Trib Article about top Chicago chef

[waterytart]

None of your tales have hinted at a familiarity with baby poop.

 

[Versatile]

I used to make my own.

 

[YankeeFan]

Here's a forum post detailing each course with pictures:

http://www.lthforum.com/bb/viewtopic.php?f=14&t=36430#p437823

 

[Armchair_QB]

This belongs on awkwardfamilyphotos.com.

Shouldn't that guy be wearing a hairnet on his face?

 

[JRoyal]

Too many people are focusing on how much the damn dinner costs. This was an awesome story, very well told with an awesome online presentation. So often we talk about how papers don't present things in a friendly format online, and this shows papers can do it if they put the effort into it. The plate being put together on the main story page was an excellent touch.

Does anyone know if this ran in print, and if so, was it serialized? The story has to be like 200 inches. That's a lot of space to devote to a story like this. I'd love to see the print presentation.

 

[YankeeFan]

Too many people are focusing on how much the damn dinner costs. This was an awesome story, very well told with an awesome online presentation. So often we talk about how papers don't present things in a friendly format online, and this shows papers can do it if they put the effort into it. The plate being put together on the main story page was an excellent touch.

Does anyone know if this ran in print, and if so, was it serialized? The story has to be like 200 inches. That's a lot of space to devote to a story like this. I'd love to see the print presentation.

Well, and that's why I posted it.

The web presentation alone is awesome. I'm not sure how it looked in print, or if it was spread out over several days.

 

[Alma]

YF's right; you're paying for the entire artistic experience -- the space in which you eat, the length of presentation, the artistry of the dishes, and then how those dishes taste. And some dishes are really just reimaginings of food you'd had lots of times before. A chunk of the price goes to the ingredients (Wagyu beef instead of, say, supermarket sirloin) and to (heretofore) rarity of the techniques.

But as these techniques become more common or accessible (some of what Duffy does is more chemistry than artistry) I think you'll see the prices go down (while keeping some relevant proportion with COLA) and the dishes get a little less esoteric.

As for the story - it's pretty good. I wish it had made more time in its considerable length to actually discuss Duffy's technique and philosophy at greater length.

 

[awriter]

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.

I'd recommend the Bad Apple over Kumas.

 

[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.

I'd recommend the Bad Apple over Kumas.

Had not heard of The Bad Apple, but I just looked it up. Montrose and Lincoln is doable. Gonna have to try it. What's the crowd like — demographically and spacially?

 

[Fly]

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.

I'd recommend the Bad Apple over Kumas.

Never been to either but have been told that by numerous Chicagoland friends.