History

Alinea opened on Halsted Street in May 2005, the first restaurant from chef Grant Achatz and partner Nick Kokonas. By 2010 it held three Michelin stars and has carried them every year since the Guide arrived in 2011. Achatz, a Charlie Trotter alumnus and Thomas Keller protégé, treats the tasting menu as continuous theatre: edible helium balloons of green apple, hot-pepper-flavoured ice, the famous painted-tablecloth dessert finished tableside. The room was remodeled in 2016 into three flows (Salon, Gallery, Kitchen Table). A reservation is among the hardest in American dining; Kokonas built the Tock system to manage it.

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Common allergens: Various; communicate at booking

Make it at home

Yield 2Hands-on 45 minTotal 1 hr 30 minDifficulty Advanced

Ingredients

  • 200g good dark chocolate, melted
  • 100g raspberry coulis (good frozen raspberries, sugar, lemon juice)
  • 100g vanilla pastry cream
  • 50g crushed pistachios
  • 50g freeze-dried strawberries, crumbled
  • Edible flower petals
  • Liquid nitrogen IF you have it, otherwise skip
  • A silicone tablecloth or large flat board

Method

  1. Cool the silicone surface in the freezer for 30 minutes if you cannot use liquid nitrogen.
  2. Have all components in small bowls and squeeze bottles within reach. Have your eaters at the table.
  3. Squeeze the melted dark chocolate in long arcs across the chilled surface. Splatter the raspberry coulis in dots and streaks.
  4. Pipe small mounds of pastry cream. Scatter the pistachio, freeze-dried strawberry and petals across the whole tableau.
  5. Hand out spoons. Eat directly off the surface, working from your side towards the centre.

Tip from the editors. Practice the chocolate arc on a tray before doing it in front of guests. There is no recovery if you splat.

Where to eat alinea tasting menu

Alinea tasting menu in Chicago

Alinea 3 ★ ★ 4.8

$$$$ Tasting $285-465Tasting menuChef Grant Achatz

Alinea in Chicago is Grant Achatz's three-Michelin-star Lincoln Park dining room, the original American modernist tasting menu since 2005 at 1723 N Halsted.

Book60 days ahead

TipSalon is the shortest flow and the easiest to book; Kitchen Table is the deepest dive into the menu.

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