Link to blog (http://darcela.blogspot.com/2012/06/chicago-anniversary-trip-planning-trip.html)
Planning the trip:
After our big trip to South Africa (http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/trip-reports/1333484-munich-south-africa-lufthansa-saa-c-class-pics.html), we decided to lay low and not do anything too extravagant for our anniversary. However, earlier in the year, my husband told me that he would be having training in Chicago during the week of our anniversary. I decided to then tag along and make a trip out of it -- with a main purpose of finally trying out Alinea, one of the best restaurants in the world! I called Alinea around 2 months before and was able to get a reservation. Other than Alinea, the other restaurant that I really wanted to try was Bill & Giuliana's new restaurant called RPM Italian. My friend also suggested XOCO and Bongo Room, so I added those to our list. And as always, we always have Chicago deep dish pizza while in Chicago.
We both had been to Chicago before and had done most of the touristy stuff. So this time we really didn't do much... the only thing we planned on doing activity wise was the river boat architectural tour since a lot of people seemed to recommend it.
Here's the breakdown of our trip:
Planning the Trip (http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/18772941-post1.html)
Hyatt Regency O'Hare (http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/18772951-post2.html)
Chicago Architecture Tour (http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/18772959-post3.html)
Dinner at Alinea - Part 1 (http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/18772998-post4.html)
Dinner at Alinea - Part 2 (http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/18773008-post5.html)
Food in Chicago (http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/18773022-post6.html)
Summary
m4rcla
Jun 17, 12, 5:23 pm
Link to blog (http://darcela.blogspot.com/2012/06/hyatt-regency-ohare.html):
My husband's training was at the Hyatt Regency O'Hare, so that's where we stayed. It was a huge hotel, definitely built for a conference to house many guests. The hotel was very close from the airport, and there's a free airport shuttle that ran every 15 minutes.
The hotel was an older building with funky cylindrical towers, The rooms have been recently renovated though, so it didn't look like a room from the '60s. :) The hotel was also located a couple of blocks away from the blue line train that goes into downtown.
There were huge open spaces inside, which made me think how much space was wasted. But hey this was a Chicago suburb, so I guess they could afford to have huge open spaces like this. :)
Our room was located on the 11th floor. However, the elevator only went to the 10th floor, and we had to take this small staircase to our room, which was unique. Our room was located in one of the cylindrical towers which I didn't figure out until a couple days later...hehe. Then it made sense to me why the room had such a funky shape!
Overall it's a good airport hotel. Since my husband was actually in training for most of the days, I had plenty of time by myself. I mainly spent time in the room reading books, sleeping, and watching TV. It was nice. :)
m4rcla
Jun 17, 12, 5:25 pm
Link to blog (http://darcela.blogspot.com/2012/06/hyatt-regency-ohare.html).
We pre booked the Chicago Architecture Tour online which actually cost $6 extra/ticket thanks to Ticketmaster fees. Looking back we should have just ordered via will call and picked up once we got there.
The tour was by the Chicago Architecture Foundation. There were actually a couple other river boats that also do similar tours, but I heard this was the better one.
We sat upstairs, so we could see the views of the buildings. The weather was a bit chilly though, so toward the end of the tour we had to seek refuge downstairs.
This was my third time actually in Chicago, but I had never seen Chicago from the river, and it actually did look very different and was a really great way to see the city. Our guide was very informative and explained the different architecture styles and the history of almost every building!!
I don't remember much actually since it's been too long, hehe, but it was a great way to spend our afternoon and I would highly recommend it! I'll let the pictures do the rest of the talking. :)
Link to blog (http://darcela.blogspot.com/2012/06/chicago-anniversary-trip-dinner-at.html):
One of the main reasons I tagged along on this trip to Chicago was because we wanted to dine at Alinea, one of the Top 50 restaurants in the world. I first heard about Alinea from reading a magazine article about the chef who battled tongue cancer and his 3 Michelin star restaurant in Chicago. The more I read about the restaurant and the cuisine, I became really intrigued. The restaurant was also recently featured on Andrew Zimmerman's bizarre food in Chicago.
Alinea is one of the few "molecular gastronomy" restaurants, which is a very modern style of cooking ingredients very uniquely, in a state that we're not used to seeing. For example: frozen olive oil (vs. traditional liquid version), helium/gas candy (vs. typical soft chew version).
I made reservations about two months in advance by calling the reservation line and was able to get a table pretty easily, although only the 5 PM and 9:30 PM times were available. We took the 9:30 PM reservation since we weren't sure what time my husband will be done with his work. When I made the reservation, they also asked if we have any food preferences or allergies, since they typically serve a set menu.
We actually took the train from the hotel to the restaurant since the red line goes to Lincoln Park, where Alinea is located. The area seemed like an upper class neighborhood with various shops and restaurants. We walked a couple blocks and saw the small sign for Alinea. The building looked very unassuming from the outside.
We were greeted warmly and the host took my coat. We came a bit early, so we waited around 10 minutes and watched the busy kitchen. I was surprised to see that many people in the kitchen.
We were taken upstairs for our dinner. All the servers wore jackets and looked very formal. The room decor was quite minimalistic and very modern. There were 6 tables in our particular section, and there were several more tables in other parts of the restaurant. What was interesting was that EVERYONE was taking pictures of the food. Usually we are the odd couple taking pictures before each course, but here at Alinea, everyone was taking pictures.
The sommalier introduced himself and asked whether we wanted to do a wine pairing, to which we said no. :) We each did get a glass of wine though. The first item that was placed on our table was this ice sculpture with 2 holes on top. There was no explanation on what it was or instructions on what to do with it, so it just sat there for a while.
The waiter then came with our actual first course. The portion was tiny but it was very satisfying. The carrot was in a jelly form, and the combination of the sweetness of the carrot and the creaminess of the coconut jelly and the roe's pop was wonderful. We knew we were in for a great night!
The second course was actually four separate bites. The presentation was amazing! There were four shells with various things inside, and they were all set on this big piece of wood covered with seaweed.
Our waiter explained that the leaf tasted like oyster, which it totally did! The rest of the dish was amazing as well and each bite was unique and stood on its own but they were all similar in a way (seafood).
http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-IncHDga9S0c/T750CpyzvXI/AAAAAAAAL4I/JaR74OS9k9w/s640/IMG_1884.JPG
OYSTER LEAF mignonette
KING CRAB passionfruit, heart of palm, allspice
MUSSEL saffron, chorizo, oregano
RAZOR CLAM shiso, soy, daikon
The waiter then brought this contraption that looked like something I used in my high school chemistry lab. The bottom part had boiling water and the top had dried vegetables. The water would boil and move up to fill the top part and then would drip down again and changed color due to the extraction of the juices from the vegetables. It was very interesting to watch!
So we wondered if the meal would be soup? But then the waiter brought out the actual meal which was mashed scallop that tasted like tofu, and the broth from the boiling water was poured over the tofu.The scallop was really good, and the consistency and texture was very much like tofu. The seafood smell was very, very subtle.
http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-TCuIf5BMMa4/T750gH9ib5I/AAAAAAAAL4w/dwz25cGF-RQ/s640/IMG_1899.JPG
SCALLOP acting like agedashi tofu
Our next course was this funny looking squid served on a metal rod with no utensils. Our waiter explained that we were to eat this by basically biting the squid off from the metal with our mouths. The squid itself was served a bit cold and didn't have a very interesting taste, so it wasn't very memorable to me.
Our next dish was inspired by a "fish bowl." From the presentation, it totally looked like one. :) The best way for me to explain this dish was a cold, green curry with tuna. The tuna otoro was served sashimi style, chopped in small cubes and served with curry foam and what tasted like creamy/cold coconut milk.
The next dish was probably my least favorite. In fact, I had my husband finish mine. The ice block with the beet/licorice drink had been on our table the whole time -- but it wasn't served until now. I guess they wanted to cool the liquid before we drank it. We were given this thick straw, similar to bubble tea straw but made from metal to drink the juice. I don't like beet or licorice, so the combination of the two was just not my thing :p
The next two dishes were probably my most favorite ones!! The burn morels was different mushrooms cooked in different ways. Every stone had a different taste. They all had a very smoky/mushroom flavor and were wonderful!!! I just remember savoring each bite and telling my husband this was SO GOOD!
The hot potato cold potato was probably one of Alinea's most popular menu items, and one that has been on the menu since it opened. The portion was actually very, very small. The soup was a cold truffle/potato cream, and to eat this, we were instructed to slide the metal out from the bowl so that the hot potato ball with the shaved truffle "falls" onto the soup, and then we eat both the "hot" and "cold" potato at the same time. The hot potato ball was very warm, soft, slightly cheesy, and the combination of that with the cold potato soup with the truffle was so amazing.
http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-Yx39jZhPbiA/T7505NSqQ3I/AAAAAAAAL5Q/uraLe_4YSpk/s400/IMG_1907.JPG
HOT POTATO cold potato, black truffle, butter
m4rcla
Jun 17, 12, 5:42 pm
For our next dish, we were presented with this tray of 60+ unique ingredients to accompany our meat dishes. Each ingredient was unique, and so the thought was that we choose one for each bite, therefore creating unique flavors for every single bite. It was really cool visually, and the idea was great. But I actually didn't really enjoy this that much. I don't know what each one was so sometimes I got a "surprise" when the flavor turned out different than what I thought it...he he.
I had the chicken prepared 3 ways, and my husband had the lamb, also prepared 3 ways. The meat was cooked perfectly, and the dish itself was great. I just wasn't sure that I liked the tray with all the mystery ingredients. :)
Oh and if you noticed the interesting captions--"Chicken ?????????" and "Lamb ????????"--those were the actual names of the dishes printed on the menu. The question marks signified the mystery ingredients.
I love everything with truffle. This one was no exception. It was a small bite size ravioli, filled with this yummy broth--reminded me of an Italian version of Xiao Long Bao. The ravioli literally explodes in our mouth and we could taste the truffle, cheesy broth inside.
http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-KUBqPyj4ZCE/T751PvI9BTI/AAAAAAAAL5w/qZ0qmdEd8bs/s640/IMG_1913.JPG
BLACK TRUFFLE explosion, romaine, parmesan
The waiter sprayed some fruit alcohol to wipe our table clean, and it was because the next dish was served ON the table. He brought out several spoons which were placed somewhat randomly (or maybe it was in a particular order) on our table, and then we were told to eat one right after the other with the squab at the very end. I liked this dish better than the "60 mystery ingredients." Almost everything tasted good, and it all blended well together. The squab was cooked perfectly and tasted amazing even though it was a bit rare for my usual liking.
http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-kc-sqrBAbx8/T751XLlX54I/AAAAAAAAL54/Nlqb3BQidZ4/s640/IMG_1914.JPG
SQUAB inspired by Miró
When I heard the description of the next dish, I knew I would like it immediately. It's basically deep fried brie cheese!!! I love brie, and I love deep fried stuff. So this was the perfect combination. :) The fried brie was served on a cinnamon stick which served a dual purpose: as a stick to eat off of (utensil) as well as an aromatic enhancement to our meal. Needless to say, this dish was really good as well.
Ok, this next course was actually my LEAST favorite (tied with the beet/licorice liquid). It was five different fresh ginger, prepared in different ways. I am not a ginger person and some of it tasted very raw to me, so it was hard for me to enjoy.
http://1.bp.blogspot.com/--Yrg1mfW3XY/T751k4-cpQI/AAAAAAAAL6I/h3RVdipurBg/s640/IMG_1919.JPG
GINGER five other flavors
Now we moved into the dessert courses. The first one was very interesting. There was a small bowl in the bottom filled with dry stuff that I couldn't figure out exactly, and on the top was a glass plate with blueberry, macadamia, and cream. The waiter then poured what I think was liquid nitrogen into the bowl which started to bubble up and become this "cold, sweet soup" to be eaten with the blueberry & macadamia.
Our next dish was a balloon!!! It was an edible apple taffy balloon. How cool is that? We sucked the helium out of the balloon, and then chewed the taffy to our delight.
The next dish was the dessert finale. The waiter put a rubbery table cloth on our table and brought out the ingredients.
Blank slate for our dessert course. Note that they put a clean tablecloth on our table
http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-FrCHH40952k/T752EWh85VI/AAAAAAAAL6w/ucrfXKFs9Jc/s640/IMG_1933.JPG
Ingredients - close up
A dessert chef then came out and created an art piece on our table. He "painted" and "painted" and at the end, he took the chocolate shell on the left and crushed it on the table
Here's what our dessert looked like at the end. Pretty cool, huh? We ate directly off the table, which was kind of weird. The strong flavors were the tangy strawberry and the subdued english pea. I just randomly grabbed stuff that I saw on the table: white chocolate shells, frozen cream puff, cotton candy, frozen cake, merengue, and flower petals.
http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-UFWTky0broE/T752PTD9tQI/AAAAAAAAL7A/FQ0gCkz5BTM/s640/IMG_1938.JPG
WHITE CHOCOLATE, strawberries, english pea
At the end of our meal, we were each presented with our unique personalized menus. I counted and there were a total of 19 courses.
http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-y6S2PTVPeWw/T752VkCYxvI/AAAAAAAAL7I/LybLZzhaArg/s640/IMG_1943.JPG
Alinea Menu
The dinner was fixed price for $210 per person ++. You can substitute stuff if you have any allergies, but other than that, the dinner was pretty much fixed. There's not a smaller course option.
Thoughts:
Overall we thought the dinner was excellent, and we both preferred it over the French Laundry. The majority of the dishes were excellent and very unique....of course there were some dishes that I didn't care for, but the overall impression was still superb. The presentation was just amazing, something that we had never seen before.
Our reservation was at 9:30 PM, which was probably the last seating. The dinner took around 3 hours total, so it was pretty late by the time we left the restaurant. I would recommend actually getting the earliest reservation if you can (i.e: the 5:00 PM reservation) as opposed to a later one. The reasons are two fold. First, you will actually finish dinner at a decent time. Second, you will be the first one to see all the amazing presentation and food. For us, being on the last seating, we saw everyone else get their food first, so it took the element of surprise away from us. Although, having read this , I probably have spoiled it for you also. :)
m4rcla
Jun 17, 12, 5:45 pm
Link to blog (http://darcela.blogspot.com/2012/06/chicago-anniversary-trip-food-in.html):
Deep Dish Pizza at Giordano's
You can't go to Chicago without trying their world famous deep dish pizza. There are a couple famous places for deep dish pizzas such as Lou Malnati's, Unos, and Giordano's. We decided to go to Giordano's because it was within walking distance from our hotel. We had been before on our previous Chicago trip and remembered it being good, so we decided to go back. We went on a Monday night and the restaurant was packed! We waited for 15 minutes before we were taken to our table.
The pizza took a while to bake, but it's understandable considering how deep the pizza was! I really liked the pizza, and the dough was very good. It was super heavy and thick, but I really liked it. :)
The restaurant was located pretty close to the Magnificent Mile. We came around 4:30 PM, so there was no wait at all. My first impression was just how clean and sleek the restaurant was. The main color theme was black and white--even the servers were wearing white jackets.
I was also impressed by how affordable the dishes were, especially the pasta. They were around $10-$15 each, which is quite reasonable considering how fancy the restaurant was.
We ordered the squid ink pasta which was cooked al dente and tasted great. We didn't order much else because we were supposed to meet our friends for dinner at XOCO.
XOCO by Rick Bayless
XOCO is one of Rick Bayless' restaurant, and it's located just down the street from RPM, next to Frontera Grill, which is Rick Bayless' other restaurant. My friend recommended this place and said their churros were really good.
There was a long line already when we came for dinner, and the restaurant was set up such that you placed your food order first before getting seated. Since we was there with a group of friends, it took a while for the six of us to get seated. And the manager who assigned the seating put us on the bar stool seating area which was not conducive for conversations, even though we specifically asked for a table. He later apologized and gave us free churros for dessert.
We shared the Pepito Tortas which was a short rib sandwich, served on toasted bread. It was quite tasty. We also ordered the Azteca hot chocolate which had a slight spicy kick which I enjoyed.
The churros were served piping hot and glazed in sugar and cinnamon. We dipped the churros in the hot chocolate, and they were so deliciously addictive...warm and crunchy, chocolately, soft and sweet; it was fantastic!
Overall it was a good place, although it would probably be better for lunch as opposed to dinner. Also be wary of the long lines, so come early.
Bongo Room
My friend recommended this place for brunch, and specifically the red velvet pancake. I went during a weekday around lunchtime, and the place was actually quite full, though thankfully I didn't have to wait for a table.
I ordered the red velvet pancake dish, which comes with 3 pancakes, but asked if I could order only 2 pancakes instead, and they allowed it. I waited in great anticipation and was really excited to finally try it.
The pancake was AMAZING! It was probably the best way a red velvet cake could be made into a pancake. It was served warm, and I could really taste the velvety cocoa, combined with the sweet cream cheese frosting and crushed pecan. It was heavenly! I would definitely recommend visiting this place to try their red velvet pancake. :)
Great job on the photos and thanks for sharing your experience!
amolkold
Jun 17, 12, 11:45 pm
Great pics! I really want to try Alinea now ... these "molecular gastronomy" restaurants really intrigue me, especially after a couple of visits to one here in L.A.
The rest reminds me of a cross-country roadtrip I did not too long ago. My short stop in Chicago included exactly what you ordered at Giordano's and the Bongo Room. It brings back some great gastronomical memories. ^
vecta
Jun 18, 12, 12:40 am
Alinea looks spectacular!
Another addition to the bucket list... :)
Tony3021990
Jun 18, 12, 5:51 am
Living in Chicago my wife and I are obsessed foodies. I'm glad you went to one of the Bayless restaurants...my favorite by far. Alinea looks unreal as usual...still don't know why I haven't gone. Was it around 5-6 hour meal?
As far as pizza I'm addicted to Lou Malnati's or Angelo's (local).
Architectural tours I always recommend the SeaDogs, crew is very energetic and captains always have fun with tourists
Nice TR.
coffeeblack
Jun 18, 12, 6:44 am
Thanks so much for your Trip Report. I've been meaning to visit the united states and with this report you've given me further impetus.
m4rcla
Jun 18, 12, 10:47 am
WOW, all the food looks amazing...
Great job on the photos and thanks for sharing your experience!
Yeah, Chicago has some really good restaurants. Glad you enjoyed the trip report!
Great pics! I really want to try Alinea now ... these "molecular gastronomy" restaurants really intrigue me, especially after a couple of visits to one here in L.A.
The rest reminds me of a cross-country roadtrip I did not too long ago. My short stop in Chicago included exactly what you ordered at Giordano's and the Bongo Room. It brings back some great gastronomical memories. ^
Thank you. Yeah Alinea is definitely a very memorable experience, and reservation was surprisingly not that hard to get (compared to French Laundry).
Alinea looks spectacular!
Another addition to the bucket list... :)
Definitely a bucket list worthy place to visit :)
Living in Chicago my wife and I are obsessed foodies. I'm glad you went to one of the Bayless restaurants...my favorite by far. Alinea looks unreal as usual...still don't know why I haven't gone. Was it around 5-6 hour meal?
As far as pizza I'm addicted to Lou Malnati's or Angelo's (local).
Architectural tours I always recommend the SeaDogs, crew is very energetic and captains always have fun with tourists
Nice TR.
The dinner took around 3 hours for us....we probably ate a bit on the faster side though...hehe
I've never tried Lou Malnati's but heard great things about it.
Thanks so much for your Trip Report. I've been meaning to visit the united states and with this report you've given me further impetus.
Glad you enjoyed the Trip Report! Hope you have a great time visiting the US!
isaifan
Jun 18, 12, 10:54 am
Wow. Looks delicious.
enviroian
Jun 18, 12, 11:19 am
Great trip report thank you! However, in my opinion I didn't see one thing edible at Alinea, period. If I shelled out that type of money I would have left and head right to the nearest taqueria.
m4rcla
Jun 18, 12, 12:03 pm
Wow. Looks delicious.
Yeah, it was a food-heavy trip :)
Great trip report thank you! However, in my opinion I didn't see one thing edible at Alinea, period. If I shelled out that type of money I would have left and head right to the nearest taqueria.
Thanks. Yeah all the food was very "interesting" and not the typical food. It was definitely a splurge for us, and we actually really enjoyed the food. It was more about the whole experience though, and we were actually quite full by the end of it.
chicagodesi
Jun 19, 12, 8:14 am
Chicago, my hometown, and definitely my kinda town!
oneworld82
Jun 19, 12, 9:20 am
Who said Alinea is in the top50 in the world? There are 106 3 stars restaurants in the World (according to Michelin)... It's surely a top10 in the US, as the country as a whole has only 10 three star restaurants...
zcat18
Jun 19, 12, 11:20 am
Always wonderful to see a TR of my hometown! Fantastic! ^:)
If you're hooked on the molecular gastronomy scene, you might want to check out Moto--Homaro Cantu's restaurant--next time you're in Chicago. It's just a slightly different take on that style of cooking.
m4rcla
Jun 19, 12, 8:39 pm
Chicago, my hometown, and definitely my kinda town!
Chicago is definitely a beautiful city!!
Who said Alinea is in the top50 in the world? There are 106 3 stars restaurants in the World (according to Michelin)... It's surely a top10 in the US, as the country as a whole has only 10 three star restaurants...
I am basing my note on San Pellegrino & Acqua Panna's Top 50 list. It's probably still subjective but it is a list nonetheless. It is a separate list from the Michelin 3 star restaurant.
http://www.theworlds50best.com/
Always wonderful to see a TR of my hometown! Fantastic! ^:)
If you're hooked on the molecular gastronomy scene, you might want to check out Moto--Homaro Cantu's restaurant--next time you're in Chicago. It's just a slightly different take on that style of cooking.
Noted - I heard about Moto before, will add it to my list for next time. Although I really wanted to try Alinea's sister restaurant, NEXT. :)
blr1222
Jun 19, 12, 9:54 pm
Thanks for the report....Alinea looks amazing
NYBanker
Jun 22, 12, 11:17 pm
A wonderful report. Thank you for sharing.
ordogg
Jun 23, 12, 9:30 am
Chicago, my hometown, and definitely my kinda town!
+1 ^
Great trip report. Another great place to try is Schwa - plus its BYOB - http://schwarestaurant.com/
not to compare apples to oranges, but I thought Charlie Trotters was way overrated (and way expensive). We went there with another couple a few years ago and it was very stiff and unmemorable
m4rcla
Jun 23, 12, 11:15 am
Thanks for the report....Alinea looks amazing
Glad you enjoyed it :)
A wonderful report. Thank you for sharing.
Thanks NYBanker. I'm looking forward to reading your next trip report as well :)
+1 ^
Great trip report. Another great place to try is Schwa - plus its BYOB - http://schwarestaurant.com/
not to compare apples to oranges, but I thought Charlie Trotters was way overrated (and way expensive). We went there with another couple a few years ago and it was very stiff and unmemorable
Thanks for the info about Schwa....will add it to my list. My friend also had a similar experience at Charlie Trotters - although I've never tried myself, I heard it actually closed down?
Coathanger
Jun 24, 12, 5:55 am
Thank you for sharingm especially your food experiences in Chicago.
The photos from Alinea look great and it's always nice to mix the high-end gastronomy with some local favourites!