Alinea – Chicago, IL
Chef Grant Achatz worked at The French Laundry for four years under Thomas Keller, eventually rising to the position of sous chef before spending two years as an assistant winemaker at La Jota Winery. From there he landed at Trio in Evanston, IL, earning such accolades as “Rising Star Chef of the Year” from the James Beard Foundation and one of the ten “Best Chefs in America” from Food and Wine in 2002. In May 2005 he opened his dream restaurant Alinea in a gorgeously renovated stand-alone building in Chicago—and the man is still only 32 years old! His obsession is not only with food and essential ingredients but how to manipulate and deliver them, which means a meal will involve unusual serving devices, utensils, and even atomizers. His “Hot Potato” first course arrives as a clamshell-shaped bowl containing cold potato soup, with a morsel of hot potato and black truffle on a spear poised above it; you’re instructed to release the pin, the hot joins the cold, and voila, everything goes into your mouth at once. A must for hedonists who want every sense stirred; a place to avoid for dullards who lack patience for these sorts of fun explanations. Book “the Tour,” a 24-course extravaganza (and yes, the wine pairings are essential and staggeringly great) and you’ll be talking about it for years to come. Or at least until you come back.

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