Prof. James F. O’Brien’s
Opinions Concerning Various Restaurants
The following contains descriptions of my personal experiences at and subsequent opinions of several restaurants that I have visited. Please keep in mind that your own experience at one of these restaurants may be quite different than mine, particularly if a long time has elapsed since my last visit. Nevertheless, I hope the information provided here will be useful to you in selecting a place to dine.
Chicago
Image provided by Alinea.
It’s a little hard to describe the experience of eating at Alinea to someone who has not been there themselves. The food is unusual and strange, and most of the time when people use those words to describe food there is a negative connotation with “unusual” being a euphemism for “bad”. In the case of Alinea, the food manages to be unusual and surprising while also being delightful and satisfying. The food is also gorgeous with each dish a little piece of art that looks cool and elegant on the plate but turns out to be warm and tasty when eaten.
The menu is in tasting fashion where you agree to put yourself into the chef’s hands. We selected the twelve course option with wine paring. Some people shy away from tasting menus due to dietary restrictions, religious constraints, or simple dislike of certain foods. Although we did not require any accommodation, the staff made if very clear, both when we made reservations and while dinning that they would happily accommodate any restrictions we might have.
The menu changes seasonally and in Chicago’s cold and snowy November it featured warm dishes that, despite their cool minimalist appearance, were hearty and filling. You can read a scanned copy of the menu here, but the brief descriptions don’t really describe the dishes very well. It’s like saying that Lord of The Rings is a book about a missing ring. Each of the twelve dishes (thirteen including the amuse bouche) was delightful but I did have a few favorites.
The waygyu beef with maitake mushrooms and truffle was incredible. It was like someone took the elemental essence of savoriness and instantiated it’s avatar in this dish.
The “hot potato” (which is shown in the picture above) was a playful dish where the hot and cold ingredients were suspended apart on a little pin. To eat, you pulled the pin so that everything mixed together and then poured the little bowl into your mouth. The mix of flavors, textures, and temperatures was playful and fun without being tacky. It also was a nice bit of clean refreshment between the more serious waygyu beef and lamb dishes.
The lamb dish was served as little isolated bits of lamb on a plate, each prepared a different way. Each preparation was very, very rich and would have been overwhelming if served in a conventional plate-sized portion. However when served as a varied mix of small portions it worked wonderfully.
The bacon dish was not a savory one, it was sweet. The bacon was served cool, hanging form a little wire rack. Like kids eating bacon on sunday morning we picked it up with our fingers to eat it. Bacon flavored with butterscotch for desert sounded crazy until I tried it... then it just made sense.
The last dish was a shot glass of dry caramel powder and it was the one dish where the chef really decided to play a bit of a mind game on the diners. The servers told us to tip the whole shot glass back into our mouths in one go. The result is this very short instant where it feels like you’ve tipped a glass of sand into your mouth. For a very brief moment you want to spit it out because no one likes a mouth full of sand. However in less than a second the powder starts to turn in to a soft and gooey caramel that feels wonderful in the mouth and tastes fantastic. The contrast between “ugg, sand!” and “wow, caramel!” was delightful. The one thing that I did not like was that the servers warned us that it would be strange at first. I think I would have enjoyed the experience more if I’d gone in blind. I have to guess that at some point someone did spit it out so now they play it safe and warn people.
Eating at Alinea was like going to a show where instead of acting, dancing, or singing, the performance was flavor and texture. The meal certainly was filling and satisfying, but that was not its main purpose. I would happily go have the same meal again just as I might enjoy seeing Wicked a second time. However, like a repeat viewing of a musical, I suspect it would be less exciting the second time through. Luckily the menu does change seasonally and I’m hoping to catch a new performance next time I’m in Chicago.
San Francisco Bay Area: The City
I grew up eating middle-eastern food. Things like hummus, falafel, dolma, kibbeh, baklawa, tabbouleh, and couscous are all familiar foods that remind me childhood and home cooking. Of course, they are native foods of about twenty different countries with uncountable cultural variations on how the dishes are prepared and served. Most of the time when I eat out at at middle-eastern restaurant I come away disappointed that things were not just right. I’m picky I guess.
Aziza is a Moroccan restaurant that gets it right... very right. I don’t mean necessarily perfectly authentic because there are definite western influences in the food, but the deviations from what nostalgia would dictate are well thought out, well executed, and delicious. The meatball appetizer, lamb sausage, and rabbit were my favorites and I did not encounter anything that was not great.
A fun little bit of trivia is that the chef of Aziz, Mourad Lahlou, appeared on the television show Iron Chef America where he was matched against Cat Cora. Normally I’d be cheering for Cora but I’d just eaten at Aziza a little while ago and so I had to root for Lahlou who is both local to where I live and who had recently fed me. Highlight the following for the spoiler of who won and what the secret ingredient was:
[ The secret ingredient was redfish and Lahlou won. ]
Munich, Germany
Each time that I have traveled to Germany, northern Switzerland, or Austria, I’ve generally had a great time. The cities I’ve visited are exciting and fun, the people have been pleasant, and the beer is quite good. Unfortunately, the food has always been a disappointment and I’ve reached the depressing conclusion that most German cuisine is simply too bland for my tastes. For example, I simply don’t understand why anyone would chose to eat Wiener schnitzel or knödel unless they were starving, and even then it’s a choice that reflects questionable taste. Luckily, one can nearly always find nice Italian restaurants in these areas. Of course, there are always exceptions to any rule and I had the pleasure of experiencing a very fine exception to the rule of bland German food during a recent trip to Munich.
Located in the Schwabing district of Munich, Tantris is a 2-star Michelin rated restaurant that takes the country's common flavors and dishes and elevates them to world-class fine dinning. The dishes retain a distinctly German character that is built upon with layers of harmonious flavors.
Our meal began with a amuse bouche of sardine on a little cracker with some micro-greens and paste. It was soft, tangy, and salty and made a great start. The first course was a medley of different salmon preparations most of which incorporated cauliflower in some way. To be honest, I would not have expected the combination of cauliflower and salmon to be that exciting, particularly since I’m not that big of a cauliflower fan, but it worked very well. I particularly liked a little roll that was formed from smoked salmon wrapped around a thick cauliflower paste. The next dish was monkfish. It was perfectly cooked and flavorful, but it was missing a little something that would have made it truly special. The final savory course was veal served in a broth. That might sound like a rather boring dish, but it was my favorite of the meal. It was, of course, cooked beautifully, but the flavor of the broth is what made this dish. The broth had this incredible flavor that I absolutely loved. The flavor also infused the meat but did not overwhelm the meat’s own flavor. The result was a nice harmony of two great flavors. The meal concluded with a desert comprised of several very nice little chocolate pastries.
It’s also worth commenting on the restaurant's unusual decor. The place has a modernized-retro-70’s feel that is elegant, comfortable, and inviting. The orange, yellow, black, and white color scheme with carpet on the ceiling and mirrors on the walls somehow works to create a space that is both relaxing and exciting. The sculptures of bizarre mythical creatures that are on display out front are unique and help set a sort of magical mood as you go in.
Located in the Hayes Valley district of San Francisco, the Absinthe Brasserie & Bar is within pleasant walking distance to both the Orpheum and the Golden Gate Theatre. I’ve found that a very pleasant way to spend an evening is to park with Absinthe’s valet, have dinner there, walk to the theatre and watch your show, walk back to Absinthe for desert and drinks, then drive home. (And since I mentioned drinking and driving within three words of each other, I now feel obliged to point out that obviously whoever is driving should use common sense regarding the drinking part of this itinerary. Clearly I’ve contracted some behavior-modifying virus that induces political correctness.) Of course I would not bother recommending a place where the sole merit was location and what really distinguishes Absinthe from many of the other restaurants in this area its fine food, cozy-yet-exciting atmosphere, and great selection of fine spirits.
The food is defiantly French inspired but it also has strong local influences. The result is quite delectable. I particularly like the duck confit and the manchego and chorizo stuffed chicken.
The restaurant also has a nice selection of oysters and cheeses. A great way to start the meal is to order one or two of each type of oyster for the each person at the table. They will be severed on a single large platter and it can be fun everyone to try each variety together and discuss the differences. Just makes sure you have your server tell you which oyster is which so that you know what you’re discussing --- oysters are very tasty, but to a non-expert they all just look like dead mollusk on a calcified shell.
The meal portions are large enough that some people might feel overstuffed after eating an appetizer or salad, entrée, and desert. Coming back for desert and drinks after a show gives things time to digest. I suppose you could forgo desert but really that’s just crazy talk, particularly since the deserts and cheeses are quite good. Actually, if you want a smaller meal, I’d suggest skipping the starter item (unless it would be oysters!) as the starters are well done but they are not particularly unique.
The extensive drink selection includes several types of absinthe and pastis. I rather like absinthe and suggest trying it if you have not done so before. The servers will offer to walk you through the process of adding water to the drink. If you’re familiar with the procedure then you should do it yourself as your waiter will probably have to rush it bit to avoid neglecting other duties. They also will foist a sugar cube on you regardless of whether or not your selection is better without it.
The executive chef at Absinthe is Jamie Lauren who was a contestant on season five of Top Chef. I was watching the show that season and she was my favorite contestant until she got eliminated near the end of the competition. I’ve been slightly tempted to ask to talk to her while dinning at Absinthe, but I’m pretty sure that I’d just end up saying something incredibly inane like “OMG UR FOOD IS GUD U SHUD HAVE 1 TEH SHOW!!”
