Grant Achatz

Grant Achatz is a wunderkind-chef, now in his late thirties, and Alinea presents his debut restaurant, opened in Chicago in 2005 and now regarded one of the world’s best.

Alinea seats a mere 64 diners for its nightly tasting menu of “upward of 28 courses” -- some of which are a single bite and most of which are more likely to be plated using tweezers than tongs. It’s “molecular gastronomy,” which I’d associated with manufacturers’ artificially processed food-like substances, show more but which actually is just playing with the physical and chemical properties of food. Achatz focuses on a food’s flavor, then creates interest (and usually surprise) by manipulating its appearance, texture and temperature -- for example, reducing lettuces to an intensely flavored liquid that is frozen and served as a sort of sorbet and topped with a salad dressing that has been similarly transformed.

Like diners who enter his restaurant through a monochromatic hallway, so too readers open the black-and-white cover of this oversized, overweight coffee-table book and find themselves transported, Wizard-of-Oz style, into hundreds of stunning color photographs (see some in the restaurant’s gallery). The book opens with 50 pages of terrific get-acquainted essays about Achatz and Alinea, followed by 350 pages of recipes and detailed procedures for preparing the approximately 100 dishes from four seasonal tasting menus. It’s armchair reading, or kitchen-table reading -- but only to rest the book on the table, not because you’re going to prepare many (any) of the recipes. I would have liked Achatz to deconstruct a menu thematically, but perhaps theme, more than technique, is his trade secret.

I came to this book simultaneously impressed by Achatz’s originality and derisive of most culinary over-the-topness. I come away in awed respect and with a real desire to find the $400+ per-person for a proper evening at Alinea the restaurant. Meanwhile, Alinea the book exceeds 5 stars.

P.S. What’s the most ironic disease for a chef who puts flavor first? Take a look at this New Yorker profile. show less

An absolutely fascinating book about an almost painfully addictive passion for the development of food that is really far beyond the word "creative." It's hard to even begin to imagine how Chef Achatz's mind works but it most certainly sounds exhausting, exhilarating, and any of a number of other adjectives all mixed together! The book is extremely descriptive of a very young man's overly full life, who is suddenly faced with a horrendous cancer that nearly destroyed his career and his life. show more His concentration on the presentation and taste of food in combinations he originates is just incredible. It's not that it is necessarily food "I" would want to eat but his dedication to it and to his restaurant dream is almost super human. His achievements are astounding but I had to look him up to see his "Next" restaurant----when you reach one goal it is almost personally devastating until you can find another one. show less

I'm not sure why I decided to read this book (listen to book on CD, actually), since I'm definitely not into trying different kinds of foods or eating in fancy restaurants. But I'm glad I did read it. I found the story rather universal - one person's quest for excellence in a certain field. I thought he told the story with honesty, describing the bad side effects that focus can have on a personal life and the sacrifices made. Yet there it is, the undeniable driving force to be the best. I show more never expected to almost come to tears reading a book about a chef, and yet I did, when he talked about his fight against cancer I had to hold back tears while driving down the road. You don't have to be a "foodie" to be interested in this book. show less

I heard about Achatz from my ex-caterer husband. My current husband, who used to be a caterer, I mean. He's still a foodie, and tends to come up with the oddest trivia- in this case, he was all excited about Achatz's cold griddle, which freezes foods the way a hot griddle cooks them. Then my stepmom, who is something of a connoisseur of memoirs by people who are facing some terrible medical issue, read and loved this book. So I sought it out.

Achatz is an interesting character- intense, show more driven, and not the kind of guy you'd want to date. (Paraphrasing: "It's Wednesday, I've been here for 17 hours and have 70 hours in this week already") His philosophy of food is fun to read about, as is his relationship with Thomas Keller of The French Laundry. Some of the things he does with food sound purely goofy- and he's aiming for goofy, so that's okay. There's a playfulness about the food I'm reading about here that makes me want to taste it and see for myself. The part about his tongue cancer treatment was less engrossing for me, but I'm glad it seems to have worked out well for him.

Recommended for foodies and/or cancer memoir junkies. show less