Today in Food Pr0n: Tableside Service at Alinea

By Chuck Sudo in Food on Aug 10, 2009 4:40PM

When it comes to Alinea and Grant Achatz, what is understood need not be discussed. So let's let two minutes of video and this review do the talking, instead:

"What followed the drape being spread on my table was the arrival of ~10-15 small bowls and plates - and then a surprise I couldn’t have even imagined - Chef Achatz himself arriving to the table to prepare my dessert tableside - for 2 minutes and 6 seconds. Simply called “Chocolate-Blueberry, Tobacco, Maple” the dish was a masterpiece served by a master - poached blueberries, blueberry gelée, spherified maple syrup, a block of chocolate mousse frozen with liquid nitrogen, malt ice cream, tobacco infused cream, thyme."

Achatz doesn't make this dish tableside for everyone, so it's an extra treat. Only 2 tables received the Achatz tableside treatment the night the video above was filmed.