Online - May 04, 2005

The Golden Ticket

Alinea Opens

It was a shot heard ‘round the world.

Ever since culinary wunderkind Grant Achatz announced he was leaving Trio to open his own place, he’s been holed up like Willy Wonka, sifting, atomizing, and pioneering the next wave of avant-garde dining.

The wait is over, Veruca Salt.

Alinea, Achatz’s new restaurant, is open and offering six-, ten-, and 30-course tasting menus that will bend your mind. Many of his dishes have only three ingredients, but they are manipulated and coaxed in wild, unfamiliar ways. Take his peanut butter-dipped Thompson grape wrapped in microthin sheet bread and toasted with a heat gun. It’s PB&J the likes of which you’ve never seen.

The fun-house surprises extend to the sleek and progressive decor flooded with movement and light and anchored by a floating staircase that hovers over a candle-filled reflecting pond.

Of course, you’ll have to be flexi with the wait — they’re booked solid on weekends through June.

No, Daddy. We want it noooooooow.

Alinea, 1723 North Halsted Street, bewteen Willow Street and North Avenue (312-867-0110).