Alinea. - TTLG Forums

Mr.Duck on 19/11/2010 at 17:05

Y'know....I've heard of mixologists before. Interesting.

Wonder if they are to bartenders what chefs are to cooks....

Hmmmm...

frozenman on 4/3/2011 at 11:56

Bumping this thread because I caught part of an interview on NPR yesterday with the chef from this restaurant. Apparently he's battled tongue cancer and completely lost his sense of taste? Some very nasty images contained in the interview.

(http://www.npr.org/2011/03/03/134195812/grant-achatz-the-chef-who-lost-his-sense-of-taste)

catbarf on 4/3/2011 at 15:18

That's some real awful irony. Good to hear he's recovering, though.

I guess I'm one of the foodies, I enjoy cooking and fine dining. The cost is always the sticking point, so when I go to expensive restaurants it's usually on vacation. I can sympathize with dethtoll's viewpoint regarding food, as comparing an expensive meal to other forms of entertainment (really what eating for pleasure comes down to) shows just how expensive it is. Still, it's a very basic, primal thing.

Risquit on 4/3/2011 at 23:44

Quote Posted by Starrfall

Pimpin some west coast: (http://www.cyrusrestaurant.com/index.html) Cyrus is highly enjoyable and you can actually make reservations, unlike its better known (http://www.frenchlaundry.com) neighbor.

Only two stars, but the weather and surroundings are nicer!

+1 for Cyrus!

Rug Burn Junky on 6/3/2011 at 19:31

Quote Posted by frozenman

It's an incredibly interesting story, since it goes to the heart of what he does. When he was initially diagnosed, there was an air of tragedy about the whole thing, but it's inspiring the way he fought through it, and the restaurant never flagged. It's like Beethoven composing when he was deaf. He did regain his sense of taste, and from what I've heard he says it makes him a better chef, because he was able to appreciate the way your sense of taste develops. I haven't read the autobiography yet, but I plan to.

I was actually thinking of bumping this thread for another, more self aggrandizing, reason. The other day, Achatz (http://twitter.com/#!/Gachatz/status/42671791893774336) tweeted about Alinea being ripped off for IP issues. It seems a catering company was using pictures of Alinea's food for heir own marketing.

I read a (http://chicago.eater.com/archives/2011/03/01/was-alinea-ripped-off-grant-achatz-thinks-so.php) blog post about it later, on Chicago's Eater, which shows the entire controversy. The really interesting part of it for me was the picture comparisons, since they compared pictures of Alinea's food to the offending catering company. The third one in particular caught my eye, given the website they linked to. :D Ironic, actually, that the support for Alinea's side comes from a site that also blatantly stole the picture from them (of course, with much better intentions).