Trib Article about top Chicago chef

[YankeeFan]

This article about Chicago chef Curtis Duffy, who just opened his own restaurant to great acclaim, is getting a lot of accolades in the circles I run in. (OK, among a lot of people I follow on Twitter.)

Most folks here would probably never see it, so I thought I'd share:

http://graphics.chicagotribune.com/grace/

 

[YGBFKM]

Great article, but you would have to pay me $250 to eat one of those plates. I'm sure the food is magnificent, but a six-bite meal offends my buffet sensibilities.

 

[Uncle.Ruckus]

Great article, but you would have to pay me $250 to eat one of those plates. I'm sure the food is magnificent, but a six-bite meal offends my buffet sensibilities.

There really should be an alarm that goes off when one of you is accidentally signed in on the other's handle.

 

[YGBFKM]

You'll have to do.

 

[YankeeFan]

Great article, but you would have to pay me $250 to eat one of those plates. I'm sure the food is magnificent, but a six-bite meal offends my buffet sensibilities.

Six bites per course, and it's 8 to 12 courses.

Here's the Trib's four star review:

Given chef Curtis Duffy's curriculum vitae — his work at Alinea, the two Michelin stars awarded to Avenues restaurant on Duffy's watch — there really wasn't any question whether Grace, Duffy's first solo effort, would be good. Just how good.

The short answer: Very. Very. Good. So good, the $400 one spends for dinner here (based on the $185 tasting menu, wine pairing, tax and tip; your mileage may vary) seems like a sensible investment. So good that any foodie who fails to dine here will find his Chicago-dining-scene pontificating hopelessly compromised.

If this isn't the best new restaurant of the year (despite its mid-December debut), I'll be very surprised. And very happy, because it means I'll have eaten an even better meal someplace else.

Created from raw industrial space, the dining room is a study in unforced elegance and understated luxury. The colors are warm and soothing, beige napery and matching leather seats (as supple and comfortable as a broken-in baseball glove) contrasted ever so slightly by honey-toned wood; oversize tables add to the pampering. Just past the dining room is the brilliant-white kitchen, where the ministrations of Duffy's culinary army can be observed, but thick glass walls keep any noise at bay.

There are two menus — one all-vegetable — each consisting of eight to 12 courses and priced identically. If it seems odd to pay the same price for veggies as one does for protein, consider that the per-pound price of some of these exotic flora dwarfs that of the fauna.

http://www.chicagotribune.com/features/food/ct-dining-0207-vettel-grace-review-20130207,0,5851005.column

(If the link doesn't work, link to it from this twitter feed: https://twitter.com/philvettel February 8th tweet.)

 

[YGBFKM]

As for the article, the parenthetical comment about the wife not being reached for comment was a little weird. I can understand ambition torpedoing one's personal life, but there seems to be more to it than your average didn't-make-time-for-the-family story line. The ending gave you a glimpse into the dichotomy between his professional success and personal failure, but in the context of not repeating his father's mistakes -- especially with the advice given in the letter -- I wanted to know more.

 

[YGBFKM]

Great article, but you would have to pay me $250 to eat one of those plates. I'm sure the food is magnificent, but a six-bite meal offends my buffet sensibilities.

Six bites per course, and it's 8 to 12 courses.

Here's the Trib's four star review:

Given chef Curtis Duffy's curriculum vitae — his work at Alinea, the two Michelin stars awarded to Avenues restaurant on Duffy's watch — there really wasn't any question whether Grace, Duffy's first solo effort, would be good. Just how good.

The short answer: Very. Very. Good. So good, the $400 one spends for dinner here (based on the $185 tasting menu, wine pairing, tax and tip; your mileage may vary) seems like a sensible investment. So good that any foodie who fails to dine here will find his Chicago-dining-scene pontificating hopelessly compromised.

If this isn't the best new restaurant of the year (despite its mid-December debut), I'll be very surprised. And very happy, because it means I'll have eaten an even better meal someplace else.

Created from raw industrial space, the dining room is a study in unforced elegance and understated luxury. The colors are warm and soothing, beige napery and matching leather seats (as supple and comfortable as a broken-in baseball glove) contrasted ever so slightly by honey-toned wood; oversize tables add to the pampering. Just past the dining room is the brilliant-white kitchen, where the ministrations of Duffy's culinary army can be observed, but thick glass walls keep any noise at bay.

There are two menus — one all-vegetable — each consisting of eight to 12 courses and priced identically. If it seems odd to pay the same price for veggies as one does for protein, consider that the per-pound price of some of these exotic flora dwarfs that of the fauna.

http://www.chicagotribune.com/features/food/ct-dining-0207-vettel-grace-review-20130207,0,5851005.column

(If the link doesn't work, link to it from this twitter feed: https://twitter.com/philvettel February 8th tweet.)

OK, that makes more sense. Still, though, I'd rather have a burger from Kuma's, then spend the extra cash on a trip to watch the Sox play.

 

[YankeeFan]

As for the article, the parenthetical comment about the wife not being reached for comment was a little weird. I can understand ambition torpedoing one's personal life, but there seems to be more to it than your average didn't-make-time-for-the-family story line. The ending gave you a glimpse into the dichotomy between his professional success and personal failure, but in the context of not repeating his father's mistakes -- especially with the advice given in the letter -- I wanted to know more.

I think chefs are a lot like sportswriters or military members; lots of divorces because the husband is gone all the time -- especially early in their career, when 16 hour days are the norm.

I read Grant Achatz' -- the Chef Duffy worked under at both Trio and Alinea -- biography and the story of his marriage was pretty similar.

 

[Riptide]

OK, that makes more sense. Still, though, I'd rather have a burger from Kuma's, then spend the extra cash on a trip to watch the Sox play.

Now you sound like Whit Dickman.

 

[YGBFKM]

No, **** would have used the extra money to buy fancy pants.

 

[YankeeFan]

I'm dying to try this guy's restaurant, but getting a reservation is going to be tough -- even at those prices. And, I'd like to go for a special occasion, or at least a Saturday night, not some random Tuesday when I may be able to get a table.

 

[Riptide]

No, **** would have used the extra money to buy fancy pants.

A narrow escape, but granted.

 

[YGBFKM]

I bet he has the best boiled potatoes in town. [/obligatory Irish culinary joke]

 

[Captain Obvious]

This belongs on awkwardfamilyphotos.com.

 

[Versatile]

Great article, but you would have to pay me $250 to eat one of those plates. I'm sure the food is magnificent, but a six-bite meal offends my buffet sensibilities.

Six bites per course, and it's 8 to 12 courses.

Why can't they just put it all on one plate?

 

[Riptide]

For $250 a meal, I'd want a big, fabulous steak and a lot more.

Food as art? On the plate? Bah. Looks almost like pencil shavings.

 

[YankeeFan]

A top chef like Duffy or Achatz is every bit an artist. Look at these plates. They are beautiful:

As for the price, these are meals which typically last three hours or more.

If you've ever done dinner and a show -- with the show being a Broadway play, an Opera, or some other similarly expensive production -- the price and length of time is similar. And, you're often scarfing don dinner to make the curtain time, or eating after 10:00PM.

A dinner like this is dinner and a show. You're seeing true artistry presented over the course of the meal.

And, the food in unlike any other kind of meal you will eat.

 

[Riptide]

Great. Thanks. Pass the pork chops, please.

 

[waterytart]

YF is correct about the artistry and the price equivalence. One more thing he skirted, but didn't make explicit: When the course is a few small bites, human nature is to eat more slowly. The chef uses the presentation to encourage savoring, not gobbling.

 

[Versatile]

Why did a baby poop on my salad?