a few more meals

so from the ridiculous to the sublime- we had lunch on the day of our Alinea reservation at Frank n Dawgs... today we had the taco dawg and the brunch dawg and the truffle waffle fries.... - today we picked Donald Trump from the Wall of Shame that the place uses instead of number tents - for delivery of food to your table.... (Sadly his card has been defaced LOL by those who aren't big fans)

somewhat less stellar than previous trips (with a much smaller selection of gourmet encased meats than we have had in the past)

later of course we had our Alinea dinner and it was - as usual - mind blowing... not as approachable as our dinner last night at 42 grams which was innovative and stellar cooking and to my mind - more satisfying than the twice the price Alinea despite differing by a single Michelin star.

here is the menu and then the courses following the menu-

Two photos of the graffiti'd course

Next a few photos of the assemblage of the course with a broth steeped in the tea kettle and then poured over the remaining ingredients - a Indian influenced dish that I really liked a lot!

three bites as the next three dots on the menu-

then three coordinated items - one on driftwood - another on a campfire... LOL

and burning in the campfire wrapped in seaweed a pork belly nugget that was excellent-

hot and cold potato with truffles! YUM!!!!

Amazing rabbit course-

the first desert  a cheesecake course-

the second - a balloon of green apple-

the third desert- painted onto our table- Pollack style

an amazing show but not exactly a "meal" like we had last night- so I can still easily say 42 grams was the winner of this two day contest- LOL

tomorrow- bahn mi for lunch and then duck at Sun Wah for dinner before S&S leave for O'Hare and their 10 PM flight to Copenhagen! So more later and the promised road trip review post!

Stunning Dinner at 42 grams!!!!

I interrupt the Burgundy journey because I want to get this post published on the amazing meal we had at 42 grams! here in Chicago...

it started with a warm welcome by Alexa (of Jake and Alexa the owners) at the front door.  We also met Emily the other hostess and got the first sight of the kitchen and the counter we would share with six others for the evening-

Following in the Next model - this is a ticketed meal and WOW what a show--- here is the menu and then I will go through the dishes and some photos of the staff working on our fabulous meal prep and serving...by the way - it is BYO so you can bring some special wines - in our case we brought a 2003 Chablis and a 1996 Morey St Denis- Les Ruchots from Arlaud... both were excellent pairings-

like next- they have the centerpiece as part of the meal- here the chips we had for the course they described as breaking bread- are located in the arrangement - but more on that later-

Alexa describes a course- some she gives tips on the method to best savor the flavors -

our starter cocktail!

the cucumber salad-

the coconut course-

the seafood and fish course-

egg (seed and grains)

OMG pork belly tacos!

sweetbreads - YUM!

the main to end all main courses- a literally melt in your mouth A5 wagyu beef that shared the plate with powdered bone marrow for an all beef essence experience! This course might be my all time favorite course at any place any time!

an excellent root beer based dessert-

the cheese course- like a giant cheeto!

coffee (not liquid) for our final dessert-

and a shot of the luxe ladies room to end the post- LOL

would love to go into a lot more detail but we are leaving town right this minute so this will have to do-
more on the Burgundy trip coming up next-