Wil's Birthday dinner at Alinea, November 30, 2005

We ordered the Tour (25 courses, as opposed to the 7 course or 12 course menu) and I had a different wine pairing than Wil did, so he got to have a bigger variety!

  • Pear -- celery leaf and branch, curry
    Christian Drouin Pommeau de Normandie "Coeur de Lion"
    This was a round sphere with liquid curry inside it, served in a shot glass.

  • Pheasant -- cider, shallot, burning leaves
    Albert Mann Pinot Auxerrois "Vieilles Vignes", Alsace 2003
    This was a finger-sized piece in a light tempura batter and stuck onto the end of some oak leaves that had been "ignited" so you could smell the smoke. It was served in what they call "the squid", which has six wires sticking out of a round base that squeeze the food between them like fingers.

  • Turnip -- truffle, mustard, pumpernickel
    Meursault, Louis Jadot 2002
    The mustard was mustard leaf, and the truffle was microplaned into shavings and reassembled into a truffle shape, in a soup of turnip purée.

  • Mango -- sesame oil, soy, bonito
    I remember liking the bonito taste of this, but I don't remember the presentation.

  • King Crab -- tropical fruits, Meyer lemon, vanilla
    Conreria d'Scala Dei Garnacha Blanca "Nona", Priorat 2004
    The crab and the pieces of fruit were all underneath a long thick ribbon of what looked like a noodle but was actually a fruity cream.

  • Halibut -- brown butter, parsley, capers
    Movia "Veliko Blanco", Goriska Brda, Slovenia 2000
    I don't remember much about this either, but we found the Slovenian wine interesting (the vineyards are right over the Italian border).

  • Idiazabal -- maple syrup, smoke
    w- Clos Mogador, Priorat 2002 // e- L'Alleu Montsant, Spain 2001
    This was the "cheese" course -- it was a very light puffed wafer of the cheese stuck to a pin, drizzled with the maple syrup.

  • Bison -- potato, (pistachio), sweet spices
    w- Château Troplong-Mondot, St-Emilion 1999 // e- Bodegas Weinert Malbec, Mendoza, Argentina 2000
    This came wrapped in a potato layer with some salsify string-thingies sticking up. The sweet spices were like mulled wine, very cinnamony.

  • Matsutake -- (pine nuts), mastic cream, rosemary
    w- Vinhos Berbeito 1978 Sercial Madeira // e- Rare Wine Co./ Vinhos Barbeito "Charleston" Sercial Madeira
    This was like a bread pudding, both sweet and savory -- possibly my favorite.

  • w- Marcona Almond -- white ale, tonka bean, malt // e- Black Olive Cookie -- olive oil, cherry, saffron
    My frozen cookie was made of olives, topped with the cherry and saffron, and had liquid olive oil inside it.

  • Yuzu -- pine, black sesame
    I don't remember this at all!

  • Wild Arctic Char Roe -- pineapple, cucumber, coriander
    Domaine du Closel Savennières "La Jalousie", Loire 2002
    The roe was served in a cream with the fruits as garnish.

  • Tuna -- yuba, miso, grapefruit
    Yuba is the stuff that rises to the top of soy milk. They skim it off and twist it around itself into a tubular dried cracker. It had a thin string of tuna wrapped around it and a single long fresh chive, and you dipped it into this miso cream.

  • w- Chestnut // e- Sweet Potato -- "too many garnishes to list"
    Vercesi del Castellazzo "Gugiarolo" Pinot Nero Bianco, Oltrepo Pavesa, Lombardia 2004
    This had a billion different things to accompany the main purée.

  • Opah -- endive, orange, Ohio honeycomb
    w- Domaine de Beaurenard "Boisrenard" Châteauneuf-du-Pape 2002 // e- Andrew Rich Roussanne, Columbia Valley 2003
    They brought a rectangle of honeycomb to the table right as we first sat down, and it got progressively meltier as the meal went on. A few times it fell off of its pin and we had to stick it back on. When we got to this course, they took the honeycomb and stuck it into a wooden box with a metal press, and squeezed the honey out in drizzles over your plate. The opah was very thin and seared almost like bacon, and the orange added a bitter taste.

  • Hot Potato -- cold potato, white truffle, parmesan
    Henri Billiot Grand Cru Brut Rosé, Ambonnay
    This was served in a little clamshell-shaped dish made out of paraffin wax. The cold potato, truffle, and parmesan were all stuck on a tiny pin that went through the wax, and the dish itself held the hot potato purée, and you pulled the pin out and slurped the whole thing down at once like eating an oyster.

  • Duck -- quince, onion, pillow of mace air
    w- Clos Vougeot Grand Cru "Musigni", Gros Frères & Soeur 2001 // e- Pommard "Close de la Platière", Prince Florent de Merod 2003
    They brought linen pillows that had been puffed full of air with mace inside, and the dish was set on top, and the weight of the dish would slowly push the mace-scented air out while you ate. The duck was both shredded breast meat, and foie gras, and Wil got a financier cake with almond flour where the butter had been replaced with duck fat.

  • Kobe Beef -- yogurt, squash, smoked paprika candy
    w- d'Arenberg "The Ironstone Pressings", McLaren Vale, Australia 1999 // e- Two Hands "Yesterday's Hero" Grenache, Barossa Valley 2004
    The paprika was really spicy, so the yogurt was a good accompaniment.

  • Bacon -- butterscotch, apple, thyme
    This was served hanging from the wire "string" of a metal "bow" that rocked on the table -- you pulled it off and dangled it into your mouth. It was crispy and covered with ribbons of the butterscotch and apple and sprinkled with the thyme. This was called the "transition" course.

  • Pumpkin -- coconut, basil, tamarind
    Yves Cuilleron "Roussillière" France 2004
    This was a custard/flan-type presentation. The basil was especially good with it.

  • Peanut -- frozen Pedro Ximénez
    This was a frozen shell of peanut paste with the sherry inside, and it did the melt-in-your-mouth-then-explode thing. I think this was the thing that was served in the "anti-plate" -- it was served in a spoon on a plate, and once you picked up the spoon, there was no bottom to the plate.

  • Cassis -- goat's milk, beet, violet
    Olivares Dulce Monastreli, Jumilla 2001
    A cylinder of frozen cassis sorbet with goat's milk pudding inside, and wound around that was a strip of beet cake, and it had a violet gelée garnish.

  • Chocolate -- avocado, lime, mint
    This was a thick "helix" ribbon of chocolate that twisted the length of the plate, with dollops of avocado and mint and a lime ice cream.

  • Dry Caramel -- salt
    We were told that the chef added a "special ingredient" to the caramel, which was served granulated in a glass cup. Once you spooned it into your mouth, it reconstituted itself into chewy stickiness. We asked if it was freeze-dried but they didn't tell us.