Moto

I first visited Moto about five years ago and was blown away.  At the time, there were only a couple of restaurants in Chicago that explored the bounds of what was called Molecular Gastronomy, using science to deconstruct and reconstruct, dishes and flavors.  While both restaurants took their work as culinary tour guides very seriously, Moto went about it with a sense of whimsy, starting with an edible menu and presenting a series of courses that really didn't look like what you might expect them to.  For example, a popular dish was a Cuban Sandwich that was presented as a partially smoked Cuban Cigar.  The entire dinner was filled with a sense of magic and whimsy and there was a sense of wonder about each dish.  For a long time it was my favorite dining experience.  When I found that one of my friends had never been to Moto and really wanted to go, I happily agreed to be his dining partner.  When we arrived, we were seated by the general manager, who I had actually met, a few weeks prior at a benefit for Common Threads.  He took care of us very well for the rest of the night.  When we were seated, a terrarium full of microgreens was brought over and sat with us with little explanation.  I suspected that it would be used som time during the dinner, but I would have to wait and see.

As I mentioned earlier, when I first came to Moto, the first course was the edible menu.  At the time it was a pita cracker with edible paper and vegetable ink.  Moto still starts things off with an edible menu of sorts.  They called it a Tasting of the Tasting Menu and we were presented a plate with 13 small bites representing our 13 other courses in our meal.  They were not entire courses of course, but representations of the major elements of each course.  It was fun tasting our way through the tasting menu and it helped to build anticipation for what was going to come next.  After we were presented with our edible menus, we were then presented with a personalized menu laser etched on thin wood that we could take home 9and which would at least tell us the name of what was coming next).

The next course was called Grow Room and it's where the centerpiece came into play.  We were presented with a beautiful Bison Tartare.  Our server (the manager) then came over, opened the terrarium, and trimmed the greens which were served over the tartare.  The first bite revealed that somehow, a very nice (and light) vinaigrette had been added to the greens which provided some brightness to the dish.  I would say that it was a great start except that the actual start was the menu.

I found the next course when it was presented to us, Radish, to be visually arresting, and it was one of those dishes that had me asking, "how do I eat this?"  It was a clear glass tray, on top of which was a clear glass plate on which were served a variety of Radishes, Sunchokes, Caviar, and a Mint Leaf over Aerated Hollandaise Sauce.  It did help when we were told to mix everything together and try to get some caviar in every bite.  The Hollandaise Sauce was like a pudding, the radishes and sunchokes were very fresh and crisp, and the caviar provided some salt.  It was a very good dish and I liked it a lot.

The next course brought the sense of smell into play.  It was called Flavors of the Ocean and was presented on a glass tray over seaweed.  There was a Sliced Scallop in the center of the plate with some White and Green Seaweeds, Fried Tapioca, Fish Chips, and a White Seafood Sauce.  For whatever reason, I didn't have a problem attacking this and I went about trying various things on the platter until my platter was clean.  It was interesting to try the different flavors individually and in various combinations and it actually reminded me of the Duck course at Alinea with 60 accompaniments that we were meant to try randomly.

Looking at the menu, I saw that the next course was called Which Came First? and I assumed that it was a chicken and egg course of some sort.  While I was right, it was nothing that I expected and would never have guessed.  We were presented with a piece of wood with a depression holding an opened eggshell behind which was a small metal rod with an alligator clip holding a Fried Cockscomb.  Inside the eggshell was an Egg Custard over which were Shaved Black Truffles.  We were told to unmount the cockscomb and dip it into the custard.  I did that, but I also tried both elements individually and while they were very good together, they were also very good separately.  The cockscomb was like a chicharron, the egg custard was very creamy and slightly salty, and the black truffle provided a nice funky flavor to everything.

After the chicken, our next course was Beans Almondine.  Beans with Almonds is a relatively common combination but this definitely stretched things.  It was an Almond Panna Cotta framed by Garlic Tuiles and topped with several different types of Beans, Garlic Sprouts, and English Peas.  It looked relatively simple but the flavors were pretty complex and it was very good.

From a very simple, almost zen like presentation, we went to chaos.  Having said that, despite the fact that it was chaotic, it made sense that it was chaotic. The dish was called Fallen Log and it was designed to look like a forest floor.  There were a variety of Mushrooms, Broccoli, Spinach, and a Jerky Log.  It was very savory, very good, and reminded me of a dish that I had the first time I dined here.  It also was a mushroom dish with a forest floor presentation, but it was a very different presentation.

 

After the complexity of the mushroom dish, we then went back to another very simple dish.  Called Grilled Goat, that is exactly what it was.  It was four different cuts of goat on a grill.  From left to right we had Goat Tenderloin, Goat Belly, Goat Shoulder, and Goat Sausage.  The cuts were small, only a couple of bites each, but it was enough to get a good taste of each, which were all very good.  All of the cuts were juicy and flavorful but I think I favored the goat belly most.

Reading the menu, we saw that the next course was called Thyme Capsule.  It was obviously a play on words involving thyme but we were curious as to how it would play out.  With that, we were presented with a wooden box with Moto branded on the top.

When we opened the box  we were presented with skewers of Pork Belly and Lamb Belly on a bed of fresh Thyme.  The bellies were both very good.  They were juicy, flavorful, and tender, but the best part of this dish actually was the smell of the fresh thyme.

From simple we went back to complex, chaotic, and a little confusing.  It was called Sus Scrofa which gave nothing to us.  We could tell it was a meat course but were still kind of clueless.  It turns out that Sus Scrofa is the scientific name for Wild Boar which was hunted to order at a ranch in Texas.  The dish came with a Roasted Tomatillo and Jalapeno Reduction, Red Mole Powder, Ancho and Guajillo Chiles, Chicken Skin, Puffed Wild Rice, and Boar Jerky.  It was tangy, spicy and very good.  While it wasn't a pretty dish, the taste made up for it.

For the final savory course we were served a course called Bird's Nest.  I figured that it was going to be a poultry course of some sort.  I was wrong.  It looked like a small bird's nest on a bed of twigs and dried leaves.  The "nest" though actually had nothing to do with birds and the presentation took me back to the first time I came to Moto and nothing looked like what it actually was.  The nest was actually Dried Beef with Malabar Spinach and it was a one bite dish that we ate with our hand.  It was clean, simple, and a very nice finish to the savory side of the meal. 

Generally, in larger tasting menus, after the savory courses and before dessert, a palate cleanser, usually a sorbet, is served. That was true in this case as well.  Called Berries and Whey, it was a Raspberry Sorbet with a Solid Milk Crisp.  The sorbet was sweet and tart and the milk was slightly sweet with a texture similar to a meringue.  It was very good at cleansing my palate and set us up for dessert.

Our first dessert was called Shades of Red and like it sounds, it was an exploration of the color red.  It included Pomegranate cells, Strawberry Sorbet, Mascarpone Cheese, and a variety of Tomatoes.  It was an interesting presentation, but honestly, it didn't quite come together for me.  It either needed something more to tie things together, or something less so things didn't need to be tied together.

The next course, Golden Oldies, was a celebration of the color orange.  It used Apricots, Oranges, Peaches, Pumpkins with Ice Cream and Pound Cake.  It was sweet, fruity, and flavorful with a variety of textures.  It looked pretty chaotic, but it tasted great.

For our final dessert course, we were brought a campfire.  It was a thick piece of wood with a flame in the middle and marshmallows on skewers mounted around the fire.  The course was called Toasted Marshmallows, but it was actually more than that.  We toasted the marshmallows and found when we bit into them that they were inside out S'mores.  They were sweet, gooey, and a great finish to the official dinner.

As our dinner was finishing, we were brought a menu of after dinner drinks.  I am a sucker for Amaro so that is what I ordered.  My dining partner had a coffee drink which actually arrived first.  This is when we found that the drink also came with a bite to go with it.  With the coffee drink came some hazelnut brittle.  My amaro took a little time and I found out when it arrived that it came with an Oatmeal Cookie that was made to order.  The amaro was smooth, sweet, and bitter, and went amazingly well with the oatmeal cookie which was warm, fresh, and sweet.

After everything came the Caramel Mignardises which were served on a sandcastle dish.  The caramels were buttery, sweet, and gooey, and a great finish to the dinner.  While dinner was finished though, our experience at Moto was not.  We were given a tour of the kitchen.

The kitchen is in the basement of the restaurant with the stairs near the front of the dining room.  We went downstairs and entered the outer demonstration kitchen.  It was modern and very lab-like with many scientific instruments including a Rotovap, a Centrifuge, Volumetric Flasks, Distilling Columns and a Periodic Table on the wall.  

 

The centrifuge looked large enough to make soup.

The final room that we were shown was the Grow Room.  It was a hydroponic garden that grew the greens for the dinner.  It was very cool to see and a great finish to the experience.  Moto has grown up.  They are still amazingly creative and the food and service is still great, but the presentations, for the most part no longer are plays on something else.  The experience was a lot of fun and I would happily return.   

     

Elizabeth

I had said last year, after trying some truly world class restaurants in London and Paris, that I really needed to hit some of the high end restaurants in Chicago.  At that time, I had thought that Alinea was out of reach and was aiming for a few of the small and truly innovative places in town that were one step above underground supper clubs.  The places that I was aiming for were Schwa, Goosefoot, El Ideas, and Elizabeth.  Since I made that list, 42 Grams has opened and fits into the same "genre" and Elizabeth is the first of these that I managed to get a reservation for (and dine at).  Elizabeth is located in a small storefront in Lincoln Square.  There is a small sign on the door, but even with that, I wasn't sure I was going into the right place.  After I walked into the entryway and through the curtain hanging in front of the door, I saw that I was in the right place.  The space is very small with seating for 24 and the kitchen is in the dining room.  So, if you were facing in the right direction, you could see the chefs assembling the dishes.  There were 6 tables for two, and 3 tables seating four.  The tables and chairs were all mismatched, but the furniture was predominantly wood.  The floor was cement painted brown to match the wood and there were many owl figures throughout the room.  There was one shelf in the dining room that held many owls and the restaurant's Michelin Star.  There is no menu published online for Elizabeth.  Going in, I knew that the menu had a significant foraged element to it so I expected to see quite a bit of plant life, but other than that, I was going in more or less blind which I really didn't mind.  

For our first course, we were presented with several elements.  It was pretty complex but it was also beautifully presented.  The first element was a petri dish (on a wooden coaster) with Chilled Pea and Mint Gel with Turbot, Snail Roe, served with a Mint Tea "Shooter" in a Disposable Pipette.  The tea could either be added to the gel or swallowed as it was and I did both.  Everything about that dish was lightly flavored.  It had a pea and mint flavor, but it was pretty light.  The turbot, like most white fish, had a mild flavor, the snail roe was more a textural element than adding a specific flavor, and the mint tea, while it had a definite mint flavor, was definitely not overwhelming.  The second element was presented in a terrarium and while I liked it, I don't really remember all of the elements.  Everything in the terrarium was edible.  I do remember the Pickled Ramps, the Maple Cream, and the Clover, but I don't remember what the "Dirt" was made from.  I do remember that it tasted good and that it was a bit dry, but that's all I remember about it.  For the last element of the first course, we were presented more tea.  It was a Mint Tea infused with Sassafras.  I wish that I had gotten a picture of the infuser because it looked like a piece of antique lab equipment.the tea was in a round bottomed flask that, when heated with a bunsen burner flowed up the neck of the flask and emptied into an upper chamber filled with Sassafras Root.  After the tea flowed into the upper chamber, it was served into owl shaped coffee mugs where we enjoyed them.

 The next course was decidedly simpler in presentation, arriving in a single dish.  It was called Ramps and Day Lilys and had a green gel in the bottom, which was topped with 3 different cubes, one of which was a potato, Steelhead Roe, and a Clover Leaf and Flower for garnish.  It was very good even if I don't remember all details about it.   I remember the textural differences of the cubes, one was kind of creamy, one was gel-like, and one was a fried potato.  The gel was oniony and went well with the saltiness of the roe.

The next dish was a one bite wonder with what I thought, kind of a humorous presentation.  We were again brought out the wood coaster on which was placed a rock with our next course.  It was Wild Rice and Bear which we were supposed to eat in one bite from the rock without utensils.  We essentially had to wolf the bite off the rock.  It was very flavorful and very good.  There seemed to be a spice of some sort in this.  There was a savory flavor (probably from the bear) and the rice was very toothsome.

The next dish had several things going on and I really don't remember everything about it.  There were some Plant Based Noodles in an Agar Gel with Mustard and Violet Blossoms and a leaf that I am remembering (possibly incorrectly) as mint.  I remember that there were a lot of textures going on and while there were several flowers, the flavor was not overtly floral.

With our next course, we talked briefly with Chef Iliana Regan and learned that her training was in chemical engineering which may very well have explained the references to scientific equipment in the previous courses.  The next course was a longtime dream of several people that kind of became a joke because it wasn't happening.  Farming Shrimp around the Great Lakes had been talked about for years, but up until very recently, no one was able to make it happen.  Recently though, someone has successfully been able to farm shrimp in Indiana (indoors), and this is what we were served.  The Shrimp was fairly large, tempuraed, and sprinkled with raspberry powder.  The batter was light and fluffy, as tempura batter is and the shrimp was very flavorful.  The Raspberry Powder added a tartness to the dish.  It was very good, although I probably would have liked it more had the shrimp been shelled.  Shrimp shells are edible and they do add a crunch to the dish, they can be a bit difficult to eat.

The next course was another simple bite that was served on a large spoon.  The spoon was essentially a spoon that is used for eating soup in Asian dishes.  As this was essentially an Asian dish, it fit.  It was Shrimp Noodles with shrimp flavored Lo Mein noodles and a vegetable that I think was Daikon.  In any case, the noodles were chewy and had a good shrimp flavor and the daikon added some crunch to the bite.

The next dish was essentially a space to relax and think about where we have been and where we might be going.  We were brought a very nice vintage tea cup and saucer with a few baby mushrooms in the bottom of the cup.  They then came out to fill the cup with Mushroom Tea.  I like mushrooms and this had a lot of mushroom flavor as might be expected.  It was nice to slow down for a minute and sip some very good tea in some nice looking cups.

The next course kept the mushroom theme and ended up being one of my favorite dishes.  It was a Fried Maitake Mushroom with Clover and Creme Fraiche served on the side.  The mushroom itself was moist, tender, and flavorful.  The breading that helped helped maintain the mushrooms moisture was crispy and flavorful, and the Creme Fraiche added a sour element that just complemented the mushroom.

One of the design elements that I hadn't mentioned was the centerpiece on each table.  It looked like a series of white vases that were connected to each other at the widest point.  They were spherical in shape and had what appeared to be twigs coming out of the tops.  At this point, the centerpiece actually came into play.  While there were twigs in several of the openings, there was also dried carrots (orange) and Rye Sticks (the lighter brown twigs).  The carrots were chewy, sweet, and very flavorful and the rye sticks were light and crispy with a definite, but not overpowering, rye flavor.

After the centerpiece, we began to progress into our entrees.  We did not immediately proceed to heavy, meat based dishes, but instead started with some soup.  We were brought out a black bowl with grilled Fiddlehead Ferns.  Into that was added Fiddlehead and Fava Bean Soup.  The soup was very rich and savory, tasting like it was cream based, although cream was not mentioned.  The grilled fiddleheads were crisp (like fresh green beans) and had a very pronounced flavor that was pretty bitter and reminded me of asparagus.  It was a good start to the savory courses and I was excited to see (and taste) more.

From the soup, we proceeded to offal and had Spring Greens and Sweet Breads with Mashed Potatoes.  It was a very nice looking dish with the sweet breads placed on the mashed potatoes with a flower petals and leaves next to them and the sauteed greens next to the potatoes.  The imagery of the placement invoked flowers although, it was very definitely a savory dish and had little floral flavor.  The sweet breads were tender and flavorful, the potatoes were rich and buttery, and the greens were buttery and crisp with a slightly bitter finish.

From the sweetbreads, we proceeded to what was my favorite dish, Duck Stew with Homemade Sourdough.  The stew consisted of Baby Turnips and Carrots, Onions, Duck Sausage, and Duck Confit that was presented in a hollowed out Sourdough Bread Bowl.  This was savory, rich, and very definitely comfort food.  There wasn't a lot of stew broth, but there was enough to moisten the bread which made it easier to eat.  The turnips and carrots were small but flavorful, the sausage was tender, and the duck confit was excellent as it always is.  This dish was very good and was a lot of fun to eat.

We finished our savory courses with Spring Lamb Belly and Golden Beets served with a berry jam and a sour cream on the side.  I was actually a little leery of this because I had had lamb belly elsewhere and the flavor was stronger than I really liked.  I shouldn't have worried because, like everything else, it was prepared perfectly.  There was a definite lamb flavor to the belly, but it wasn't exceptionally strong.  Texturally, it was similar to pork belly that hasn't been cured to bacon.  The golden beets were light, sweet, and crisp and tied the belly to the sour cream.  The jam reminded me of huckleberry and had a sweet, fruity flavor with a tart finish that went well with the lamb belly.

Our next course was essentially another intermezzo between our savory and sweet courses and again made reference to Chef Iliana's scientific background.  We were brought out a barkless tree branch that had five holes drilled in it to mount test tubes.  All of the test tubes had liquid in them and they were interspersed between green sprouts and pink flowers.  The liquid in which the pink flowers was floating was Kombucha, a fermented tea, and it was what we were to drink.  We were also given white and black straws to drink it with but I actually forgot about the straw initially and poured it into my mouth.  I did use the straw afterward to recover the flower from the test tube.  The drink was sweet, slightly effervescent, and had a very slight tea flavor.

The first of our desserts looked like breakfast.  I really don't remember most of what it consisted of, but I do know that it wasn't what it looked like.  The dish was called Froot Loops and that was, in a matter of speaking, what was in the bowl.  The cereal rings were not colored like Froot Loops, but they did taste good especially with the Cashew Milk that they were served with.  They were sweet and crunchy with a slightly tart finish.  With the froot loops was served a light and crispy biscuit, some whipped butter, and an egg that wasn't an egg.  Texturally, the egg was like a hard fried egg with a hard yolk, but it was perfect.  There were no fry marks or imperfections.  It did taste good even if it wasn't an egg.

The next dessert was much more identifiable and I actually liked it better than breakfast.  It consisted of Juniper, Sunchokes, and Rhubarb.  The rhubarb was obvious, being thinly sliced and placed on top, the juniper was presented in a cake, and the sunchoke was formed like a semisoft cheese.  The dish was sweet, sour, and bitter with a lot of varied textures and a cream served on the side.  It was very good and a joy to eat.

For our final official course, we were presented with a plate of cookies.  They were Chocolate and Almond Cookies that were rounded on top and looked like mushroom tops which was significant because they were presented on a plate with mushrooms painted on it.  The cookies were sweet and very chocolaty with an almond finish.  They had a crisp exterior with a moist interior and were very good.

I called the last course the last official course because after we had paid our bill, we were presented with menus and another cookie.  This cookie was wrapped for the possibility of taking it with you, but after everything else was so good, this cookie didn't make it out the door.  It was a Peanut Butter and Jam Cookie and like everything else. it was great.  

During my dinner here, I noticed several themes that were repeated several times.  These were owls, scientific equipment, and mushrooms.  There was also the over-arching theme of nature being everywhere, but that was kind of obvious.  It was very cool to see how any of these themes would be presented from course to course.  I really enjoyed my dinner here and would recommend it to anyone who would like to explore Chicago's high end dining scene.  It's amazingly creative, and with one of the most affordable prices for restaurants of this caliber, is a good gateway.       

    

Alinea

I first heard about Alinea about 9 years ago when I was out at a volunteer event.  I happened to meet a girl who was a waitress at this new restaurant that had gotten a huge amount of preopening buzz and had just opened.   I had seen a little about it but I really wasn't familiar.  The girl said that the chef had come from a place called Trio in Evanston which I had heard of, and had heard very good things.  I had not gone there but it was on my short list.  I did eventually make it to Trio, but by the that time, there was a different chef.  It was still very good but it wasn't the chef that opened Alinea.  After talking, I decided to investigate and discovered that this was a very high end restaurant that served degustation menus featuring what became known as Molecular Gastronomy.  Coming here was going to be an event that had to be planned for.  Due to circumstances, it took me 9 years to eventually get here.  It could have been sooner but they initiated a ticketing system that made it very difficult for an odd numbered party to go (You have to buy tickets for all seats at a particular table).  I find it difficult to ask a friend to spend the amount of money necessary to go to a restaurant like this so it was difficult to make a reservation/buy tickets.  Eventually though, a friend asked me if I would be interested in going and I said of course.  The restaurant is located in a modern looking charcoal colored 2-flat in Lincoln Park.  There is no sign, but there was a guy standing outside in front of the enormous door.  He opened the door and I entered into a hallway with dim purple lighting that tapered in width as you walked into the building.  I walked back and didn't see anything so I was a little confused until an automatic sliding double door opened in one wall.  I walked through to a host's station where I was greeted.  I noticed the kitchen to my right (further into the building), a staircase in front of me, and a dining room to my right.  As I was telling them who I was, my dining partner came out of a waiting area and we were seated in the small, ground floor dining room which contained 5 two tops.  There are also three dining rooms upstairs for a total of about 60 seats.  We were seated at a corner which was great because it gave me a great view of the room and allowed me to see the action without turning my head.  I was seated against the wall at a dark banquette that had a yellow throw pillow.  Our table was dark, as were the other tables, there was a grey carpet on the floor and the walls seemed to be grey as well with several small modern art paintings for decoration.  The lighting was hidden in the walls and seemed a bit dim, but was sufficient, for the most part, for photography without a flash.  Above all of the tables was a Rhubarb Stem.  It seemed a little odd, but we assumed there was a point to it and that it would come into play later in the evening.  We started out with some water and some Rose' Champagne before our first course came out.  We were presented with a couple of what looked like a couple of goblets with the stem mostly removed.  It would roll on its base if the side was pushed.  Inside was a light, tart, and savory treat.  It consisted of Banana Puree on the bottom which was topped with some Arctic Char Roe, Ginger, and ultimately with Passionfruit Foam.  It was fresh, flavorful, and a great start.

The next course came out in large covered crocks that looked vaguely like coral and had steam coming out of them.  When the server removed the covers, we saw a lot more steam with a large scallop shell in the center of the crock.  When we opened the scallop shell, we were supposed to see that Ceviche had been prepared inside the shell.  There was so much steam in my crock though, that it was difficult to see anything until I blew it away.  The steam was from some dry ice and water under the seaweed that the scallop shell was resting on.  When I finally was able to see it though, it was an attractive visual.  There was Roe, Seaweed, Scallop, a fish of some sort, and Red Onion that I could identify.  The menu that we received at the end of the meal featured Citrus Aroma which came from the Lemon Juice in which the ceviche was prepared, and Thirteen Textures.  With the wide variety of ingredients, there were a variety of textures, but I didn't stop to count them.  I did like the intense sour flavor and the variety of ingredients used, which provided the different textures, though.

The next course visually was a relatively standard fine dining presentation although there were some surprises.  The dish featured Lobster which was fresh and perfectly cooked.  The lobster was set in Carrot Puree on opposite sides of the plate.  Around the plate, were various other accompaniments for the lobster.  At the top of the plate there was a small pile of what looked like roe but what was actually Grapefruit.  Also on the plate was Melon, Cauliflower, Earl Grey Tea, and Coconut, and in the center of the plate was a Lobster Puree.  This was very good and was a lot of fun trying the various accompaniments.

At this point, they brought out a piece of slate with some logs stacked for burning, set it in the middle of our table, and lit it.

They then brought out our next course which seemed to have nothing to do with the fire.  It was an Asian-Inspired Salad with Ebi (shrimp), Celtuce (Stem Lettuce), Sea Beans, Grapes, Wasabi, Carmalized Miso, and Yuzu.  It was a small dish, but it was very flavorful with flavors of brine, shrimp, and Wasabi, with a little sweetness from the Yuzu and Grapes.  It also had a lot of fresh crunch.

After this dish, the server came and put the fire out and removed it to a serving tray he set beside the table.  He then opened a couple of logs, which turned out to contain a slice of very marbled Wagyu Beef  and a Parsnip.  These were presented on a charred log which was used as a plate which also had a Black Trumpet Mushroom covering a Parsnip Puree, and a Kombu (Edible Kelp) Puree.  This was very savory from the beef, the mushroom, and the kelp, with the parsnip providing a moderating element.  The Wagyu was very tender and the parsnip root was very crunchy.  It was a very creative and surprising dish that was also very good.

Our next dish was a very simple palate cleanser.  Frequently, I have seen sorbets used as palate cleansers because they are simple and the tartness does the job.  This dish, while not a sorbet, did fall into the simple and tart category.  It was served in a clear glass dish and consisted of Lily Bulbs, Rambutan (an Asian fruit similar to Lychee), and a Distillation of Caviar Lime (Finger Lime cells distilled).  Palate cleansers aren't meant to be much abut I liked the sweetness and the tart of this and it would have been nice to have more.

 At this point, the hanging Rhubarb came into play.  We were brought out a very cool glass bowl containing a salad containing Celery Branches, Celery Root, and a coating of Licorice along one side of the dish.  The fresh Rhubarb was sliced over the salad.  It was light and refreshing with bitterness from the celery and licorice which was moderated by the tartness of the rhubarb.

 After the palate cleanser and the salad, it could be thought that we were starting our meal over again.  This course was an entree as would be expected, but it definitely looked like we were taking a step down into Chinese Takeout.  I like Chinese Takeout and think there is a time and a place for it, but this was obviously a joke.  While we were presented with a Chinese Takeout Container, and the food that was contained inside was in an Asian Style, it very definitely was not a step down.  The container held Sweetbreads, with Orange, Ginkgo Nut, Mustard, and Cilantro and we ate it with Chopsticks that were actually Cinnamon Sticks that were lit on one end to imbue the dish with a cinnamon aroma.

We kind of stayed on an Asian theme with the next dish but it also kind of had a woodsy, natural theme to it.  We were served a Wood Ear Mushroom with Allium, a strip of Pig Ear, Parmesan Cheese, and Black Garlic.  It was chewy, savory, and very good, and one of those dishes it would have been nice to have a full plate of.

 The next dish was interactive again and the most popular dish in the restaurants history.  It has been on the menu from the beginning or if it leaves the menu, it quickly returns.  It's a small dish in a small round bowl called Hot Potato, Cold Potato.  It consists of a Cold Potato soup in the dish, over which hangs a slice of Black Truffle, a Hot Potato, a Chive, a small cube of Butter, and a slice of Parmesan Cheese which are skewered by a pin that runs through a hole at the edge of the dish.  The trick is the pull the pin, causing everything to fall into the soup, and then quickly pour it into your mouth so you can quickly experience the temperature and textural differences.  It was a lot of fun to eat and it tasted very good too.

 With the next dish, we were given very little explanation as to what everything was but that was part of the surprise.  The main part of the dish was Duck which was served 5 ways: Confited, Pulled, Roasted, and Pate which were served with a Duck Gravy, and a Duck Liver Mousse on a Cracker.  In the center of the table was placed a platter with 60 accompaniments.  Our instruction was to when we took a piece of duck (slice it in two or three pieces), take an entire accompaniment to eat with it.  That way each of our experiences would be individual.  We were not told what was on the platter, it was our job to figure that out ourselves if we desired to know what it was other than whether it tasted good or not.  Some items like the Pecan, the Fried Onion, and the Olive were fairly easy to figure out visually, and some were pretty easy to figure out by taste like the Pea Puree, the Apricot, and the Plum, but it was a lot of fun picking and choosing.  I ran out of duck before I ran out of items to to taste, but that didn't stop my tasting and we did finish everything that was on the platter.

The duck was the last of our savory dishes and we then began with desserts.  We started with a Pistachio Dessert which started with Pistachio Gelato and Pistachios, and continued with a Strawberry Marshmallow, a Black Walnut Gellee, Mascarpone Cheese, and Lemon Curd.  It was bitter, sweet, sour, and tart, with a variety of textures.  It was very good and played back into the emphases of the variety of flavors and textures in each dish.

The second dessert reprised the idea of the interactivity of many of the dishes.  It was a pretty simple dish but it was also very interactive, tasty, and fun to eat.  We were each brought a balloon.  I was then told to remove my glasses because the balloons were a course that we would be eating.  We were told that the best way to eat it was to suck out the top and more or less let it collapse around your face as you are eating it.  The balloon and string were Sour Apple Taffy and were filled with helium.  The whimsical would use the helium to talk funny but that didn't happen with everyone.  I think that I commented that it would be fun trying to get it out of my moustache.  It wasn't that bad, but there was some picking.

 For the final course, they brought out a silicone mat that covered the table top.  Chef Grant Achatz, the Executive Chef and Partner at Alinea, then came out with a round frame and several bottles and dishes and built our dessert on the table which we were to eat off of the table.  The course was beautiful and contained Milk Chocolate, Caramel, Butterscotch, Meringue, Violet, Hazelnut, and Blueberry.  It also tasted very good and was fun to eat.

I am very glad that I went to Alinea.  It is very definitely a world-class restaurant.  The food was very good and was fun to eat, the space was clean and modern, and but for an irritation that was not completely there fault, the service was exemplary.  I can have a tendency to talk loudly when I get excited and I was told that I was disturbing another diner.  I did try to tone things down but I was told a second time.  This is not a church or a library it is a restaurant and a very good restaurant.  Because of this, people will get excited and might talk with an elevated volume.  I was not shouting, so telling me to tone down the volume was an irritation to me.  Other than that point, the service was fantastic, I liked my experience, and I would definitely recommend it to those people that might appreciate it.