Profile: Alinea's Grant Achatz

CHICAGO (AP) - Dinner at Alinea presents abundant surprises, from courses that literally burst in the mouth to fare balanced atop skewers or set upon pillows of scented air. But it is a rare surprise to not find James Beard Award-winning chef Grant Achatz in the kitchen.

Even in the wake of a summer diagnosis of advanced mouth cancer.

"I remain, and will remain, actively and optimistically engaged in operations at Alinea to the largest extent possible," Achatz said at the time.

He remains true to his word.

Achatz worked through most of a first round of chemotherapy, which apparently shrunk the tumor on his tongue. A subsequent round of treatment, including twice-daily radiation, was more intense, but has since ended - and Achatz again returned to work.

"We won't know anything definitive for several weeks at this point," spokeswoman Jennifer Galdes said, "but indications look good so far."

Meanwhile, Achatz, named this year's James Beard Foundation Best Chef-Great Lakes Region, remains passionate about dining - believing it is as much about being entertained, challenged and provoked as fed.

"Dinner does not have to be emotional," Achatz says, "but in the case of Alinea's food we try to create an experience that goes beyond eating and fueling the body."

So picture a waiter setting a strikingly pretty glass on one of Alinea's bare dark wooden tables. Something that could be mistaken for a pingpong ball floats atop a neon-green apple liquid.

He explains in detail how the horseradish orb filled with Granny Smith Apple juice will burst with no effort upon hitting the back of the guest's tongue, exploding flavor into the mouth.

Dining companions exchange only slightly skeptical glances. They take the "shot." Upon swallowing, and savoring, an observation: "You can't help but smile."

Achatz would be inclined to agree.

"This textural sensation is appealing to people," Achatz says of the flavor burst. One of his recent 24-course Tour menus - a nearly five-hour dining experience - featured multiple variations on the "explosion" theme.

"It can bring elements of humor, surprise, and intrigue to the mechanics of eating," he says. "And of course this is appealing to us."

Accolades aren't new for the young chef who barely looks his 33 years: Food & Wine magazine named him one of ten "Best New Chefs in America" in 2002 and he received the James Beard Rising Star Chef Award (reserved for those under age 30) in 2003, when still at the now-closed Trio in suburban Evanston.

Among other posts, Achatz previously had spent four years at French Laundry in Napa Valley working with acclaimed chef Thomas Keller, whom he cites inspiration, after graduating from the Culinary Institute of America.

Since opening in May 2005, Alinea - named for the Latin term for a typographical symbol indicating a new train of thought, or more recently, a new paragraph - has received Mobil Travel Guide's coveted five-star rating and been dubbed Gourmet magazine's Best Restaurant in America.

"I process everything I see and do through the filters of food and dining," he says. "If I am out walking in a park and recognize the textures of the dead leaves crunching beneath my feet or if I am studiously researching new ingredients online late at night on my computer - it is all consuming, and unpredictable."

How his illness - which he has acknowledged could rob him of his sense of taste - will affect his perspective remains to be seen.

"Beethoven composed one of his greatest symphonies when he was deaf," he has said.

Dining at Alinea is not unlike a symphony, as each step of the journey brings a new layer of sensory fulfillment.

Consider rhubarb presented seven, yes seven, ways; including with a burst of beet juice, as a sorbet, in a foam or gel and as a chewy concoction that makes one wonder where fruit leather went wrong.

Or linen pillows infused with lavender-scented air, set on the table as the waiter arrives with duck accompanied by mango puree. The plate is placed on the pillow, expelling a lavender scent to enhance the dish. Variations have included coffee, red wine, sassafras and smoke aromas.

"It sounds sort of hokey when you try to describe it to someone...but it really works," says Ruth Reichel, editor-in-chief of Gourmet, which last year named Alinea the No. 1 restaurant in the country in its debut appearance on the magazine's twice-per-decade list.

Reichel calls eating at Alinea "really a spine-tinglingly exciting experience."

"The thing that was exciting wasn't just that food was so good, but (Achatz has) figured out how to redefine the restaurant experience," she says.

Achatz describes "edible sculpture," encompassing not only the food but the pieces on which it is served, many of which are unique creations conceived by him, his business partner and Crucial Detail design studio in Chicago.

One such piece is "the antenna": An approximately foot-long thin, stainless steel skewer on a base that tilts forward to offer the diner a morsel eaten directly off the tip, no utensils or even hands required.

Monotony is not to be expected from Achatz.

"No dish will have a permanent place on the Alinea menu," he says defiantly.

Though a longtime favorite from his pre-Alinea days - a ravioli-lookalike featuring an explosion of black truffle tea - has been somewhat of staple, and is not to be missed.