Meadowood’s 12 Days of Christmas, Day Eight: Grant Achatz of Alinea

Meadowood's 12 Days: Grant Achatz

The Restaurant at Meadowood’s annual 12 Days of Christmas guest chef series is underway. Here at Inside Scoop, we’re reviving our own tradition of tracking each night through the chefs’ words and their food — with a little help from Bonjwing Lee, a.k.a. the Ulterior Epicure, who is responsible for the gorgeous photos above.

You can check out past years here: 2013, 2012, 2011 and 2010.

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“We wanted to bring an abbreviated yet authentic Alinea experience to Meadowood,” notes Grant Achatz, the chef-owner of Alinea, the groundbreaking Chicago restaurant that holds a perfect three Michelin stars (among many other honors) and holds a singular place in American modernist cuisine.

To recreate Alinea in the middle of Napa Valley, Achatz shipped 21 boxes and over 2,000 pounds of food, serviceware and equipment from Chicago to Napa.

Some components had to be prepped in Chicago because the kitchen at Meadowood, as expansive as it is, does not have some of Alinea’s specialized tools; you know, stuff like rotary evaporators. Other dishes had to be nixed entirely, because as Achatz jokes, the Meadowood team might not have appreciated eyelets being screwed in to the ceiling to hang a functional/decorative centerpiece from the ceiling. (In case you’re wondering, it’s a lemongrass/ginger/mint/chile bouquet that is removed mid-meal to flavor a broth.)

But many other Alinea dishes made the trip westbound.

In a somewhat ironic twist, 40 full-length barrel staves were shipped to Wine Country for use in the third course (see photos above). Achatz explains why: “The staves were a critical part of a fish dish because they came from Blis, owned by a friend of mine Steve Stallard. He uses Heaven Hills Bourbon Barrels to age Michigan Maple syrup, after the syrup is emptied he refills the barrels with Red Boat Fish Sauce, and after he drains that, he gives us the barrels. They are perfumed with char, bourbon, syrup, and fish sauce. Obviously we couldn’t find those in Napa. The dish incorporates all of his products and spins a Vietnamese flavor profile to complete the circle by plating the dish on the staves.”

For the graffiti course (yes, graffiti course), Achatz and co. ordered quick set concrete from Home Depot in Napa. Helium tanks and regulators — for the balloon course — were also procured locally.

And so, that aforementioned “abbreviated” version of Alinea at Meadowood ended up translating to 15 courses, compared to Alinea’s usual 20. Achatz and his crew did 11 dishes; the hosts handled four.

Day Eight of the
Twelve Days of Christmas
December 16, 2014

Osetra traditional flavors
alinea

pebble ebi ogo clam shells
alinea

gurnard white pepper peanut vietnamese coriander
alinea

salt baked rutabaga maple nasturtium goat butter
white truffle
the restaurant

buckwheat cured ocean trout turnip
the restaurant

matsutake pine abalone tapioca
alinea

pork belly carrot hamachi kombu
alinea

tallegio bread and butter
apple manzanita blossom jelly
the restaurant

graffiti hazelnut perigord balsamic
alinea

balloon helium green apple
alinea

dates hearts of palm caraway
the restaurant