Alinea

Alinea
1723 North Halsted Street, Chicago, IL 60614
(312) 867-0110

Back in early 2007, I had to travel outside of Chicago for a training event that my company was hosting. It was a short business trip only for two days. When I arrived, a co-worker asked me if I wanted to join him for dinner for the one night we were going to be in town. Our hotel being located almost an hour outside of downtown Chicago, I was initially a bit reluctant to trek into the city, but he ensured me the meal would be worth every bit the hassle - a "can't miss" meal. I eventually gave in and decided to go. Little did I know that I would be in for literally the best meal I've ever had in my life at a restaurant called Alinea.

At this point, everyone has heard of Alinea. It is widely considered the best restaurant in America, has received worldwide exposure, and has won numerous awards, including being granted three stars by the Michelin guide in 2010. However, back in 2007, it was lesser known. It had been open for around two years after opening in 2005, and while it had already established itself in the Chicago food scene, it certainly wasn't the international phenomenon it is now.

Thanks to Chowhound, my co-worker who is from New York learned about Alinea after stumbling across a discussion about Chicago's best restaurants where Alinea was mentioned. There were lots of rave reviews and it quickly became clear that Alinea would be the restaurant of choice for a "one night only" type meal. However, the meal almost never happened. When he initially called to make a reservation, he was denied - the restaurant was fully booked. Persistance pays, however, and after several more phone calls to the restaurant, a table for two opened up after a last minute cancellation.

Part of the eagerness and desire to dine at Alinea was the timing of it all. According to my co-worker, Achatz was suffering from health issues and would be undergoing medical treatment soon for a form of cancer. At the time, it wasn't clear what his status would be going forward and if we'd ever have an opportunity to dine at the restaurant with Achatz at the helm.

From our hotel in a sleepy suburb outside of Chicago, we took a cab into the city. After a long commute to the North side of Chicago, we finally arrived. I'm not sure if it was designed to be this way, but the exterior of Alinea is completely non-descript. There's no signage out front, so you could walk by it and completely miss that it's there.

We were greeted warmly by the front of house who immediately grabbed our bags and belongings, which included a copy of "Soul of a Chef" by Michael Ruhlman that I had purchased for my co-worker as a gift. Not to get too far ahead, but just to show what a class act Alinea is, when we later finished the meal and left the restaurant, my co-worker forgot the book I bought for him. Alinea later mailed this back to his home address in New York with a personal message and signature from Grant Achatz himself.

After we were shown to our table, we briefly began the Grand Tasting that included over 20 courses over the course of nearly three hours. When we sat down, I honestly had no clue what I was in for. I previously had some exposure to molecular gastronomy and modernist cuisine, but not like this. This was something altogether new and foreign...but in an insanely amazing way. The meal was extraordinary in every way - different textures, temperatures, tastes, presentations, even dining utensils.  Having recently dined at Paul Bocuse and Taillevent in France (three and two Michelin stars respectively), I am even more impressed by the meal I had at Alinea over five years ago - not just the overall value and food but the experience. The classic preparations in France were great but somehow they were too...familiar. Alinea's greatest triumph I believe is reflected in its ability to awaken your senses and evoke a range of emotions - to tantalize, amaze, delight, excite, and push the boundaries of what is comfortable, known, and acceptable.

Here are the shots of the food from one incredible night:

Taillevent

Taillevent
15 Rue Lamennais, 75008 Paris, France
+33 1 44 95 15 01

During our recent honeymoon in France, my wife and I spent the majority of our time in Paris. Throughout our stay, we enjoyed some wonderful food, ranging from simple picnics composed of charcuterie and cheese from local shops to exquisite multi-course tastings at some of the finest restaurants in the city. One of the best meals we enjoyed was at Taillevent, which currently holds two Michelin stars from the infamous dining guide.

Taillevent was founded in 1946 and after two years, it won its first star. In 1954, it won its second star and under the helm of owner Jean-Clause Vrinat, it had achieved the coveted status of three stars in 1973, an honor it held until 2007 when Vrinat passed and it subsequently lost a star. Taillevent has a been a mainstay in the world of haute cuisine, setting the standard by which other great Parisian restaurants are judged, so booking a reservation here was on the very top of my list when we finalized our travel plans to Paris.

On one of our first nights in Paris, we visited Taillevent and opted for the standard tasting menu priced at 198 euros per person. The meal started with this amuse bouche, which was a velvety smooth lentil soup with a crunchy crouton.

The first course of the meal that arrived was a decadent, chilled lobster soup served with lobster roe and caviar. The soup was incredibly rich from the cream but it had an incredibly deep, pronounced lobster flavor that was delicious.

The next course was a barley risotto served with sauteed frog legs. The frog legs were delicate and tender, which paired nicely against the risotto, which had some texture and chew from the barley.

Next up were some seared diver sea scallops served on top of a mound of smooth chestnut puree, accompanied by a brown butter sauce. Chestnuts were all over France during the beginning of November when we visited, so it was no surprise to see the use of this seasonal ingredient during the night.

After a brief rest between courses, this enormous slab of seared foie gras rolled up at the table, served along side a sweet red wine sauce, sauteed apples and grapes. This is quite possibly the largest serving of foie gras I've ever eaten in one sitting, and it was glorious.

This perfectly slow roasted piece of veal followed the foie gras dish. The veal was cooked flawlessly, a perfect medium rare that when bit into completely melted in your mouth. This again was served with a red wine sauce with a medley of roasted root vegetables. Of all the savory dishes, this was my favorite.

The French love to eat cheese following their meals, and I grew to really appreciate this custom (despite it being relatively foreign to me at the start). The wait staff brought this huge cheese board to the table - it actually took two waiters to carry it over. It contained a variety of cheeses, ranging in texture and intensity.

By this point, my wife was already incredibly full but I was still going strong. Next up came an assortment of desserts, including a chocolate pallet, pineapple sorbet with tapioca pearls, and a medley of petit fours.

To finish the meal, the wait staff brought over a full bottle of champagne cognac, compliments of the house.

This being our first Michelin-starred meal in France, we weren't sure what to expect going in. By the end of the night, we were thoroughly impressed and really enjoyed our meal. The food was spectacular, and the service was incredibly attentive. We actually enjoyed this meal more than our meal at the three Michelin-starred Paul Bocuse, which we visited later on our trip in Lyon. Overall, it was a great start to our food adventures in France.

Pressure Cooked Bolognese with Tagliatelle

Some of the fondest memories of my childhood were enjoying home cooked meals that my mother put together, and one of my favorite dishes of all time is her bolognese sauce with pasta. Bolognese is a delicious, hearty meat sauce eaten in the Bologna region of Italy and is typically put together using a combination of ground meats, such as beef, pork or veal. My spin on the bolognese that takes it to a new level is adding some mascarpone cheese.

Bolognese usually takes a while to make. My mom used to slowly simmer it on the stove or in a low oven for hours and hours on say, a Sunday. She would start it after lunch and then let it cook all afternoon so that it would eventually be ready for dinner. The warm, inviting aromas would fill the whole house and if I was doing homework in my room, it would honestly be hard to concentrate!

I was in the mood for bolognese during the week, and while I love my mom's slow cooked meat sauce, I didn't have all that time. Instead, I used my pressure cooker to make the sauce and help cut down some of the cooking time. Here's what I did:

When I got home from work around 5, I banged out all my mis-en-place. Instead of chopping by hand all of the vegetables (onions, carrots, and celery), I used my food processor instead. After the vegetables were chopped up, I threw them into the pressure cooker pot with some olive oil, salt, and pepper (with the lid off) and started to sweat them down. After cooking for 5-10 minutes, I added in some chopped garlic along with some dried herbs, such as oregano, basil and thyme.

While the vegetables were cooking, in a seperate pan, I browned up some ground pork, beef, and sweet italian sausage (tip: buy the sausage meat without the casings from your butcher - also typically a bit cheaper).

After the ground meat was browned all over, I threw this into the pressure cooker pot that contained all the sweated vegetables. With all the ingredients combined, I finally added in a few cups of red wine, canned crushed tomatoes, and a cup or two of leftover chicken stock I had hanging out in the fridge. I brought this up to a boil, put the lid on the pressure cooker, and then lowered the flame to medium-low.

I let the sauce cook in the pressure cooker for around an hour. Pressure cooking is great because it cuts down the cooking time and gives you that all-day cooking taste without the time and hassle. It takes a little time to let the pressure inside the pot to dissipate and you won't be able to open the lid until it does, but a good way to quicken this process is to manually release some pressure using the steam valve at the top of the pot (I usually use a pair of tongs for this). Another way is to take the pressure cooker and run it under cold water in your sink. Whatever you do, be careful and use caution because a pressure cooker can be dangerous if not used correctly. To be safe, always consult the instruction guide that came from the manufacturer with the pressure cooker.

To finish the sauce, I added a dollop of mascarpone cheese along with some jullienned fresh basil just at the end before serving. I served the bolognese with some Barilla tagliatelle pasta. Absolutely delicious!

Sous Vide NY Strip Steak, Chimichurri Sauce, Gailan

For a quick weeknight meal, my wife and I threw together a steak dish that honestly rivals any of the premium cuts of beef you'll find at the expensive steakhouses here in Boston. Earlier on the weekend during our grocery run, we picked up some beautifully marbled NY strip steaks from Costco (where I'm consistently impressed with their cattle quality).  Cut from the short loin, the strip steak consists of a muscle that does little work, and so it is particularly tender and an excellent choice for quick cooking.

When I got back home from work, I turned on my Sous Vide Supreme and set the temperature to 132 degrees, which would be the target end temperature for the NY strip steaks (medium rare). I let this pre-heat and also put some water on the stove in a pot to blanch what Chinese call "gailan", also known as Chinese brocolli.

I seasoned the NY strip steaks in a very straightforward manner, adding some smoked salt I picked up from my local Whole Foods Market, black pepper, and a dash of some high quality olive oil. I placed the the steaks in a zip loc bag and then sealed it up after pressing all the air out using the water displacement method. I dropped the bag into the Sous Vide Supreme and let it go for approximately an hour at 132 degrees.

Meanwhile, when the water in my pot on the stove came to a boil, I dunked the gailan in and let it sit for about half a minute to a minute. Once the gailan changed color to a bright, vivid green color, I removed the vegetables.

I had some herbs leftover from earlier in the week that I wanted to use up so I decided to make a chimichurri sauce to accompany the NY strip steaks. If you've never had chimichurri, it is a sauce eaten in Argentina with grilled and roasted meats and is made typically made from some chopped herbs like oregano, garlic, olive oil, and white or red wine vinegar. I've made this sauce before in my food processor but used my Vitamix instead (easier clean-up as you can easily clean the Vitamix by dropping in a few drops of dish detergent and giving it a whirl). In my Vitamix container, I added some garlic, extra virgin olive oil, red wine vinegar, and the leftover herbs I had (cilantro, scallions and thai basil) and blended it for a few seconds. Since the Vitamix engine is so powerful and the shearing force of the blades so strong, this doesn't take long.

After the steaks cooked for an hour, I removed them from the water bath, dried them off, and then did a quick sear on them in a hot saute pan with some oil to trigger the Maillard reaction. After nice and mahogany brown, I took them off the pan to rest. After slicing the steaks in one inch pieces, I then served them with the gailan and some white jasmine rice. This was a quick and easy week night meal that took around an hour to put together.

Sous Vide Scallops, Garlic Butter, Orange

Fish and seafood don't seem to be quite as popular as meat and poultry, possibly because of the cost but also because they're difficult to cook properly. I'm incredibly fortunate to have access to very affordable, fresh seafood all the time, as my wife works for one of the largest seafood import/export companies in the New England area. Her company supplies most of the major distributors, supermarkets and restaurants in the area, so if you've ever eaten fish or shellfish out in Boston, it more than likely came from her company.

We picked up some beautiful U10 sea scallops that came packed in a huge 8 lb tin. These were the largest scallops I have ever seen in my life. Immediately when I opened up the tin, I could tell how fresh these were - no strong, offputting fishy smells, just a delicate, clean aroma of the ocean.

Prior to purchasing our Sous Vide Supreme, we would cook our scallops in the stove, searing them on a hot pan. Scallops tend to be costly if you're buying them retail, so the focus is always placed on not over-cooking and ruining the expensive product. Perhaps it was my lack of skill or experience, but I would find that it'd be difficult for me to get the timing right when cooking scallops. Sometimes I'd get a hard sear and nice crust on the outside but when I sliced into the middle, the scallops were still a bit under cooked. Likewise, there were other times when I would over-cook the scallop, resulting in a tough, rubbery end product that was not enjoyable to eat (insult to the mouth, injury to the wallet). It was tough to time it just right.

Using sous vide as the cooking method has changed all of that. Now I always opt to sous vide my scallops, except for when I'm strapped for time. What I typically do is season the scallops with salt (experiment with different kinds - I've used smoked as well as coffee salt), pepper, and either olive oil or butter. The seasoned scallops are then placed in a zip loc bag and then dropped into the pre-heated Sous Vide Supreme for 45 minutes at 130 degrees. You can also cook the scallops at a lower temperature - some people like 120 degrees and even as low as 108 degrees. Note that if you are cooking for high risk individuals like pregnant women, you may elect to cook the scallops at 140 degrees, which will pasteurize the scallops, kill any pathogens like listeria, and make them completely safe to eat. I have a trusted source for my seafood and know the quality of the product, so I don't worry quite as much about those concerns as others may. At whatever temperature you do cook the scallops, understand the benefits and risks and make an informed decision for yourself. From a textural perspective, if you cook at a lower temperature, the scallops will simply be less firm.

After taking a dunk in the water bath, the scallops will be removed. I dry off the excess moisture with a paper towel and then quickly sear them in a very hot saute pan. With the scallops, I love to serve them with a quick brown butter sauce with garlic. To make this, melt some butter in a pan and cook until it starts to foam at the edges and turn brown. Then add finely chopped garlic and remove from heat. The key here is to take the edge off the raw garlic but not cook it so long that the garlicky flavor mellows out too much. With this, I also like to serve segments of orange, as the acidity of the fruit cuts through some of the richness of the butter sauce and also brightens up the dish. This is one of my all time favorite dishes.

Sous Vide Chicken Breast, Chermoula Sauce, Bok Choy

Chicken breast gets a bad reputation in my opinion. People generally think of chicken breast as boring and bland. When they dine out at restaurants, chicken is usually the last protein they think of to order and often rightfully so as it is typically dry, over-cooked, and woefully mistreated. The good news is that chicken doesn't have to be this way. It has the potential to be juicy, succulent, and wonderfully tender - if done correctly. Enter sous vide.

For a quick week night meal, my wife and I cooked some chicken breast in our Sous Vide Supreme and served it with a home-made chermoula, a sauce used in Algerian, Morcoccan and Tunisian cooking. We took two chicken breasts, seasoned them with salt, pepper and small drizzle of good quality olive oil, and then sealed them up in a zip loc bag using the water displacement method. After pre-heating the Sous Vide Supreme to 140 degrees, we dropped in the zip loc bag and let it cook for a little over an hour.

Meanwhile, as the chicken cooked, we put together our chermoula sauce. I had seen an episode of Bobby Flay's Boy Meets Grill where he cooked some fantastic looking halibut with chermoula sauce, so that's what the inspiration was. For the chermoula sauce, we combined some saffron and hot water in a small bowl and let sit for 10 minutes to bloom. In a small pan, I heated up some canola oil and added some garlic along with ancho chile powder, chile de arbol, ground coriander, and ground cumin (be careful not to burn the garlic - otherwise, it will be bitter). After cooking for a few minutes, we added the saffron and its soaking water and then removed from the stovetop. To the garlic and saffron mixture, we whisked together olive oil, lemon zest, and lemon juice and then mixed in some chopped bell peppers, tomatoes, mint leaves and cilantro.

After an hour of cooking, we took the chicken breasts out of the Sous Vide Supreme. We dried off the excess moisture from the exterior of the chicken breasts and then browned the exterior using our Iwatani kitchen torch. Alternatively, if you don't have a kitchen torch, you can also sear them quickly in a hot pan on the stove. I sliced up the chicken breasts and served some sauteed bok choy and garlic on the side.

Benefits of Sous Vide Cooking

As you can tell by now, I'm a big fan of cooking food sous vide. I think the results are generally fantastic for what amounts to very little actively managed cooking time. I'll be the first to admit that sous vide isn't the best way to cook everything - there are cases where you can achieve superior taste and texture via a different method (e.g. grilling, smoking). Despite that, I think sous vide is a great cooking technique that every serious cook should have in his repetoire. Last year at a cooking demonstration, Heston Blumenthal, the famous chef from the Fat Duck, asserted that sous vide cooking would one day "revolutionize home cooking". While that day may not be anytime soon, I have to say I agree.

What I love about sous vide cooking is how little work is actually involved. Yes, there's a little thought that is required ahead of time in terms of planning meals, but aside from that, there's not much really to physically do. You place your ingredients in a bag or pouch, seal it up, throw it in your sous vide setup, and let it go. That's about it. You don't have to babysit a pot on the stove or monitor a protein that is being sauteed in a pain. This hands-off approach is is especially helpful and convenient for me as a working professional - I can throw in a chuck roast before bed at night, wake up and go to work, and then come back home to a perfectly cooked, ready to eat meal.

There are many benefits to sous vide cooking, but what I consider to be the biggest benefit of all is consistency. Having studied finance in college, I tend to think of things in terms of risk and reward, and in thinking about food quality, what it comes down to is a reduction in risk, or shall we say "variability". What I mean is that when you use a traditional cooking method (e.g. grill a piece of beef or roast a piece of chicken), while the taste be may be superior (and even that is debatable), there's very little room for error. Leave the beef on the grill for a minute or two too long and it's over-cooked. Take the chicken out of the oven a few minutes too early, and it's raw and unsafe to consume. On the other hand, when you sous vide a protein, you set the water to the desired end temperature of the protein and the internal temp of the protein can never go beyond that - that essentially means you virtually eliminate the possibility of overcooked food. You have ultimate control over the process, and the results are virtually perfect, time after time.

Favorite Modernist Cuisine Cookbooks

Here are some of my favorite modernist cuisine cookbooks:

A great book by Heston Blumenthal, the chef behind the 3 michelin star Fat Duck restaurant outside of London. It's lavishly illustrated with explanations behind the science and techniques. What I'm calling the "bible of molecular gastronomy", this behemoth set of 5 volumes has anything and everything you ever wanted to know about modern cuisine. An essential for the professional. A scaled back version of the original Modern Cuisine adapted for the home cook and kitchen. It includes great explanations of the science and technique, but what is most useful is the smaller spiral bound book that includes just the recipes. The debut cookbook by Grant Achatz from Alinea in Chicago, rated the top restaurant in all of America. I was fortunate enough to dine here in 2008 and had the most memorable meal in my lifetime so far. The book contains stunning photography and thoughtful essays from Achatz and other food authors like Jeffrey Steingarten. Solid cookbook by Thomas Keller focused around the art and science of sous vide cooking. The recipes are extremely advanced and involved, and while the home cook may not complete entire recipes, great ideas here and there can be borrowed to elevate your cooking. The cookbook from the famous Eleven Madison Park in NYC. There are over 125 recipes grouped by seasons. The cookbook is reflective of the restaurant's philosophy - marrying modern culinary techniques with classical French cuisine.