(yeah, that's a course from Alinea... it's called "TRANSPARENCY of raspberry, rose petal, yogurt")
A bit tired today after a fantastic weekend in Chicago at the National Restaurant Association's annual show. I had some absolutely killer meals, mostly in a row with some really great customers and friends. I got to see the Cubs play at Wrigley, which no lie, is probably the longest-running dream of life. It's nice to finally fulfill a 20-year old dream of mine, especially considering how amazing the rest of the weekend.
I wrote a few weeks back about some restaurants in Chicago I was lucky enough to get to go to and I can tell you, it did not disappoint. There's something like surreal about getting to enjoy really, really fantastic meals and not have to pay anything for them. That's killer...
First meal was at David Burke's PrimeHouse for lunch on Saturday. I had some pretty high expectations and was very disappointed. They missed on absolutely basic cooking fundamentals; mostly with the dry-aged 45 day bone-in ribeye that was under-seasoned and over-cooked.
Ate that night at Mercat a la Planxa; a very shibby Catalan (Spanish) restaurant that's fairly new and receiving a lot of buzz. The food did not disappoint and the restaurant was absolutely awesome. The wine pairings lacked a bit, but I guess you can't have everything. Seriously though, why serve a Francis Ford Coppola Cabernet in a Spanish restaurant? Total disconnect for me and a bit embarrassing, I think. Stayed till the wee hours at a bar called Nomi in the Park Hyatt that was absolutely rad.
Up next was Vermilion, which was great. It's an Indian-Latin American fusion restaurant that was... well, sexy. The whole decor, ambiance and food was just sexy. I highly recommend Vermilion...
Had a great lunch at BlackBird, a Chicago stalwart, the next afternoon. Spent three hours with some newer customers, getting to know them, enjoying a family-style meal and drinking a killer Vouvray from the Loire. Spent three hours with them and everyone left so pleased that we'd all gotten together.
Then Alinea... I'll have to speak more about this later. It was absolutely mind-blowing, almost to the point of sensory overload. Great experience, but I know it's not for everyone. It takes a lot of focus and determination to battle the 26-course "tour" menu; but I survived.