Alinea Chicago - Anyone had the 24-course tasting menu?
 

I'm curious about Alinea's 24-course, 5-hour-long tasting menu. Photos I've seen and descriptions (food hanging from wires on specially made serving pieces, soups served on top of lavender-filled pillows) make me wonder if it's style over substance. Any reviews from FTers?

It's an excellent restaurant. There is no question that the aesthetic presentation is an important part of the experience, but what makes the place work is that the base elements of the menu are relatively traditional, but the treatments are not. If you have eaten at El Bulli or some of the creative Spanish restaurants, you will have an idea of what this restaurant is about. You will pay for the experience, though - but when you peek into the kitchen and note the number of servers per table, you will see why it is so dear. Some will still shy away, and go to Charlie Trotter instead - but that would be their loss.

Thanks for the comments. Did you do all 24 courses?

I've ate at each Trotter's and Tru quite a few times. I generally find Tru is a bit more flash (my actual meal there a few weeks ago was pretty pedestrian), with Trotter's being more refined and also more creative on the food offerings. I thought $175 for the 24-course menu at Alinea sounds pretty reasonable in comparison to the others, especially as that table won't get turned over. If I'm reading your comments correctly, it sounds like Alinea is a bit of a combination of the two.

Here is a well-written "normal person" review from earlier this year:

Alinea review

Thank you. I've looked up several reviews and that was by far the most complete.

I did the midlevel course - the table next to ours did the full 24. Difference seemed to be additional courses, but not a substantially different dining experience.

I have not been to Tru, so I can't really comment on where Alinea would fall.

Keep in mind palette fatigue. If the food really is great, your senses will be overwhealmed long before you've gotten through all of them.