Could such a concept work in Europe? When does a restaurant stop being a restaurant and become like theatre? Are customers ready to pay in advance for their meal just like they do when they go to a theatre performance, music concert or a sports event? Can such a concept work? Next Restaurant in Chicago is not your typical restaurant. The brain-child of the people behind Alinea and run by award winning chef Dave Beran, they have been experimenting with selling tickets instead of serving people 'a la carte' since 2011. They can probably do that given that they change the menu and restaurant concept every three months. While the concept is now 3 years old, the restaurant has an incredible business model which celebrates creativity not only in its payment model but also by completely changing the whole concept and theme of the restaurant every three months. Dave Beran, who presented the concept at Chefs Revolution in the Netherlands recently said "the restaurant is not just a … [Read more...]
Grant Achatz (Alinea): A genius of molecular cuisine
When Grant Achatz, chef and restauranteur of Alinea walked onto the stage at Chefs Revolution in Zwolle there was a sense of anticipation among the audience. Two days of great presentations by some of the world's most avant-garde chefs was coming to a close. In that situation, anyone standing in front of a packed theatre might panic. But then again, it must have been obvious that the organisers would leave something special as the last act? It was not even a question of time. Achatz did not fly in all the way from Chicago for the presentation and leave. Chefs have a very busy schedule but Achatz and his team had been in the Netherlands for four days and were in no hurry to leave though they were then heading to Rene Redzepi's Noma a day later and then to Frantzen in Sweden. Achatz and his team made a spectacular presentation but you cannot expect anything less from this American chef and restaurateur who is often considered as one of the leaders in molecular gastronomy or … [Read more...]
Grant Achatz of Alinea coming up next
There has been little time to write this evening. However, this is a teaser of what to expect in our next post. Grant Achatz of Alinea, gave a splendid display of his creativity on Monday evening in Zwolle, Netherlands at Chef's Revolution and we will profile and write about his superb presentation. Alinea has been universally praised for its innovative approach to modernist cuisine. I hope the video above gives you an indication of what to expect in our next article. It is really worth watching and was used as an introduction to the presentation by Achatz. Our post will profile the American chef who runs this restaurant which has been named the Best Restaurant in America for three years. He gave an incredible presentation of creativity and modernist cuisine and talked about how the restaurant and his team approach the creative process. This is really a post worth reading not only if you are interested in gastronomy but also in particular if you are interested in creativity and … [Read more...]
Chefs (R)evolution finale – a feast of creativity and inspiration
The second and last day of Chef's (R)evolution was a great finale to the Dutch avant-garde cuisine festival. Organised by Jonnie and Therese Boer of De Librije together with publisher Port Culinaire, yesterday's line-up was a spectacular array of creative chefs from Noma's Rene Redzepi's to Alinea's Grant Achatz, Bjorn Frantzen, Sang-Hoon Degeimbre and Spanish Quique Dacosta. Redzepi kickstarted the day with a brilliant presentation of some of the dishes that are currently being prepared at Noma, the world's number one restaurant in the World's Top 50 San Pellegrino list. He spoke about the difficulty of preserving food when they had opened the restaurant 11 years ago as they faced a terrible winter and went on to speak about how this had led them to study the art of fermentation. Like Massimo Bottura the previous day, Redzepi spoke about the importance of eliminating food waste saying that this is one of the greatest problems and challenges facing the food industry. He said it is … [Read more...]