Graham Elliot Bistro- Chicago, IL

We initially learned about Graham Elliot Bistro while watching "Bizarre Foods with Andrew Zimmern."  Nothing actually "bizarre" about any of the food items at GEB but the attention resulted from the ability to take contemporary and childhood comfort foods and transform them to elegant dishes.

We started with two small plates: Cheddar risotto, green apple and crispy bacon as well as Deconstructed caesar salad, white anchovies and brioche twinkie.

The cheddar risotto came with house made cheese-its that did or did not add to the dish, depending on which one of us you talk to. The risotto itself was well made, with the green apple pieces that were in the risotto adding significantly more to the flavor than the green apple sitting on top of it. The bacon went well with the dish and rounded out the flavors well.

The caesar salad's star attraction was the brioche twinkie.  This did not have the same spongy texture as a conventional twinkie but a creamy salty cheese embedded in a crispy outer shell.  Adding the anchovies provided a classier form of a caesar salad with some fishy richness. The romaine lettuce had just the right amount of crispness and was coated with a generous portion of parmesean cheese that rounded out the dish.

The main courses (large plates) were the game changer.  Cassie ordered Forest mushrooms with white kohlrabi, oatmeal cakes and stout reduction.  I selected Shortrib strogonoff, peppercorn speatzle, creme friache, black truffle.  Both dishes had opposite flavors and textures. 

The forest mushrooms were earthy and meaty with a hint of citrus to the end of the bite.  The oatcakes added some body to the well-balanced dish. They were in a stout reduction that added a slightly smoky and very sweet flavor to it. The creme on the dish rounded it out so well without taking away from any of the previously mentioned flavors. The oatcakes were very filling and the dish was certainly enough to fill a person up. And while I feel like I sound like a lunatic when I say this, the closest thing I can compare it to is probably a lamb gyro as far as flavors and textures. Don't judge me.

Forest mushrooms and oatcakes

By contrast, the shortrib was super savory.  The beef was impeccably prepared; super tender with the fat even melting in your mouth.  However, the meat was not the best part of this dish.  The combination of the dill in the creme fraiche and peppercorn spaetzle provided a super savory and creamy flavor to complement the meat.  A perfect finish to each bite was provided by the black truffle.  I feel too many chefs use truffle for the sake of using truffle.  Sure it is an elegant addition to the meal (that also jacks up the price) but just a hint too much can totally overwhelm other flavors of the dish.  Graham Elliot got it right with this little addition.

Finally, dessert included panna cotta with blood oranges, tyme and honey as well as a housemade vanilla gelato sandwiched between ginger cookies.  The panna cotta was about as perfect as any dessert I ever had.  The panna cotta was creamy but not too rich.  The tyme and blood orange added a well-rounded sweetness and refreshingly herbal flavors to the dessert.  Very fresh, bright and light. The vanilla gelato was creamy and perfect as a stand alone. The ginger cookies were quite underwhelming and made the dessert rather hard to eat when the gelato falls out on your first bite. Its meant to be eaten like a sandwich. Why make it impossible to do so? Just saying...

Overall a good experience. Service was helpful. The server recommended a great cocktail that was one of the best I have ever had. She was helpful and attentive. The music was awesome (all reggae) and the environment the perfect mix of hipster and rustic chic that we both love. It was an overall positive experience, but not likely going to repeat it the next time we are in Chicago with so many other places to try.

Alinea-Chicago, IL

Let's get one thing straight before I start-Alinea is not the kind of place mere mortals like Rob and I judge or critique. We were given the opportunity to experience the work of mad scientist/artist/chef Grant Achatz. Here is a description of our experience, nothing more and nothing less.

Alinea

You walk into a pretty non-descript building and a dark hallway. The door to your left suddenly opens, and you enter one of the top 10 restaurants in the country (or the world, depending who you read). The reservations are limited enough the hostess remembers the last names. The kitchen is to the right and wide open. The hostess noticed my gaping eyes and informed us we could go up to the glass wall and watch, which we did without hesitation. Completely quiet and structured, there are at least 12 chefs working at any given time. If given the opportunity, I would have pulled up a chair and sat in the corner and watched all night, sampling the food and wine while I did it of course.

We sat upstairs at a corner table, with a large wait staff working that are completely informed and clearly enjoy the food made there. They were the perfect mix of polite, helpful, and informal. They held seats for you and were very attentive, while also being relaxed enough to tell you about the "best hair" and "best beard" competitions that occur among the staff. You will find as I go through the dishes, at a place like this you have to have fun working. Fun is part of the whole experience.

We opted not to do the wine pairing or order drinks immediately. With 16 courses to eat, it is not the best idea to imbibe too heavily. We started with water, I ordered a Riesling at some point, and Rob was sans alcohol all meal.

The first course was a traditional started done a la Alinea. Cavier with brioche bubbles, egg yolk puree, and lemon. Mixed together the flavors completely compliment each other from the briney cavier to the sweet lemon and buttery brioche. The egg adds a creaminess to it that melds the flavors together very well.

The arrangement of branches and sticks you see in the below picture was our second course.  Hidden within the bouquet is salsify, a root vegetable than resembles a carrot.  At Alinea the salsify is dried in a similar method as beef jerky.  The texture was that of candied dried fruit but with the taste similar to teryaki (that's the best analogy I can make).

Salsify branch camouflage

Another jem was the gurnard with white pepper puree, peanut puree, coriander, and broccoli as well as fish sauce jelly. The fish, a lovely whitefish from the northern part of New Zealand, was sushi grade and the right mixture of flaky and creamy. Mixed with the purees, it was a surprisingly please combo. As a general rule, I do not like fish sauce, but stand corrected when it came to the jelly. The broccoli rounded the dish out and gave me a good excuse to finish the white pepper and peanut purees when all the fish was gone. Oh, and the best part is that all this was served on a plank from Kentucky that originally housed bourbon, was broken up, and shipped to Chicago for the simple use as a plate for this dish. I mean... seriously???!!! You can't make this stuff up.

A while later we had the sqaub-which is basically a fancy pigeon. More of a red meat, the meat was sweet without a beefy flavor (obviously). It was accompanied by a Mexican tuffle filled with squab liver mouse, beet, grilled orange, and carrot. The Mexican truffle with the liver mouse tasted like fruity pebbles on its own. The sweetness of the dish could have felt like too much, but work with the earthiness of the beet and the meat. Great stand alone pieces that worked so synergistically together.

Squab

The below photo was a palate cleanser as we headed toward the latter portion of the meal.  It is served on a large ice cube in a bowl of finely crushed ice.  Fruit sherbet you wonder?  Not even close.  It's frozen essence of dark chocolate.  Your eyes deceive you but your taste buds don't- pure dark chocolate.  This was made in a rotary vaccuum.  A rotary vaccuum (you can google the image of the machine which costs the same price of a new car) uses temperature extremes to extract the natural flavors from most any object that retains water: dirt, leather, vegetables, fruit, etc.  For instance, if you extract the flavors of hot chili peppers, you will taste the peppers minus the heat of the chili enzymes.  Make sense?

Chocolate-frozen distillation

By far the most fun "dish" we had was in the form of a balloon. Yes, a balloon, helium and all. Made with 3 different kinds of sugar, at a particular humidity they can have a higher surface tension that allow them to be inflated with helium added. The result is a green apple balloon that you simple place your lips on and suck out the helium. Yes, if done properly you sound like a chipmunk for a bit. Then you get to eat the balloon. The balloon is like having the best jolly rancher ever. The "string" is a combo of the sugars of the balloon mixed with dehydrated apple to give it some body and that natural flavors of the apple. All-in-all the result is something you'll never forget.

Yes, I ate that.

Last but certainly not least is the "table dessert". It is exactly what it sounds like and our absolute favorite part. A mat is placed on the table and the dessert is constructed in front of you. Ours consisted of rum, vanilla, mango, all spice, freeze dried coconut, and chocolate with pieces of passion fruit, dried pineapple, sour cherries, key lime in edible wrapping, condensed and carmelized banana, dragon fruit, and watermelon. Yes... it did taste as good as it looks. Go ahead, be jealous.

Alinea is not a place to go for dinner, lunch or breakfast.  It is above and beyond an experience in pushing the limit of how food is prepared and presented- condensed, hydrated, inflated, extracted, it's all here.  All of this happens without any pretension and with a happiness that others get to experience the magic they see every day. Even the wait staff doesn't treat this like a contemporary meal.  The staff salutes you not by stating '"enjoy your meal" but by saying "have fun."