Highlights
Michigan-born chef Grant Achatz kicked off his culinary career in the heralded French Laundry kitchen in Yountville, Calif., before moving to Chicago to work as executive chef at now-closed four-star Trio in Evanston. His creativity and excellence earned Achatz fame -- Food & Wine magazine named him one of the Best New Chefs in America and the James Beard Foundation awarded him Rising Star Chef of the year. In 2005, Achatz opened Alinea to much fanfare, as food critics from around the world arrived in Chicago to check out the new temple of "molecular gastronomy" -- highly-stylized food created by chefs-cum-mad-scientists. (A famous early Alinea dish involved a peeled grape wrapped in peanut...
Michigan-born chef Grant Achatz kicked off his culinary career in the heralded French Laundry kitchen in Yountville, Calif., before moving to Chicago to work as executive chef at now-closed four-star Trio in Evanston. His creativity and excellence earned Achatz fame -- Food & Wine magazine named him one of the Best New Chefs in America and the James Beard Foundation awarded him Rising Star Chef of the year. In 2005, Achatz opened Alinea to much fanfare, as food critics from around the world arrived in Chicago to check out the new temple of "molecular gastronomy" -- highly-stylized food created by chefs-cum-mad-scientists. (A famous early Alinea dish involved a peeled grape wrapped in peanut butter and a thin piece of toasted brioche: the PB&J reimagined.) The Chicago Tribune awarded the restaurant four stars, Gourmet Magazine named it best restaurant in America and newspapers from the New York Times to USA Today wrote glowing articles about Achatz's "inventive" cuisine. In 2007, Achatz was diagnosed with Stage 4 squamous cell carcinoma of the mouth, a potentially deadly form of cancer. Achatz, who lives in Chicago, is divorced and has two children.
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chicagotribune.com/turkey1 and chicagotribune.com/turkey2 to watch Chicago chef Grant Achatz prepare a Thanksgiving turkey unlike any you'll probably see on your table. As business partner Nick Kokonas looks on, Achatz prepares the bird "sous vide,"... -
Achatz tees up on his Tiger Woods-level cookbook
Special to the TribuneAfter more than 30 hours of reading and shopping and cooking, I wasn't ready to let go of Alinea. So I called Chef Grant Achatz--at 2 a.m. after he'd finished a night in the restaurant. What follows is an edited transcript of our conversation and...Tags: Restaurant and Catering Industry, Golf, Dining and Drinking, Wine, Beer, and Spirits, Restaurants
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Making 'Bean'--a $352, 31.5-hour, 175-mile cooking odyssey
Special to the Tribune"Alinea," the new cookbook by Grant Achatz, weighs 6 pounds. That's what Amazon says. I tried to weigh it with the $30 electronic kitchen scale I'd bought to cook from it, but the numbers on the scale didn't go that high. Like other chefs before him--...Tags: Grapes, TiVo Inc., Dining and Drinking, Wine, Beer, and Spirits, Mickey Mouse
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'It's not a Rachael Ray' book
After more than 30 hours of reading and shopping and cooking, I wasn't ready to let go of Alinea ("A-Lin-E-A"). So I called Chef Grant Achatz (rhymes with "rackets")—at 2 a.m. after he'd finished a night in the restaurant. What follows is an...Tags: Restaurant and Catering Industry, Golf, Dining and Drinking, Wine, Beer, and Spirits, Restaurants
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Foo Fighters food fight
Reality CheckIt's the night before Thanksgiving, and I'm watching Top Chef by myself this week. (Mary went home for T-Day. She'll pitch in later.)I've been looking forward to this episode since last week's teaser. This week's episode gets an A --......Tags: Theater, James Beard, Wine, Beer, and Spirits, Literature, Top Chef (tv program)
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Cookbooks by chefs
Reaching higher Cookbooks for very serious cooks or, well, chefs (alphabetical by author): "Alinea" by Grant Achatz, with Nick Kokonas, Mark McClusky, Michael Nagrant, Michael Ruhlman and Jeffrey Steingarten. Ten Speed Press, $50 (October). "A Day at...Tags: Wine, Beer, and Spirits
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Jamie Oliver, David Tanis set their sights on the home front with cookbooks for fall
Los Angeles Times Staff WriterEncapsulated beet-juice spheres under verjuice ice and lemon thyme froth. TorchonTorchon of monkfish liver cooked sous vide in an immersion circulator at 64 degrees Celsius. Jamón ibérico consommé. Ah, fall, the season of college football, PTA meetings...Tags: Restaurant and Catering Industry, Books and Magazines, Beverage Industry, Television, Wine, Beer, and Spirits
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Chicago chef wins top James Beard honor
A Chicago chef known for his ethereal cooking -- as well as the tongue cancer that nearly ended his life -- was named the nation's top chef Sunday by the James Beard Foundation. The award marked another victory in a tumultuous year for Grant Achatz,...Tags: Restaurant and Catering Industry, Dining and Drinking, James Beard, Diseases, Cancer
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Full list of James Beard Foundation award winners
The winners of the 2008 James Beard Foundation Awards include: RESTAURANTS AND CHEFS (NATIONAL) Outstanding Restaurateur: Joe Bastianich and Mario Batali, Babbo Ristorante e Enoteca, New York Outstanding Chef: Grant Achatz, Alinea, Chicago Outstanding...Tags: Restaurant and Catering Industry, Beverage Industry, James Beard, Maytag Corporation, Gramercy
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Chicago's restaurant trendsetters read the tea leaves
Janet Franz is a free-lance writer and former Dining Guide editor for the Tribune.
Q: In 25 years, what should guests at fine-dining restaurants expect to see on their plates?
Achatz: Nothing. Dining will become more and more virtual. The highest-end...Tags: Restaurant and Catering Industry, Dining and Drinking, Holidays, Energy Saving
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James Beard Award awarded to Grant Achatz
Tribune correspondentNEW YORK — Grant Achatz, the young Chicago chef whose struggle with cancer robbed him of a cook's most important asset—his sense of taste—took the top honor for a chef at Sunday's James Beard Awards. In winning the outstanding chef...Tags: Restaurant and Catering Industry, James Beard, Diseases, California, Cancer
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Grant Achatz gets a taste of fame
RedEyeGrant Achatz's life has all the ingredients for an E! True Hollywood Story—humble beginnings, career ambition and a meteoric rise to fame peppered with tragedy. The chef and owner of Lincoln Park's award-winning Alinea has gone from being a dishwasher at...Tags: Dining and Drinking, James Beard, Death and Dying, Awards and Prizes, Society
Nov 27, 2008
|Story| Chicago Tribune
Nov 26, 2008
|Story| Chicago Tribune
Nov 26, 2008
|Story| Chicago Tribune
Nov 27, 2008
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Nov 28, 2008
|Blog| Baltimore Sun
Sep 17, 2008
|Story| Los Angeles Times
Sep 17, 2008
|Story| Los Angeles Times
Jun 8, 2008
|Story| Newsday
Jun 8, 2008
|Story| Newsday
Jun 20, 2008
|Story| Chicago Tribune
Jun 9, 2008
|Story| Chicago Tribune
Jun 11, 2008
|Story| RedEye
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