Grant Achatz from Chef's Table on Re-Inventing Dining

HYPEBEAST Magazine Speaks To The Mind Behind Top Restaurant "Alinea" For The Mania Issue. HYPEBEAST Features - Go in-depth and learn more about the culture. [HYPEBEAST]( [Features]( June 28, 2019 [Re-Inventing Dining With Chef Grant Achatz]( HYPEBEAST Magazine Speaks To The Mind Behind Top Restaurant "Alinea" For The Mania Issue. REED SCHMIDT / HYPEBEAST On May 3, 2005, the night before Alinea opened its doors for the first time, 60 people stood together in the middle of a brand-new, unused kitchen, whose head chef-slash-owner was but 29 years old. This was a restaurant that Grant Achatz had built from the ground up. From planning a menu of constantly changing, mind-bending fare to grappling with design (“Why does a restaurant need to have tables?” he had asked, to the consternation of business partner and now-longtime friend Nick Kokonas), this was going to be a restaurant that held nothing sacred: not its food and certainly not convention. Even the restaurant’s name staunchly reflects these values: an alinea is the typographical character which denotes a new train of thought. As Grant looked around the kitchen, at spotless, stainless steel tables that had yet to see a plate or a crumb and at pans still untouched by heat, he at last addressed the team gathered around him – friends from before, new faces – together in this place that was going to be quite unlike any restaurant that any of them – himself included – had worked in before. “Here’s the deal. Tomorrow we’re going to open the best restaurant in the country. And anything less is gonna be a failure.” Even over the phone, we could hear his voice warming at the memory. “At that moment, I won. ʼCause I felt like I accomplished what I set out to do.” He paused. “Even though the food could have really sucked,” he added, and laughed. Fifteen years on and three Michelin stars later, Alinea has not only established itself as America’s best restaurant, but as one of the world’s best. Now, widely known as one of the most unparalleled culinary minds in the world, chef Grant Achatz has thoroughly proven that the food, in fact, doesn’t suck. I WAS LIKE, MAN, I CAN MAKE PEOPLE FEEL WITH FOOD. AND NOT JUST A SENSE OF COMFORT, BUT A SENSE OF WONDERMENT, EXPLORATION, AND ADVENTURE. REED SCHMIDT / HYPEBEAST The career of a chef is especially grueling: thankless 14–16 hour shifts in the high-octane rush of a restaurant kitchen, hands in furious unison with sharp blades and searing pans that could melt flesh – all of it second nature by the time Achatz was 15 years old and working at his parents’ family-style restaurant in Michigan. The diner was a place of community and gathering, serving familiar faces who had been ordering the same thing every day for years. After growing up with the basics ­– western omelets, hash browns, burgers – he decided to pursue a different expression of food at the Culinary Institute of America in New York. He then went on to work his first stint at a 3-Michelin-starred restaurant, Charlie Trotter’s in Chicago, and then afterwards, with legendary chef Thomas Keller at the French Laundry in Napa Valley, California. Achatz cites his time at the French Laundry as the pivotal moment of his career. Chef Keller’s kitchen and work ethic is what would set the table for Achatz’s own team a few years down the road. “Every night was an incubator of creativity and extreme dedication, passion, and push. He was in the kitchen – first one in, last one out – teaching, mentoring, guiding the team,” Achatz recalls fondly of his time at the French Laundry. This environment was something Achatz worked extremely hard to keep at his own restaurant years later, even in 2007, when he was diagnosed with – and eventually beat – stage IV tongue cancer, just as Alinea was hitting its stride to culinary infamy. He attended chemotherapy sessions all while plowing forward with prepping and service at the restaurant, and continued to create new dishes with his team even after the radiation took away his sense of taste. “If there’s a better excuse to not go to work, I don’t know what it is,” he quipped. “I always reflect on my time at the French Laundry and you wanted Chef Keller to be there. That’s the lightning bolt.” [READ THE FULL INTERVIEW ON HYPEBEAST →](   [More HYPEBEAST Features]( [[FASHION]( [8 Drops You Don't Want to Miss This Week]( [[FASHION]( [Nicholas Daley Has Something To Say]( [Get The App Free on iOS and Android]( Follow --------------------------------------------------------------- 2019 HYPEBEAST Limited. All Rights Reserved [Manage Subscriptions]( You are receiving this email because you have subscribed to HYPEBEAST's marketing emails. You can unsubscribe from us any time by clicking [here](. It may take 48 hours to complete the unsubscribe process. Contact subscription@hypebeast.com for assistance on any enquiries. Our Mailing Address: HYPEBEAST, 10F, KC 100, 100 Kwai Cheong Road, Kwai Chung, Hong Kong