The saying goes, "It ain't bragging if you can back it up." It's also been a while since we've visited Alinea, both the restaurant proper and as a news item. This look inside the kitchen is a nicely detailed look at what goes on behind the scenes.......

The Sox and Cubs sit atop their respective divisions, Chicago resident and Illinois Senator Barack Obama is set to be named the Democratic Presidential candidate, and Chicago made the short-list to host the 2016 Olympics. Some have suggested that the summer of '08 is Chicago's "moment", to which we say, "Really? Just now?" Yes, Chicago has seen some great success stories so far this year: Tracy Letts' August: Osage County has a Pulitzer and is......

Alinea's Grant Achatz won James Beard's most coveted prize of Outstanding Chef last night at New York City's Lincoln Center. The awards, aptly described as the Oscars of the culinary world, are named after famed American chef James Beard and seek to call attention to the country's best of the best in all things culinary. Julie Child said of James Beard, "Beard was the quintessential American cook. Well-educated and well-traveled during his eighty-two years, he......

The Day After: Don't expect to see foie gras back on menus immediately after the repeal of the ban yesterday. The earliest that's going to happen will be June 11th. What did leave a bad aftertaste was the end-around used to repeal the ban and how Mayor Daley put Alderman Joe Moore's dick in the dirt in the process. If you don't know after that why Daley is often referred to here as "His......

What's with the sudden level of attention on Grant Achatz? Chicago Magazine has a couple new pieces out about the Alinea superchef (and Chicagoist Grills interviewee), Men's Vogue has a piece, and the New Yorker has a gargantuan profile about Achatz. Is it because of the Alinea Cookbook coming out in the fall? No, it's because more and more of the national press are picking up the story about Achatz looking tongue cancer in the......

The S. Pellegrino list of the World's 50 Best Restaurants was announced yesterday. Both Alinea and Charlie trotter's made the cut: the House of Achatz settles in at #21 while Trotter's lands at #38. What is notable about the two restaurants' inclusion on the lsit is that Alinea jumped up fifteen spaces from its debut on last year's list, while Trotter's fell eight spots.......

After voting in the Chicago Way, the 2008 James Beard Award nominees were announced today (via). The list is filled with some familiar names (Grant Achatz for outstanding chef, Rich Melman for Outstanding restaurateur) and encompasses a good cross section of the city's dining scene. For the coveted "Best Chef: Great Lakes" category, the inclusion of North Pond's Bruce Sherman, Naha's Carrie Nahabedian and Graham Elliot Bowles gives Chicago a 3-in-5 chance that the winning......

Grant Achatz's battle with oral cancer has been covered extensively. A Tuesday article in the Tribune adds a couple wrinkles to the story. The radical approach Achatz chose for his treatment (18 weeks of chemotherapy, 6 weeks of radiation and the removal of some of his lymph nodes) was his fourth consultation and was performed by Dr. Everett Vokes, chief of hematology/oncology at the University of Chicago Medical Center. Vokes indicated that so far......

New York magazine got their hands on a copy of this year's James Beard award ballots (check it out for yourself here) and as usual, our city's restaurants are well-represented. Lettuce Entertain You jefe Rich Melman is in the running for "Outstanding Restaurateur," while Grant Achatz and Everest's Jean Joho are in the running for "Outstanding Chef." Arun's is the only local restaurant nominated for the coveted "Outstanding Restaurant" category, and Sepia was nominated for......

Some chef news for you: Monday both Chicago Mag's Dish and TOC broke the news that Avenues' Graham Elliot Bowles will be leaving the AAA five-diamond award winning restaurant in April to open a new restaurant in the former Harvest on Huron space (217 W. Huron). Bowles told Dish that he's looking to create "redefined dining." Gone will be the restraints he faced making progressive cuisine in a hotel fine dining atmosphere, replaced by a......

A 14-year-old Illinois girl was on a cruise off the coast of California with her family when her appendix burst. The USS Ronald Reagan was dispatched to rescue her, and they did--including a helicopter transport between the ships. [Trib] Mayor Daley says he had no idea his son Patrick had invested in a sewer company that did work for the City. Reading from a prepared statement, the Mayor said "I did not know about......

Carly Simon once sang "anticipation ... is keeping me waiting." Keep those lyrics in line now that pre-orders are being taken for the long-awaited Alinea cookbook, due from Ten Speed Press in autumn 2008. Ordering the 100-recipe book, currently listed at a downright-cheap-for-Alinea fifty dollars, also affords buyers some added perks. Buyers will receive a limited-edition copy of the book signed by chef Grant Achatz and members of the Alinea creative team. All pre-sale......

What do Brooke Shields, Grant Achatz and this Chicagoist mama have in common? All three have a professed love for the convenience and taste of HomeMade Pizza Company. HomeMade Pizza Co. sells uncooked pizzas that you then take home and pop in the oven. Twelve minutes later, you’ve got a fresh-tasting, thin-crust dinner. Voila! June Cleaver has nothing on you. Menu options include funky, artisanal options like goat cheese and herbs or a combo of......

We've been out this afternoon, unable to check our inbox until recently. We saw this and corresponding reports from others. This afternoon, Alinea Chef Grant Achatz released the following statement through his publicist: I wanted to personally report that I have been very recently diagnosed with an advanced stage of squamous cell carcinoma of the mouth. I have consulted several prominent physicians and will likely begin aggressive treatment within the next few weeks. I remain,......

Coalfire is a new New Haven-style pizza parlor on Grand owned by longtime Matchbox bartender J. Spillane and partner Bill Carroll (Unrelated, Matchbox has the best margarita in the city, hands down). Now, anyone who's eaten at Piece is familiar with New Haven-style pie. The twist with Coalfire is that the pizzas are baked in a coal-fired oven, hence the name. The Reader's "Food Chain" blog has been keeping up on the Coalfire thread over......

The James L. Beard Awards — the Oscars of the culinary world — were handed out last night. Though Chicago didn't win a large number of awards, we did win one of the most important ones, so we can take solace in that. -->The biggest Chicago winner was Frontera Grill which beat out hometown favorite Spiaggia to be named Restaurant of the Year. Frontera winning made us wonder what goes into the nominations for......

Quick, name the top five chefs in Chicago. Now name the five most famous chefs in the country. While the cuisines may vary from Grant Achatz's "molecular gastronomy" to Mario Batali's classic Italian, the one thing that most — or all — of these chefs have in common is the pale, pale, color of their skin. As Maureen Jenkins writes in today's Sun-Times, "the shortage of chefs of African descent is noteworthy if only by......

The James L. Beard Award nominees were announced yesterday and as in years past, Chicago represented. And the Chicago-based nominees are: Outstanding Restaurateur: Richard Melman, Lettuce Entertain You Enterprises Outstanding Chef: Jean Joho, Everest and Paul Kahan, Blackbird Outstanding Restaurant: Frontera Grill and Spiaggia Rising Star Chef of the Year: Graham Elliot Bowles, Avenues Outstanding Pastry Chef: Mindy Segal, HotChocolate Outstanding Service: Tru Outstanding Wine Service: Bin 36, Wine Director Brian Duncan Best Chef, Great......

Alinea Chef/Owner Grant Achatz...

Author Michael Ruhlman...

We always thought the making of a chef started in a kitchen, and progressed from there. Anyway, as part of their "Traffic Jam" series, Steppenwolf Theatre is hosting a discussion this Sunday between Alinea owner/chef Grant Achatz and author Michael Ruhlman. The discussion, called "The Making of a Chef," will cover the "hypermodern" culinary movement of which Achatz is largely considered the herald, the place of the "celebrity" chef in America, and what defines excellence......

The annual Jean Banchet Awards were handed out last Friday, at the Fairmont Chicago's annual Grand Chefs Gala (proceeds from the event benefitted the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation). No surprise here, but Alinea racked up more awards — for best fine dining, best sommelier in Craig Sindelar, and — of course — Grant Achatz for Celebrity chef of the year. Other Banchet winers included Custom House's Elissa Narrow (celebrity pastry chef), Schwa's Michael Carlson (rising chef),......

Usually, the divide between the sports community and the arts community is about as wide as Lake Michigan. You're about as likely to find some Chad wearing his Illini cap in Symphony Hall as you are to find an Art Institute board member watching a game at John Barleycorn's. Until the Bears make the Super Bowl, that is — that's enough to bring everyone together. Across the city, we find evidence of arts and sports......

Chicagoist has written a ton about Chef Grant Achatz and Alinea. In fact, one of our first posts ever was an announcement that he'd be opening a new restaurant. Imagine our shock and surprise when in December Achatz contacted us and asked if we'd be interested in doing a feature on him for Chicagoist. The answer to this, obviously, is of the no-brainer variety. While we're still working out the details of the feature,......

Twenty of the top chefs in Chicago are joining forces with Food & Wine Magazine for the 2006 Entertaining Showcase at the Museum of Contemporary Art, Wednesday, November 15. The list of participating chefs reads like a who's who of Chicago fine dining: Food & Wine Best New Chefs Michael Carlson of Schwa and Graham Elliot Bowles of Avenues, Grant Achatz from Alinea, Shawn McClain from Spring, Green Zebra and Custom House, and Andrew Zimmerman......

We're going to make this short and sweet: Gourmet Magazine has named Alinea the best place to eat in America. Chicagoist loves Alinea, to be sure, but the best restaurant to eat at in the entire country? Not the best new restaurant but the best restaurant overall. The magazine says that Grant Achatz is "redefining the American restaurant once again for an entirely new generation." We'd agree with that, but do his culinary stylings make......

The Zagat Survey’s listings are as vast as the city’s dining options, and that’s why we love it. Today, the company announced the top restaurants in the 2006/07 edition. With more than 4,800 local diners reviewing 1,000-plus eateries, the book features the best of the best in every category. This morning at the Park Hyatt, co-publisher Tim Zagat presented the awards to the top-ranked restaurants. He noted several industry and Chicago-specific trends. Compared to other......

Folks who consider themselves foodies are wildly opinionated about Alinea mastermind Grant Achatz. Either he's the greatest thing to happen to fine dining since the discovery of fire, or he's the epitome of pretension; a Pied Piper leading diners to a new, but not necessarily better, culinary world. Leave it to the fine folks who discuss food over at LTH Forum to place Alinea into perspective. Forum member "Dmnkly" recently enjoyed Achatz's 24-course gastronomic......

If Chicago is a culinary mecca, why is the Taste of Chicago little more than a beer-and-brat fest? Some top Chicago chefs were asked just that. According to the Sun-Times, Spiaggia’s Tony Mantuano says the Taste is missing “some other important aspects of the flavor or taste of Chicago.” And, Charlie Trotter plans to be on vacation because “it’s just obnoxious.” Well, Chicagoist thinks the Taste is supposed to be obnoxious. We’re not looking for......

Oh how our babies grow up so fast! Why, it seems like only yesterday that we were all waiting with heaving bosoms and baited breath for Grant Achatz to open the doors of his long-awaited restaurant and now? Awwww. Alinea turns a year old next month. Amid a year of national hype and hoopla about the Lincoln Park culinary treat, Alinea managed to deliver the goods in spite of it all.Chicagoist has made no secret......