?> {"id":417,"date":"2009-06-12T21:54:25","date_gmt":"2009-06-13T01:54:25","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.twofatbellies.com\/?p=417"},"modified":"2009-08-03T21:27:18","modified_gmt":"2009-08-04T01:27:18","slug":"chicago-day-1-alinea","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.twofatbellies.com\/2009\/06\/chicago-day-1-alinea\/","title":{"rendered":"Chicago Day 1 – Alinea"},"content":{"rendered":"
What exactly can one say about Alinea? It was simply the best meal of my life. Most of the time I had no idea what I was eating exactly, but the flavors were like a harmonious symphony in my mouth. I don’t mean to sound cheesy or poetic, but the dishes were indescribable. Sure, you can read the descriptions from the menu, but most of it doesn’t sound appetizing (tobacco and maple syrup? Lilac pillows?). Believe me, they absolutely worked together, each component playing off one another.<\/p>\n
When we decided that we would make the trip to Chicago for Josh’s coworker’s wedding, I had Josh call up Alinea first to try and get a reservation. That dictated which day we would head to Chicago, and I ended up taking a day off from work just to have this meal. We asked some of our other friends who were also attending the wedding if they wanted to join in, and one by one we added to the reservation until we hit six, the maximum table size. I was very happy with our dinner company, as they were all people who appreciated good food and good wine, and they helped make the whole experience such a wonderful time.<\/p>\n
We took a cab into the city for dinner and hit a lot of traffic on the way. We called Alinea to make sure they knew, and they held our table without any issue. When the cab pulled up in front of a of nondescript building with no markings, I thought to myself, this is it?<\/p>\n
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