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.

11-27 dinner at takashi

breakfast at talbott hotel
bacon and eggs
lunch at rick bayless's xoco churro, chocolate flan cake
grilled jamon panini
dinner at takashi restaurant, very good garlic soup, grilled bob white quail, soy ginger pork belly, Dark Chocolate Cremeux

11-26 park grill at chicago

park grill at chicago millennium park, next to ice skating rink hummus, roasted pork,
dinner at mc cormick & schmick sea food and grill: salad
thai eggroll with ground chicken

11-25 at aunt carol's day 4

ox tail beef soup, tofu with mushroom, chicken steamed with wine sauce, saute skinny broccoli, beef and onion

11-23 at aunt carol's day 3

rice vermicelli, sticky rice cake, pork spare ribs steamed in grounded rice gluten, tofu stuffed with ground pork and nappa cabbage soup

11-23 at aunt carol's day 2

at aunt carol's: turnip cake, pork bone and turnip soup, saute hakka bitter mustard, lion head meatball soup, sliced chinese beef tendon stew

11-22 united airline breakfast, at carol's day 1

business class, egg omelete
dinner at my aunt carol's house in iowa rice with chinese green, tofu and mushroom, deep fried pork chop