on the side holding some cubed butter, hot potato ball, and truffle.\u00a0 Before eating, we pulled out the spear to let the rest of the ingredients join the cold, creamy soup.\u00a0 The wild mushrooms <\/em>were served on a plate on top of a silk pillow which deflated slowly as we ate, infusing the air with the scent of juniper, meant to transport us mushroom hunting in a forest.\u00a0 The second centerpiece on the table we were told were pieces of Lady Gaga’s infamous meat dress<\/a>, hanging between chopsticks like flags.\u00a0 They were used for the deconstructed goulash using the venison.\u00a0 <\/em>The plate was the most elaborate of the night.\u00a0 The ingredients were brought on a rectangular wooden plate with flat glass on top.\u00a0 We had to lift the glass then set it aside.\u00a0 Inlaid in the middle of the wooden plate were two metal objects that we had to link together then covered with a piece of “Lady Gaga’s dress” (which it turned out was a piece of cabbage cooked in red wine) so that it looked like a bowl.\u00a0 We placed the ingredients in the bowl, first the venison, then some pickled vegetables, half a clove, bacon dressing, and Chechvar<\/a><\/em> beer paste.\u00a0 We folded the leaf and ate it like a wrap.<\/p>\n The black truffle<\/em> explosion was one of the most perfect bites we had that night.\u00a0 Like a soup dumpling, it was filled with a buttery broth, parmesan, romaine, then topped with a generous slice of black truffle.\u00a0 Tied for the best was an exquisite piece of foie gras, seared to a crisp on the outside and creamy like bone marrow on the inside.\u00a0 It was part of the squab course where about ten spoons containing food were placed in front of each of us directly on the table.\u00a0 A smoking metal vessel infused the air with lavender scent.\u00a0 We discarded the used spoons into the vessel as we ate.\u00a0 Somehow I cannot remember how the chestnut <\/em>with veal heart and quince looked except for the delicious foamy soup that came with it but it sounds good doesn’t it?\u00a0 The next course came sitting in the middle of what looked like a metallic scalp massager.\u00a0 It was a combination of apple, onion, and brie, battered and deep fried skewered with a burning cinnamon stick on top.<\/p>\n The wine pairings were perfect.\u00a0\u00a0Each one\u00a0accentuated and complimented certain flavors in the dishes. \u00a0 My favorite was the Lignier-Michelot<\/em>.\u00a0 It seemed to intensify the flavor of the wild mushrooms<\/em> and the earthiness carried into the venison<\/em> course superbly.\u00a0 The sommelier was very informative about the origins of each wine but more importantly, he looked quite dapper in his black suit\u00a0and his\u00a0rainbow colored bow tie.<\/p>\n The winter course wins for the most amusing plate\u00a0of the night.\u00a0 I did not think I had to declare that I had a mild allergic reaction to pine but there it was, a plateful of Christmas tree branches.\u00a0 On top was a mound of mint flavored snow on top of smooth rocks cooled in liquid nitrogen.\u00a0 There was a slice of persimmon, honey gel, and a marshmallow.\u00a0 At one corner of the plate was a cup of completely clear hot cocoa.\u00a0 It tasted exactly like hot cocoa and with the same mouth feel.<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"http:\/\/driftlessappetite.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/01\/alinea1.jpeg\" "\\"alinea\\"")
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