Alinea: 8-23-12

This was my fifth visit to Alinea, and although the food ranked squarely in the middle of the 5 tours, the overall enjoyment of the meal was probably the best.  That’s not to say the food was average; it was still outstanding.  I think the enjoyment had a lot to do with my mindset going into the meal.  I had no expectations as  I didn’t look at the menu beforehand.  Thanks to the revelatory meal at Schwa, I didn’t take myself too seriously either despite the formal setting.  My main goal was to have great time with the company I was with and I did.  It was the most fun I’ve had at Alinea thus far.

Things started out differently this time.  The entrance carpet was replaced with grass and a fan blew a breeze through the narrow hallway, making wind chimes dance and sing.  At the front of the hallway was a metal tub filled with water.  Floating round and round in the water were glasses filled with the first taste of the night: lemonade.  It had an intense lemon flavor, but it was a bit too sweet for me.  Still, an unexpected and fun start to the night.

 

STEELHEAD ROE – peach, St. Germain, kinome

Four blocks of ice were placed on the table when we arrived.  From my past meals at Alinea, I figured these would be the table centerpieces and eventually be incorporated into a course near the middle of the meal.

To my surprise, the blocks of ice were used for the very first course.  The glass boba straws were handed to us and we were instructed to place it in the ice and slurp away.  Within the ice was a peach distillation, and within the glass boba straw were the roe and garnishes.  This dish reminded me of the Fruit Loops roe course at Schwa.  Both were fruity, briny, and salty.

 

SHELLFISH PROGRESSION

I was familiar with the template of the shellfish progression from my last visit, but the presentation this time was more ambitious.  The shellfish sat on top of a piece of driftwood covered in fresh kelp.  The oyster leaf with mignonette and  razor clam with shiso, soy, and daikon seemed to taste the same as last time.  This wasn’t necessarily a good thing, though, as the razor clam again was tough, chewy, and a little too salty.  However, the king crab with passion fruit, heart of palm, and allspice was stellar, as was the lobster with carrot and chamomile .

 

WOOLLY PIG – fennel, orange, squid

I didn’t get much pork flavor, but the combination of fennel, orange, and squid worked really well.  I’ll be using this combination in my everyday cooking.

 

TOMATO – watermelon, chili, basil

My hatred of raw tomatoes is well known.  The last time I had a tomato dish at Alinea, I had trouble getting it down.  This tomato dish was one of my favorites of the night and went down quickly and easily.  There wasn’t much of that grassy, vegetal finish to the tomatoes that tomatoes can sometimes have.  Raw celery has a similar, but stronger, finish and it’s the main reason I have a tough time with both.  The tomatoes were very sweet, perhaps even sweeter than the watermelon.  The chili and basil heightened the brightness of the dish.

On the bottom of the dish was tomato ice.  One of my dining companions astutely pointed that it was very much like the tomato ice served at Next: elBulli.  This was when I started to think about the potential crosspollination of techniques and ideas between Alinea, Next, and The Aviary.  Another link between this dish and the tomato ice dish served at Next was that they were both paired with sake.  The pairing was really well done as the muskmelon notes from the sake played really well with the tomato and watermelon.  Perhaps they were also testing sakes for Next: Kyoto.

 

CORN – huitlacoche, sour cherry, silk

This was corn in many different forms.  The silk was fried.  The husk was charred, combined with fat, and mixed with tapioca maltodextrin to form a “rock.”  The kernels and kernel fungus, aka huitlacoche, were pureed.  Plating was inspired by the artwork found throughout the restaurant.  Although this was a very tasty dish and one of my favorites of the night (I ended up licking the plate), I wish there were actual corn kernels or something to give the dish that satisfying crunch and pop when you chomp down on an ear of corn.

 

OTORO – thai banana, sea salt, kaffir lime

It took me a minute or 2 to realize they were serving fish in a fish bowl.  The tuna was supposedly some sort of sustainable tuna.  I’m not sure if the provenance of the fish was the main factor, but I’ve had tastier otoro before.  When everything was eaten together, though, it didn’t matter much because it was a really great dish.  I found myself awkwardly tilting the bowl every which way in order to savor every last drop of the kaffir lime sauce.  I don’t know why I didn’t just lift the bowl up and drink the sauce.

 

CHANTERELLE – ramps, asparagus, smoked date

This dish tasted a lot like the autumn scene dish at Next: Childhood as pointed by my astute dinning companion.  Even the presentation of the food on a plank of charred wood was similar to the autumn scene dish.  The earthy darkness of the mushrooms was deepened by the smoked date and perfectly cut by the sourness of pickled ramps and astringency and bitterness of asparagus.  A standout composition of flavors and one of my favorites of the night.

 

HOT POTATO – cold potato, black truffle, butter

A classic.  Knowing how legitimately time sensitive this dish is, I refrained from taking a picture.  It was noteworthy that I spilled a bunch of the cold potato soup while pulling the pin, making myself look like a slob in addition to an uncivilized oaf who licks plates.

 

LAMB – ……..?????……………!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Sixty different garnishes were presented for the table to pick and chose.  With a recommendation of 3-4 garnishes per cut of lamb (shank, saddle, loin), you had yourself a “choose your own adventure” dish filled with surprise and intrigue.  That being said, I enjoyed the concept of this dish more than the flavor.  Although I had fun trying more than the recommended 3-4 garnishes per cut of lamb and identifying them, the garnishes boiled down to a handful of disparate flavor profiles: sweet with anise, tart and fruity, herbaceous, bitter and astringent, and nutty.  I found the sweet with anise garnishes to be my favorite.  I thought it worked really well and it was something I’d never had before.  It’ll be something I try with lamb at home.

Again I saw a hint of the crosspollination between restaurants.  Another astute dining companion pointed out one of the garnishes was finely diced mirepoix.  This reminded me of the solid aromatic herb sauce at Next: elBulli.

 

BLACK TRUFFLE – explosion, romaine, parmesan

Another classic.  Sadly, one of the explosions didn’t really have much of an explosion.

 

ANJOU PEAR – onion, brie, smoking cinnamon

Like the hot potato / cold potato and black truffle explosion, I’ll never get tired of the tempura on burning stick dish.  I could have eaten about 10 more of these as the flavors were so well balanced.

 

GINGER – five other flavors

From right to left, the flavors progressed from savory to sweet.  The pins were removable.  I wish they actually told us what each of the five bites were composed of, but I guess it’s my own fault for not asking.  I do have a feeling that one of the bites was galangal and not ginger because it packed a lot of heat.  The spiciness carried over into the start of the next dish.

 

BLUEBERRY – buttermilk, sorrel, macadamia

The implement for this course was really cool.  On top was a flat surface, in the middle was a hole, and on the bottom was a bowl filled with liquid nitrogen.  The hole was sealed with a glass stopper, causing the dish to rattle from the liquid nitrogen’s steam.  We lifted the stoppers and the servers poured in a sorrel drink, or what I like to call “adult Ecto Cooler.”  Slimer would’ve given his stamp of approval.  I could’ve chugged that stuff all night.  As the juice mixed with the liquid nitrogen, steam billowed out from the hole in the plate.

I would've been completely happy if the food didn’t live up to the adult Ecto Cooler, but it surpassed the tastiness of the green witches’ brew.  The yellow cake in the middle was actually cheese in some form, and when paired with the different preparations of high quality blueberries reminded me of blueberry cheesecake.  This was my favorite dish of the night.

 

BALLOON – helium, green apple

Building on the theatrics of liquid nitrogen steam, edible balloons were brought to the table.  The string was a very tasty green apple leather.  The flavor of the balloon was like a green apple flavor h-bomb, where in this case the h stands for helium.  It may have surpassed green apple Jolly Ranchers as my favorite green apple sweet.  Making a mess eating the balloon was unavoidable because texture of the balloon was a lot stickier than I imagined.  When I went to bite into the balloon, it popped in my face and got all over my hands, nose, cheeks, and mouth.  Thankfully the server strongly advised me to take off my glasses before going at it.  Sucking in the helium while struggling with sticky apple balloon all over my face and hands was a lot of fun.

 

WHITE CHOCOLATE – strawberry, english pea, lemon

The mat dessert changed a bit since the last time I was at Alinea.  This time, white chocolate spheres filled with goodies sat on the table.  Then, garnishes and sauces are sprinkled and smeared onto the mat.  The finale comes when liquid nitrogen is poured into the spheres, making them very brittle.  The spheres are then picked up and dropped onto the table, shattering into shards and revealing the goodies.  It was like a fine dining pinata.  The spheres were so brittle, that one of them cracked when lifted.  For a moment I was afraid it would crumble in the chef’s hands.

I don’t enjoy ending a meal on chocolate, so I loved the fact that this rendition was all about fruit.  The quality and intensity of the strawberries was the star here.  I also learned another flavor combination to tuck away in my back pocket.  I can foresee a strawberry, pea, and white chocolate cookie on the horizon.  Overall, it was a great time and a great meal.

HEADCHEESE – parsley root, doenjang mustard, smoldering cinnamon

Having been exposed to headcheese at a young age through banh mi, I fortunately don’t have an aversion to it.  I also have no qualms about handling a pig’s head as I’ve cooked with it in the past.  Although I’ve used pig’s head for tamales, congee, and barbeque in the past, I’ve never made headcheese.  This month’s CharcutePalooza challenge provided a great excuse to finally make some.

For the headcheese challenge, I wanted to focus on texture because headcheese typically lacks in that department.  Placing some headcheese on top of a cracker didn’t sound very fun, so I thought about battering and deep frying pieces of headcheese.  However, I wanted to preserve the integrity of the gelatin in the headcheese and prevent it from melting in the fryer.  After all, where’s the fun in eating headcheese if it doesn’t have any gelatin?

The use of agar-agar came to mind as a way to keep the gelatin from melting under high heat.  My mom used to make jasmine-coconut agar jelly when I was young, so working with agar wasn’t too foreign to me.  The application of agar in a hot preparation, though, was a first.  I already knew agar-based gelatins held their gel state at room temperature, and a little research revealed that agar-based gelatins melt at 85 Celsius.  I decided to use agar threads as they’re readily available at most Asian grocers and 3 times cheaper than agar powder found online.

Since I received some negative responses about showing a pig’s head in previous head-related posts, I’ll spare readers the sight of the suckling pig’s head I bought from Marketplace Oakton.  I feel pretty spoiled having suckling pig’s head so readily available and for only $0.99/lb.  After poaching the head and separating the liquid, I added enough agar to bring the liquid to a 1% agar solution.  I’m not sure how apparent it is in the picture above, but I think I added too much liquid to the mold.

During my research into how much agar to use per unit of liquid, I stumbled upon Grant Achatz’s pheasant with burning oak leaves and sweet potato with smoldering cinnamon stick recipes.  I’ve had the fortunate opportunity to eat at Alinea a few times, so I was familiar with the “tempura on a skewer that serves as an aroma source” style of preparation.  It didn’t take long for me to realize that preparing the headcheese in a similar fashion would be interesting and fun.

When thinking about what to pair the headcheese with, I looked to classic combinations like pickles and mustard.  Initially, I wasn’t sure what I’d use for the pickle, but upon seeing fresh parsley root at Marketplace Oakton I knew I had to use it.  It was only natural to use the leaves in the poaching liquid and make a quick pickle out of the roots.

The previous week I worked with doenjang (a fermented soybean paste akin to miso) for the first time and made some doenjang jigae.  Being on somewhat of a doenjang binge and with mustard on my mind, I was reminded of my cousin’s miso salad dressing I had as a kid.  The miso salad dressing tasted like honey mustard, so I figured an agar-based doenjang mustard gel would work nicely.

A common element between the mustard, pickled parsley root, and headcheese was allspice.  Since allspice and cinnamon go hand in hand, the choice of a cinnamon stick skewer made sense.  The tempura batter specified by Achatz was super light and when fried provided a nice crispy texture.  Using a blowtorch, I set the top of the cinnamon stick ablaze to release its aroma.

To plate the bite, I used an old wire whisk (a great idea from Martin over at Alineaphile) to achieve some semblance of the original served at Alinea that comes nestled in the “squid” by Crucial Detail.  The squid is “designed to hold a delicate course in an upright position.  Six thin wires distribute weight evenly and allow air flow around the dish.”

Overall, the tempura headcheese was a success and a lot of fun to research and implement.  Deep frying headcheese and having the gelatin not melt tickled me pretty good.  I also achieved my goal of highlighting texture for this challenge.  The fried tempura batter provided crispiness and the pickled parsley root provided crunchiness.  Everything worked from a flavor standpoint as well.  The combination of headcheese, pickle, and mustard was immediately familiar, and the addition of doenjang added a sweet note to the bite.

I don’t know if I’ll be making these again any time soon due to the amount of time required, but I’m confident enough to try Achatz’s pheasant and sweet potato recipes now that I’m familiar with the general strategies.  I’m also walking away with a great tempura batter ratio.  Out of all the CharcutePalooza challenges thus far, this one has been my favorite as I’ve learned the most from it.

 

Doenjang Mustard Gel (adapted from here)

Mise En Place

1. 30 g yellow mustard seeds
2. 30 g brown mustard seeds
3. 60 g doenjang
4. 1 g white peppercorns
5. Pinch allspice
6. 70 g white wine
7. 70 g vinegar
8. 45 g shallot, minced
9. 3 g agar

Method

1. Combine all ingredients and refrigerate overnight
2. Transfer all ingredients to a saucepan or pot over high heat and bring to boil
3. Quickly transfer all ingredients to a blender and blend for ~2 minutes
4. Quickly transfer mixture into a small mold (must set to at least 3 mm thickness) and refrigerate until completely set, ~2 hours

HEADCHEESE – pickled parsley root, doenjang mustard, smoldering cinnamon (adapted from here)

Mise En Place

1. Headcheese, cut into a 2 cm cubes
2. Pickled parsley root, cut into 2 cm X 2 cm X 3 mm rectangular prisms
3. Doenjang mustard gel, cut into 2 cm X 2 cm X 3 mm rectangular prisms
4. Cinnamon stick, pared down thin enough on one end to skewer the ingredients
5. Flour for dredging
6. Tempura batter

Method

1. Skewer the pickled parsley root onto the cinnamon stick, followed by the doenjang mustard gel, and lastly the headcheese
2. Dredge the ingredients in flour and shake off any excess
3. Coat the ingredients in tempura batter and let any excess drip off
4. Holding onto one end of the cinnamon, dip ingredients in 190 Celsius oil until golden, ~2 minutes
5. Drain on paper towels and season with salt
6. Take a flame to one end of the cinnamon until smoldering

Alinea: 10-09-09

Shortly after my first meal at Alinea, in which I was very ill, I had the fortunate opportunity to dine there again.  With my sense of smell and taste firing on all cylinders, this meal was undoubtedly better than my previous experience.  Here you’ll find courses not found in my previous meal at Alinea.

 

CENTERPIECE – rosemary

I embarrassingly forgot to turn off my flash and was promptly and kindly told that flashes were not allowed by the articulate server with the bow tie.  He served us several courses during my first meal and his delivery and style were unforgettable.

 

PEAR – eucalyptus, olive oil, black pepper

I honestly can’t remember much about this bite, but I do remember enjoying it more than the oxalis from the first meal.

 

BROOK TROUT– monseigneur

This by far was the best dish of the night for me.  The fish was cooked perfectly and literally melted in my mouth.  I’d also never had roe that was so vibrant before.  Sadly, the table next to us took one bite of the fish and didn’t care for it.  They perceived their fish to be vastly undercooked, but I find that a bit hard to believe.

 

PHEASANT – apple, shallot, burning leaves

The preparation and presentation was not unlike the sweet potato from my first meal.  In place of a smoldering cinnamon stick was a twig with burning leaves to give the sense of autumn.

 

DUCK – chestnut, mace, orange

The lilac kudzu pillows that I had in the lilac/shellfish dish from my first meal at Alinea made their return in the  form of chestnut kudzu pillows.  Unsurprisingly, they were smooth and pillowy.  The duck in the dish consisted of foie gras and duck breast.

 

THAI BANANA – beer, mustard, pecans

Another bite in which I can’t remember what it tasted like in detail, but I do remember enjoying this more than the mustard bite, which came in the same preparation, from my first meal.  This time around, I made sure to eat this quickly since it was a “time sensitive” bite.

 

PEANUT BUTTER – dried and spicy

Of all the terse descriptions, this one was probably the most accurate and justified.  It tasted like really good peanut butter with a little bit of heat.

 

SEA URCHIN – aloe, yuzu, chili

This dish definitely challenged me.  It’s not that I didn’t enjoy it, but the flavor combinations perplexed me as I’d never tasted anything like this before.  When it was presented as sea urchin, I was expecting a huge briny punch to my taste buds, but I don’t recall one.

 

LAMB – pumpkin, eggplant, rosemary aroma

The centerpiece came into play for this course.  Three pieces of lamb, all with different garnishes and flavor profiles, were served on hot piece of metal that seared the outside of the meat.  The rosemary was placed on the end of the hot metal which released the aroma and oils from the rosemary.

 

 

BLACKBERRY – goat milk, onion, lavender

This bite was suspended on the end of an antenna and was very similar to the rhubarb/goat milk/onion/lavender air dish from my first meal in flavor: essentially an onion cheesecake from what I recall.

 

HAY – burnt sugar, coffee, huckleberry

This dish was presented as “hay brulee,” and Chef de Cuisine Dave Beran noted that it was the first night of putting out this dish.  I can’t imagine what it eventually evolved to after several iterations because what we had was simply incredible.  Hands down, this was the best sweet dish or bite of the night.  The aroma of hay instantly reminded me of autumn just as the burning leaves on the pheasant did.

 

Alinea: 9-06-09, Courses 6-22

With my impending third meal at Alinea coming up in a couple days, I thought I’d finally finish up the series of posts that I started back in October 2009.  I realized I was indulging myself by writing way too much about each course, so I’ll simply present each course with a short description this time around.  Anyways, it should go without saying that most everything was amazing, set a new standard for me, and changed the way I think about food.

 

BLACK TRUFFLE – explosion, romaine, parmesan

If Achatz has a signature dish, this may be it.  The ravioli burst with truffle broth upon mastication.

 

TOMATO – fig, nicoise olive, pine nuts

Served with tomato leaves resting on hot stones to release tomato aroma.  The white thing on the tomato on the right is olive oil snow, and a slice of bacon bread accompanied the dish.

 

 BACON – butterscotch, apple, thyme

SWEET POTATO – bourbon, brown sugar, smoldering cinnamon

The bacon and sweet potato were served together.  I was afraid that pulling the bacon off the wire too hard would make a piece of bacon fly into the air.  My fears came to fruition.  The sweet potato, which reminded me of sweet potato or pumpkin pie, was skewered on a smoldering cinnamon stick which slowly released its aroma.

 

MUSTARD – passionfruit, allspice

This was a “time sensitive” bite, and I almost waited too long because the pin started slipping out of the thing as I pulled it up to my mouth.

 

HOT POTATO – cold potato, black truffle, butter

Another “time sensitive” bite in which I stupidly failed to heed the advice of the servers.  Sadly, I experienced warm potato – warm potato.  However, it was still probably my favorite dish of the night.  I would be redeemed on my second meal at Alinea in which I ate the bite right away.  The contrast in temperatures from the hot potato and the cold potato soup added a whole new level to the bite.

 

YUBA – shrimp, miso, togarashi

I never knew the word for what I grew up knowing simply as “tofu skin.”  The shrimp was wrapped around a stick of yuba.

 

FOIE GRAS – peach, fennel, shiso

The peach broth was the peachiest essence of peach I had ever had, and it went really well the the foie.

 

CRAB – carrot, five spice, duck

The crab parfait challenged my taste buds as I’d never tasted anything like it in my life.

 

 WAGYU BEEF – powdered A-1, potato, chips

A liquid was poured into the cold centerpiece and it released the aroma of meat sizzling on a grill.  The potato cube consisted of a potato puree covered in small pieces of potato chips, which gave it a smooth and crunchy texture.  The powdered A-1 (anchovy, raisin, tamarind, and clove) came in a plastic package and gave the dish a nice zing.  A dinner roll accompanied the dish.

 

WATERMELON – lime, nasturtium 

LEMON SODA – one bite

BUBBLE GUM – long pepper, hibiscus, creme fraiche

TRANSPARENCY – of raspberry, yogurt

The next 4 bites were presented at the same time.  The watermelon liquid was encapsulated in a waxy ball-shaped shell.  The powdered lemon soda came in what I think was a rice paper wrapper just like White Rabbit Candy.  The bubble gum was to be slurped out of the glass tube and was filled with tapioca balls.  The transparency was somewhat pliable and not as brittle as I thought it would be.

 

 

 RHUBARB – goat milk, onion, lavender air

Another dish that challenged me but steadily grew on me after each bite and tasted like cheesecake with onions.  The combination of sweet (from the cotton candy) and onion was completely new to me, but made sense after I thought about it for a while: people do love sweet, caramelized onions.  The dish rested on a pillow filled with lavender scented air, which was steadily released as we ate.

 

 CHOCOLATE – blueberry, tobacco, maple

The final composed dish of the meal was prepared by Chef de Cuisine Dave Beran on a mat that was placed directly on the table.  The chocolate mousse was frozen with liquid nitrogen and cracked open on the table, the amber balls were filled with maplewood consomme, the dollops of cream were infused with tobacco, and the blueberries were pickled.  Other garnishes included malt ice cream, blueberry syrup, blueberry jam, freeze-dried blueberry chip, walnut shortbread, frosted walnuts, and thyme leaves.

 

POUND CAKE – strawberry, lemon, vanilla bean

The final bite of the night was a strawberry pound cake skewered on a vanilla bean.  If I recall correctly, the pound cake was held upright on the plate by some sticky lemon stuff and surrounded with powered vanilla.