Cutting-Edge Chefs
Foie gras cotton candy? Beef tongue with fried mayo? Today's boldest chefs combine the previously uncombinable and still make it taste great
Hot Potato-Cold Potato
Grant Achatz
Alinea
Chicago
(312) 867-0110
Part of the $125 tasting menu and the $175 tour menu at Alinea, in Chicago's upscale Lincoln Park neighborhood, the dish combines hot and cold sensations. A hot round of potato, parmesan, butter, chive, and truffle are suspended on a small skewer above a cold, creamy potato soup. After pulling the skewer from the paraffin bowl, the hot potato and other ingredients mix with the cold soup. Achatz, who cut his teeth at Thomas Keller's French Laundry, had the bowl custom-made for this dish.
Asparagus with Egg Yolk, Truffle, and Culatello
Aki Kamozawa & H. Alexander Talbot
Keyah Grande
Pagosa Springs, Colo.
(970) 731-1160
Guests at the eight-room boutique hotel on a 4,000-acre ranch are treated to the culinary creations of this husband-and-wife team, who tailor each meal specifically to the diners' tastes. Lately, the duo has been experimenting with “cryovacing” asparagus. The process makes it tender, like steaming or cooking. But the vibrant green color and nutrients still remain. Here the cryovaced asparagus is layered with culatello (the center cut of prosciutto), egg yolk, and a truffle preserved in Madeira wine, salt, and soy sauce.
Foie Gras Cotton Candy
José Andrés
minibar at Café Atlántico
Washington
(202) 393-0812
This restaurant inside a restaurant has just six seats. The $95 tasting menu features 30 to 35 dishes, like the Foie Gras Cotton Candy, that challenge the diner to rethink flavor combinations and presentation. Rich, delightful foie gras atop a lollipop stick is wrapped with light, fluffy vanilla cotton candy. Sweet and salty, this isn't the cotton candy from your childhood.
Bass Baked Tableside & Paprika
Homaro Cantu
Moto
Chicago
(312) 491-0058
The tasting menus at this cutting-edge Chicago restaurant range from $65 to $160 and change regularly. The bass-a standard at Moto and currently part of the grand tour menu-is cooked tableside for around three courses, using the chef's patent-pending three-inch polymer box, a self-contained oven. A savory butter-roasted pepper sauce is poured into the bottom of the box while the fish is placed on a tiny grate just above the sauce. Aromatics like smoked Spanish paprika are sprinkled on the lid to enhance the sensory experience of the dish
Beef Tongue with Fried Mayo and Tomato Molasses
Wylie Dufresne
wd~50
New York
(212) 477-2900
The playful dish evokes memories of a lunchbox tradition, the bologna sandwich. But this one is designed for more grown-up tastes. The salty, braised beef tongue is accompanied by three cubes of fried mayonnaise, which are crusty on the outside and warm and creamy on the inside. A rich, smoky paste of tomato molasses reminds the taste buds of a fine barbecue sauce. Also dotting the plate are Dufresne's streusel-like “onion soil” and a lettuce brunois of finely chopped romaine.
soucre : businessweek
Cutting Edge Chefs , Discriminating Taste Buds
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