Alinea takes food that you may (or may not) be familiar with, and prepares/ presents it in an unexpected manner.
There are two menu options: the "tasting" menu ($125) features twelve courses, while the "tour" menu ($175) has twenty-six (yes that is 26) courses. The tasting menu is a subset of the tour. A wine pairing is about two-thirds the cost of the food... options to "upgrade" certain glasses or select different options based on your preferences makes it a bit difficult to give an exact price.
The restaurant called a few days before our reservation, to confirm our choice of menu... selecting the "tour" holds the table for the evening, as they plan on four to four and a half hours for the meal. As it turns out, we took just over five hours to complete dinner. We also selected the wine pairing; in all, we had twelve (yes, 12) different wines. Phew!
Besides taste, Alinea seeks to involve the other four senses of sight, hearing, touch, and smell in the meal.
Of the 26 courses, some were referred to as "one bite" courses, designed to be eaten in a single bite. These items provided the most "how did they think of this" moments. In some cases, the servers would suggest the best way to eat the course. For example, the very first course (both menus) is the "hot potato." This single bite course is two pieces of potato (one hot, one cold), with black truffle, served on a thin steel pin, which rested on a small saucer with a
parmesan cheese-based sauce. You pull the pin, which drops the potatoes and truffle into the sauce, then "slurp" the entire contents, like eating an oyster. A cube of applewood ice-cream (tour) arrives suspended at the end of a thin, foot long "antennae," which is placed on your table... in this "hands-free" course, you simply pull the food from the antennae.
A (tour) one-bite course of seared lamb was served covered in a bed of baked eucalyptus leaves. When you pick up the lamb, the eucalyptus releases its unique aroma. A "full" course of duck (duck breast, cornbread made with duck fat, and foie gras) with quince is served on a pillow filled with "mace" scented air. The pillow slowly deflates as you eat, releasing the aroma. "Mace" is not pepper spray (that would be interesting), but is a cooking spice derived from nutmeg.
The creativity, and uniqueness, of Alinea will surely appeal to those who follow dining with the effort and energy other people expend on sports or music. Although sports and music are great diversions, we need food to survive... so why not try something like this once?
Their website is www.alinea-restaurant.com. Martin Kastner designs some of the unique serviceware at Alinea, which is now available for purchase at www.crucialdetail.com.