It’s a hard to describe an experience like dining at Alinea. Being at Alinea encompasses all your senses. It’s visually stimulating, you can hear your food sing, smell the aromas (some of which are wafting from your nutmeg pillow), touch your food while you assemble your pork belly spring roll, and most importantly taste the unbelievable creations from Grant Achatz. It’s a fun, whimsical, and inspiring encounter. It was a dining extravaganza like I’ve never seen or tasted.
Char Roe with Traditional Garnishes
The toasted brioche foam was amazing. It tasted like warm, buttery brioche. The warm egg yolk emulsion was the perfect complement to the salty, briny Char roe.
Pork Belly with Curry, Cucumber, Lime
The pork belly was decadent, slow cooked with coconut milk. This was the most fun because you got to play with your food and was accompanied with a variety of garnishes.
Potato with Leek, Smoked Sturgeon, and Radish
This was their take on Potato and Leek Soup. It was creamy, salty, and the radishes added a nice crunch
Filet de Boeuf
This was one of my favorite courses because it was a tasting of beef. Bone marrow, sweetbreads, truffles, beef tongue, and beef mousse. Classic and refined.
Goose
This encompassed all your senses. The fried goose was served on an aromatic juniper sprig and added a woody essence.
Black Truffle Explosion
This tasted exactly as it sounds. Like a liquid black truffle that exploded in your mouth. It was nicely accentuated by nutty Parmesan cheese and crisp romaine lettuce.
Duck
It tasted of a warm, winter night with chestnuts, mace, and orange.
Eggnog, Peanut Butter, Thai Banana
A shot of eggnog that exploded in your mouth. Dried and puffy peanut butter that melted into smooth decadence and a frozen banana that was sweet and smooth on the tongue.
Chocolate
The most indulgent course. Chocolate three ways and served at three different temperatures and textures. It was accented by cooling menthol and coconut. I’m still craving this dessert.
