Deconstructing Alinea

by Deidre Woollard (RSS feed)
May 11th 2005 at 1:20PM

NY Times critic Frank Bruni muses on the future of alchemy food by using the lauch of Alinea, the new "avant garde" restaurant in Chicago which is the American equivalent of El Bulli and Fat Duck, as a launch pad. Bruni's article seems to try to cover the entire avant garde movement in one article. Is it all just child's play and gimmicks or is experimental food satisfying? Don't look to Bruni for the answer to that question. Instead, ask a blogger. The excellent food site Too Many Chefs takes apart a meal at Alinea, covering highlights ranging from the brioche-surrounded grape version of a classic PB & J to a vanilla foam and gel which is eaten using a piece of sponge cake on the end of a vanilla bean. Barrett from TMC reports feeling sated but not as blown away as he though he might be. Restaurants like these are not meant to become your favorite neighborhood bistro but to see what can happen when invention meets food.

Filed under: Dining

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