24 Courses...13 Wines...1 Perfect Evening

[Rob] We made the decision not to be food tourists and take pics at Alinea (there was plenty of flashing going on). Mostly because 'you had to be there' to appreciate it, but also there's a plethora of pics online for you to see what type of food they do. This pic was just pulled from the web. The food was everything I expected, but what made the night was the staff. They were hyper attentive without being in the way. What surprised me most was that the staff was real and personable. I think if we had pushed them to be formal and distant they could have, but they weren't. They were very real and enjoying sharing their food with us. The Sommolier was absolutely amazing! His pairings were so completely on the ball that every time we thought we had a perfect mouthful of food, we added the wine, and it was even better.


The most memorable for me was a skate tail (fish) plated on three powders (freeze-dried browned butter, lemon and caper). The powders were plated and formed into the Alinea logo.

My favorite courses were, of course, "desserts." One (of 6) was a coconut ribbon delicately draped around a polenta pudding, roasted kiwi and saffron threads. Another was a croquette of caramel with Meyer lemon. Each wonderful, and each perfect.

Afterwards we had to walk around and call a friend to share it with. Upon final reflection, my lesson learned is don't try to calcuate the tip after 13 wine tastings! And the kabab did not ruin my dinner :).