Alinea

While hubby and I are pretty good about getting ourselves out for a neighborhood burger and beer pretty frequently, we also like to treat ourselves to something spectacular every now and again.

Alinea has been on the list for some time, but between difficulty to get reservations, being pregnant for what seems like three straight years, and the need to find four free hours in order to do dinner, it has taken awhile to come to fruition. But, without further ado, we ate there last night...

20 courses, plus the wine pairing. It was amazing.

A few highlights included here, though my explanation of what they are will pale in comparison to our servers.

As Asian dish...the item on the left was a cracker of sorts, with a shrimp and some pickled vegetable wrapped around it. The sauce in the bowl was outstanding. On the right was a piece of sugar cane, beautifully adorned with flowers and herbs. To be chewed, sucked and then spilt out.

The white course I will butcher horribly so I'm reluctant to say anything at all other than that there were countless flavors and textures mixed beautifully here.

The Christmas trees arrived covered in what looked like snow. They sat at our table through numerous courses. Then, when all the snow had melted, the tree was removed and we were presented with a peppermint tasting shot. Adorable.

Finally, the dessert. Which was actually the final of three dessert courses, required it's own table cloth, approximately eight side dishes, a blow torch, a pitcher full of some sort of cream, and many other things I'm forgetting.

It was all dropped off and then we waited. And waited. And the table next to us was doing the same, attempted to touch something on their table and were scolded. Finally, with a smoking, freeze dried brick that was chopped table side with what looked like a mallet was some sort of blueberry cake. We were given spoons and dove right in.

Another dish I wish I had taken a picture of was a venison, tempura battered with oatmeal on a stick. Delicious. And they also had a version of one of my favorite dishes ever - the quail egg ravioli at Schwa - this was slightly different but coined "explosion in your mouth" was very similar in taste and experience.

Oh, and how could I forget the white truffle risotto? You can't even imagine...

It was an amazing experience and so very delicious. @GAchatz is as amazing as the critics say...get there!