Alinea - The Tour, Bite by Bite - 3.21.2010
I was greeted politely by Colleen, a tall brunette with a kind but strict look to her. Out of her first options, I requested tap water. Shortly thereafter, she sent over a young man who placed two thick glasses in the place settings, and then she walked over with a vase full of water with a strong purpose. I then knew she would run a tight ship in the room. My friend walked in shortly afterward. We went back and forth for a bit about whether or not we should do the wine pairing, since we had both been at my bar crawl the night before. Then the , then bite into the sugar cane to let it release even more flavor, but don't swallow. I loved taking the extra time and biting through the unique texture of the sugar cane. The texture had a grainy chewiness, and again, I was taken back to my childhood. It was like getting to the tootsie roll or bubblegum in the middle of a lollipop. The centerpiece was a clear sheet with flowers pressed into them, our server instructed us that they were actually spring roll wraps, and placed them onto serving trays in front of us. Then we were served coconut-pork belly as fillings. On the plastic trays in front of us there were beautifully plated dollops of fixings for our spring rolls. I enthusiastically dumped everything on the plate into my roll, and ecstatically took my first bite. When our servers brought these out, he asked us to hold out our hands and he placed two smooth mugs into the palm of our hands, with a fork teetering on the edge. I can still remember the smooth feel of the clay bowl in the palm of my hand with a calming warmth. We were instructed to take a bite off the fork, and follow-up with the sip of the soup. The bite of the octopus was just a quick burst, that didn't even take much effort to chew. Then I took a sip of the green, soup made of heights type of day on the moors. It was rich, with a chamomile foam, and filled with rich meats like duck with slices of filling greens. It was absolutely delicious, and...