Alinea
1723 N. Halsted St.Chicago, IL 60614-5501
Lincoln Park
312-867-0110
alinearestaurant.com
Hours: Dinner: Sunday, Wednesday-Saturday
Closed Monday, Tuesday
Our Review
Discreetly located in a town house spitting distance from chef Grant Achatz's first employer, Charlie Trotter, Alinea is marked only by a valet's sandwich board at the curb. Inside, a dining room and glass-walled kitchen share the first floor; up a set of glass stairs covered by metal mesh mats are two more small, luxuriously spare dining rooms. The menu has changed since I went there, but the concept remains the same: a prix fixe tasting menus of experimental cuisine in a daunting 19 ($210) courses; wine pairings add to the bill. A standby on the frequently changing menu is an original, the Hot Potato, a tiny bowl of chilled potato soup with a pin bearing a chunk of hot potato, Parmesan, butter, and a slice of black truffle; to eat it you slide the pin out so the potato and truffle drop into the soup, then slurp it as you would an oyster. The Alinea experience remains tightly controlled, with specific instructions as to how certain dishes should be eaten. Under less polished conditions this would be annoyingly pretentious, but the soothing rituals of fine dining can take the edge off the edgiest of cuisines.
Price: $$$$$
Payment Type: American Express, Diners Club, Discover, MasterCard, Visa
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