Alinea Restaurant Review
1723 N. Halsted St. (Willow St.) 
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Chicago, IL 60614
312-867-0110 | Menu
Alinea Restaurant is one of our 2012
| Top 10 Chicago American Restaurants
| Top 10 Chicago Food Rating Restaurants
| Top 10 Chicago Wine List Restaurants
| Top 10 Chicago Special Occasion Restaurants
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Alinea is also one of our Top 10 Molecular Restaurants in the U.S.• Check out our review of chef Grant Achatz's cookbook, Alinea.
• For more about Alinea, read GAYOT.com Blog.
Go behind the scenes of Alinea restaurant! Watch the video of our dinner at GAYOT.com's YouTube Channel.
Cuisine
Open
Dinner Wed.-Sun.Features
- Heart-healthy dishes
- Romantic setting
- Reservations required
- Valet parking
- Jackets required
Wine
Great Wine List* Click here for rating key
 The name says it all. In the course of history, an “alinea” would mark the arrival of a new idea or philosophy. If the concept flies, it could mark the beginning of a different way of thinking or a new practice. The restaurant Alinea situates itself in that sphere and in a forthcoming age that succeeds all the inns, restaurants, taverns and bistros as we’ve known them. So be prepared: Alinea is a restaurant like no other in America, period. The experience begins at the doorstep when one enters into a post-post-modern, bare set-up, evocative of a museum of modern art. Tables are over-size, widely spaced and free of distracting tablecloths. All of this is to focus our attention on the food and nothing else. Waiters dressed like bank executives with three-button grey suits move smoothly on the carpeted floor, delivering solemnly to the tables miniscule cups, small glasses, mini plates and mysterious decorative objects symbolic of an esoteric food that needs to be deciphered before eaten. The dinner, composed of approximately 16 to 18 courses, is concocted with dozens of components and in an order and a fashion revealing the art of Grant Achatz. This all may have a disconcerting effect if one is not prepared. So staff pop up to explain and guide one’s approach to the odd presentations, such as at the tip of a metallic skewer or on a steel string swing. Achatz constantly invents new preparations, changing combinations that he dubs with a concise description, such as “yuba” for shrimp, miso and togarashi, or “venison” for a meat plate with red cabbage, mustard and paprika. In this whirlwind of creativity, you’d think the dessert simply named “chocolate” would be a mainstay given its uniqueness. Achatz unrolls a plastic-coated cloth on your table and pours the ingredients of his chocolate dessert over the cloth, then gathers and kneads coconut, menthol and hyssop with the hot cocoa. It is the most sophisticated and paradoxically simple “pastry” you can think of; the most spectacular as well. The dishes are ever evolving but the precision and level of excitement remains constant. The wines are as splendid as they are classic and the wine pairing is a total success especially considering the peculiarity of the food. If you can (the menu is $210), do not forgo the experience of dining at Alinea. You may like it or you may not, but do come to witness what could be a milestone and a landmark in gastronomy.
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