Grant Achatz is a pioneering chef and food showman of the modern era. He was born in 1975 and ever since has been fascinating the world with his creative and artistic approach to our dining experience. There are no boundaries for him and he is constantly challenging the predictability of how we eat food.
In 2005 Achatz opened the restaurant Alinea. The phrase Alinea is the Dutch way of saying off the line, in other words, a new way of thinking. This was where he began his solo journey of recreating his customer's perception of food.
In previous restaurants, Achatz had shown glimpses of his individual style and what he was capable of, but a lot of his previous head chefs were stubborn in their ways and didn't believe his approach was appropriate for a fine dining experience.
When Achatz opened Alinea one of his first dishes, or so to speak non-dishes was the dessert on the table concept, where the dessert would be served straight onto the table and miss out the middle man off the plate.
'Chefs are limited by plate manufacturers'
Grant Achatz
There is no disputing the sheer brilliance of this idea of serving the food straight onto the table. Being a customer this would be idiotic, yet wonderful and you would be left speechless at this presentation of food. This is Achatz's goal, to somehow take people's breath away with the use of food. He uses the traditional dining experience perception as an aid in creating this wow factor. People have no idea what he will do next because they have no previous experience of such a performance. Prior to a dining experience in Alinea, all people will know is food being brought out on a plate, in the typical 3-course manner.
Achatz not only plays with the method we eat food but actually the form of the food itself, deceiving the brain and manipulating our taste buds. Two of his food illusions that produce this trickery are the Tomato strawberry and the cheese balloon.
Who would think of making a tomato look like a strawberry and the same with turning cheese into a ballon? Though it is These mind games that Achatz uses on his customers are what give him the reputation he has today. Not only as a great chef but as a designer, as he has completely redesigned the restaurant experience.
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