Alinea. - TTLG Forums

Mr.Duck on 26/8/2006 at 10:56

*Opens mouth to speak, thinks it over, shuts it*

-.-

Rug Burn Junky on 6/10/2006 at 00:16

Not that I need to have my tastes validated, but I just found out that (http://www.epicurious.com/gourmet/features/top_50_2006) Gourmet Magazine was fairly impressed with Alinea as well, giving it the top spot in its ranking of American restaurants for 2006.

Looking at the list, has anybody been to any of the others? I'd love to hear recommendations. (Though Per Se is already on my short list of future culinary experiences.)

aguywhoplaysthief on 6/10/2006 at 02:49

I'm not a food connoisseur (unlike some, food doesn't really interest me), but I can say that the way that the stuff is set-up visually is just great. I'd like to know if the Chefs themselves design the presentation, or if they have a specialist for that.

To those who don't "get" this whole thing, there simply isn't a comparable experience to having the best of something (or near best - determining the best is probably impossible), so just for that reason alone I'd say that this trip was a bargain.

TBE on 6/10/2006 at 03:41

(http://www.thevillagenews.com/story.asp?story_ID=9014) Le Bistro in Fallbrook, California gets my vote. Should be here on the list.

I'm not one to be eating all this fancy style 14 course meals though. Give me a blackened yellow fin tuna steak medium rare, and some sort of potatos, and I'm happy. Oh, and beer. Lots of beer.

If any of you visit Robert at Le Bistro, he's sort of eccentric. Show up with nice clothes and patience. It takes a while for the meal. Excellent wines served here.

AR Master on 6/10/2006 at 12:48

I love the artistry. The presentation is amazing. This looks like a place I'll have to visit eventually

I take it this is a place you go to for a one time experience sort of thing? I imagine eating there on even a semi-regular basis would both hinder the food's taste, if you're constantly innundated by it, and would put you in the poorhouse.

Rug Burn Junky on 6/10/2006 at 17:54

Depending on how often you go, I don't know if eating there regularly would hinder the taste, simply because they overhaul the entire meal on a semiregular basis, so you'd be eating entirely different meals even if you go 3 to 4 times a year. More often than that, and yeah, you're probably right that the sameness might impede your enjoyment. The cost, however, is bit prohibitive to do that.

Personally, if I lived in Chicago, I would probably make it a yearly occurrence, and, as is I'll make sure to go back there next time I'm in the city, but I'm not going to make a special trip just for that again.

Thing is, while the dishes may improve, I doubt the experience could ever get better than the first time, since it was so mindblowing. I would imagine that gets lost upon multiple returns.

Which kind of makes me sad in a way. It's like chasing a heroin fix, I don't know how I'll top the first time.

oudeis on 6/10/2006 at 18:10

I have a feeling that the third circle of Hell is just buzzing about this place.

This conjures up a vivid image of a demon in pince-nez glasses and brocade vest reading restaurant reviews to the damned :devil:

Para?noid on 6/10/2006 at 19:05

£92 for a meal of that scope is hardly a rip-off. The amount of preparation and the cost of the somewhat niche ingredients, not to mention the quality of service and presentation costs that restaurant a fair bit to begin with. If a restaurant doesn't deliver the goods and make its customers happy, it will die fast if it plans to be anything more than some gastropub pinged violently close to a fucking canal or waterfront.

plus i suppose those filthy fucking proles can't appreciate complexity and texture over filling their big fat fucking bellies full of a discordant symphony of meat and carbohydrate so we won't put it in their price range

Para?noid on 6/10/2006 at 19:07

also might i add taking surgically crisp depth-of-field type photographs of food for a living must be one of the weirdest jobs going

Gingerbread Man on 6/10/2006 at 19:24

Food stylists / photographers can make SHITLOADS of cash. I'd love to get into that, but my skills with the camera are weaker than Dick Cheney's sense of humour. :(