Elite Traveler May-June 2018

INSPIRE TOP 100 RESTAURANTS

Alinea Chicago Head chef: Grant Achatz

Clockwise from left: Alinea’s tomatoes, gazpacho, sherry snow, citrus aroma, with a sidecar of iberico- manchego bread; smoking oak leaves hiding a one-bite course; romaine compressed in parsley and coriander, Sicilian pistachio, jalapeño and avocado purée, caviar limes, and coriander buds

10 MINUTES WITH… Grant Achatz

Following a four-year stretch at number one of Elite Traveler ’s Top 100 Restaurants, Alinea fell to second place in 2017. This year sees the New American standard-bearer return to the top spot as readers name Alinea 2018’s best restaurant in the world. We talk to the elated chef, Grant Achatz, about the restaurant’s creative evolution and what diners can expect in the coming year. Alinea is back at number one in Elite Traveler ’s reader-voted Top 100 Restaurants awards. What does this mean to you and the team? We’re very humbled and excited by the fact we went back up to number one. Of course, we were still very proud to be number two last year after being number one for four years in a row, but there’s that saying that when you’re on the top, the only place to go is down. It’s to be expected that once you start to decline that momentum continues, so the fact we regained the number one position is incredibly rewarding and validating. It shows that we are continuing to push and evolve, and people are appreciating that. What has the past year been like at Alinea? It’s been great. We have a really strong team now, and I feel like we’ve really hit a new stride in creativity. We’re taking advantage of the renovation we did two years ago, which has

How has Alinea evolved with this new wave of creativity? Through new dishes, but also the guest experience, which is really important for the direction Alinea is now going in. With the new space we have the opportunity to choreograph music to courses and play with light. There’s a

opened up a lot of creative doors for us. We opened The Aviary and The Office in New York, and we’re about to put our Aviary cocktail book to bed; that will be out in a few months. It’s been a busy year, but this recognition by Elite Traveler and everything we’ve accomplished makes all the hard work worthwhile.

Photos KPPhoto, Evan Sung, Francesco Tonelli