Chicago Alinea | It Was Definitely Fun! 🥳

This time, I booked the Salon experience. For me, most of the dishes were a bit heavy and salty, but the molecular gastronomy was still super fun in terms of creativity and presentation! Since it was a birthday celebration, the restaurant even gifted a birthday cake (yes, a liquid cake made with a rotary evaporator in a bottle 😆). Next time, I’ll definitely try the Gallery experience, which I heard is even more theatrical. I follow a vegetarian diet that includes eggs, dairy, caviar, and gelatin, while my partner has no dietary restrictions. Comparing the two menus, a few dishes were already meat-free with no difference in preparation. For those with meat, the vegetarian versions used vegetables with similar textures but kept the same cooking methods. Alinea March Menu: - Caviar - Grilled Arctic Char (Vegetarian version: Carrot) - Caviar Carrot Jelly - Mushroom Soup - Humita➕Empanada➕A Super-Thin Shrimp Chip (Vegetarian version: Super-Thin Cauliflower Chip) I’d call this dish an archaeological dig feast. Before serving, they displayed a set of tools, including tiny shovels and brushes. The Humita was literally dug out from a brazier by the server 😂. - Cold and Hot Potatoes Hold the cold potato purée in a small dish and slide the hot potatoes off the skewer into the dish. This dish was not salty and really tasty 😋. - Black Truffle Explosion This dish is meant to be eaten in one bite with your mouth closed because the ravioli is filled with broth. But for me, it was really salty when swallowed whole 😅. - Grilled Wagyu (Vegetarian version: Grilled Maitake Mushroom) - Squashed Butternut Another interactive dish! When we sat down, we noticed a strange object hanging above the table. This dish finally revealed it—it was a butternut squash wrapped in butter. The server took it down, peeled off the butter, mashed it in a hot stone bowl, and served it with Robiola cheese and a zebra-striped cracker. - Italian Ice Finally entering the dessert phase, this was a palate cleanser and transitional dish. The server used liquid nitrogen to stir and freeze the liquid from Poire Prisonniere into ice, served in a glass. It had a sweet and tangy flavor that I absolutely loved 🥶. - Ice Cream Dessert Painting A dedicated pastry chef came to our table to create a painting with ice cream, and they even brought helium-filled edible balloons. By this point, I was pretty full, but the ice cream was delicious, though everything else felt a bit too sweet. #Chicago #ChicagoEats #NorthAmericanLife #Birthday #BirthdayDinner #Michelin