ML - Michigan Avenue

2015 - Issue 3 - May/June

Michigan Avenue - Niche Media - Michigan Avenue magazine is a luxury lifestyle magazine centered around Chicago’s finest people, events, fashion, health & beauty, fine dining & more!

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Grant Achatz (left) and photography by pEtEr hoFFMaN It's been a whirlwind of a decade for James Beard Award-winning chef Grant Achatz and business partner Nick Kokonas, from the heady highs of opening internationally acclaimed culinary destinations Alinea, Next, and The Aviary to the scare of Achatz's 2007 diagnosis of and subsequent victory over stage 4 tongue cancer. As their first game- changing restaurant, Alinea, turns 10 on May 4, the pair ref lects on its reconception, new projects Roister and reservation system Tock, and how their partnership has evolved over the years. You're celebrating the 10th anniversary of Alinea by reinventing the place. What's the plan? Nick Kokonas: We've all been to a great restaurant where you go back a few years later and it's still great, then one day you go and it feels like you're in your grandparents' living room. That hasn't happened to Alinea yet, but we never want it to happen. We're founded on an idea of innovation and forward thinking, so we have a lot of plans. Does your vision involve reshaping the space itself? NK: After 10 years, any restaurant needs to be redone to a certain extent, just from wear and tear. So certainly, we are going to reinvigorate the interior. But if we start to do that, we start to say, How can we reimagine the guests' experience as well? Grant Achatz: Nick mentioned that the restaurant was founded on constant evolution and reinvention. We've always done a good job of that with different aspects of Alinea, whether it's the food or the way the food is presented or the service. Now, we have the perfect excuse, after being opened for 10 years, to pull back the lens and look at the physical space, so it feels like another piece of the puzzle of the evolution of the restaurant. You're also opening a new restaurant, Roister. What is the inspiration for that? NK: We have Alinea, which is ultrafine dining, and it's not like you want to eat at Alinea every week. Next is pretty fine dining and at a higher price point than a typical restaurant, but lower than Alinea's. So we want to do a creative place where you can go once a week and sit down and eat a meal in an hour and still have people it takes two Ten years afTer kicking off Their parTnership wiTh The asTonishing alinea, chef Grant achatz and parTner nic o nas are preparing To change The dining game once again. by j.p. anderson Grant Achatz (left) and Nick Kokonas are expanding their restaurant portfolio, redesigning their popular dining reservation system, and reinventing their smash hit, Alinea. continued on page 96 94  michiganavemag.com taste sound Bites

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