11-28 dinner at alinea

continental breakfast at talbott hotel
lunch at lou malnati's pizzaria
at alinea: this is the single best fine dinning i've ever had in my life. it tops even french laundry 3 weeks ago. the chef and his team are amazingly talented artists in crafting more than just food. the level of creative combination use of texture, flavor, scent, and temperature, has delivered a food experience i've never encountered in the past. i tend to think i'm a fairly jaded foodie that has eaten many excellent food, anywhere in between home cooked and fine dinning, in california and many trips over seas, which frequently includes visiting a few top rated restaurants around the world. i have never written a single critique of any dish so far in this 4 year old blog, but i'm making an exception here for this restaurant, and it's chef grant archaz, and his team.
many chefs and home cooks can make awsome pasta dishes, or super yummie chinese soupy steam dumplings (xiao long bao), or great cakes. it means many people can cook a lot of the similar great dishes. however, the level of dinner experience at alinea has only been been delivered by them, unique, and more than just tasty. they have treated cooking like scientists would with their research; they have spent time developed and invented all these out of this world yummie-ness, that have not been done by anyone else. they are better than just masters of this difficult craft. i went there with high expectations, and they have impressed me far above what i think how food can be great. the pictures i have taken don't do justice of my entire dinner. you can visit the restaurant's web site for some food porn. alinea's link to their much better web pictures: http://www.alinea-restaurant.com/pages/gallery/gallery_cuis.html
that was the wire to hang bacon with !!!!
slurp everything from the glass tube in a single go
some of the people behind this amazing dinner. i asked for permission to take pictures of the staff working in their kitchen.