Posted by Adam Kuban, May 5, 2008 at 9:30 AM
The New Yorker has a lengthy and inspiring profile of Grant Achatz, chef at Chicago's Alinea, who's on the comeback after fighting tongue cancer. If you've been following this story, you'll know that Achatz wanted a line of treatment that would preserve his sense of taste. Well, after irradiation of his tongue, he lost that sense, but it's slowly returning.
Because his ability to taste has come back over time, Achatz feels that he is understanding the sense in a new way—the way you would if you could see only in black-and-white and, one by one, colors were restored to you. He says, “When I first tasted a vanilla milkshake"—after the end of his treatment—“it tasted very sweet to me, because there’s no salt, no acid. It just tasted sweet. Now, introduce bitter, so now I’m understanding the relationship between sweet and bitter—how they work together and how they balance. And now, as salt comes back, I understand the relationship among the three components."
Related: Grant Achatz's Cancer in Remission [Diner's Journal]
This is a really great update to a story we really didn't like hearing when it broke in late August, but it turns out that Chicago "molecular gastronomist" Grant Achatz (Alinea) has successfully finished his scheduled chemotherapy and has good news. Frank Bruni's got the statement from Achatz on Diner's Journal: "Through the use of a new and rigorous chemotherapy and radiation protocol, they were able achieve a full remission while ensuring that the use of invasive surgery on my tongue was not needed. Onward."
Posted by Ed Levine, September 25, 2007 at 8:30 AM
Grant Achatz (pictured), the acclaimed chef-owner of Alinea battling cancer (his spokesperson just announced that nearly 80 percent of his tumor has been shrunken by chemotherapy), is writing a cookbook. No man-bites-dog news there. But that's where the similarity to a traditional cookbook publishing model and arrangement ends.
In a move that looks to the movie business for inspiration, Achatz and his business partner, Nick Kokonas, have produced a trailer for the book that shows us just how far they're willing to push the publishing envelope in the direction of the internet.
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Posted by Alaina Browne, August 31, 2007 at 3:30 PM
Today's Wall Street Journal provides an update on Alinea's Grant Achatz and his battle against cancer. He was recently found to have cancer of the mouth and is following an alternative treatment in the hopes of saving his tongue (and sense of taste) and life:
Saving his tongue hinges on whether a team of doctors at the University of Chicago can cure the cancer using an atypical method of treatment. Instead of the standard therapy—removing the tumor surgically, followed by radiation and chemotherapy—his doctors are starting with a course of chemotherapy that adds a drug called cetuximab to two more conventional drugs. Then they will follow that with a combination of radiation therapy, more chemotherapy, and drugs.
Achatz still spends many hours in Alinea's kitchen, and is optimistic about his recovery.
Posted by Ed Levine, July 23, 2007 at 6:00 PM
A few minutes ago, New York Times Dining section editor Pete Wells broke the sobering news that 33-year-old Alinea chef-partner Grant Achatz has an advanced form of cancer of the mouth.
Here is Achatz's statement released by his publicist:
I wanted to personally report that I have been very recently diagnosed with an advanced stage of squamous cell carcinoma of the mouth. I have consulted several prominent physicians and will likely begin aggressive treatment within the next few weeks. I remain, and will remain, actively and optimistically engaged in operations at Alinea to the largest extent possible. Alinea will continue to perform at the level people have come to expect from us—I insist on that. I have received amazing support from friends, family, and everyone who has thus far been told of the disease, and I look forward to a full, cancer-free, recovery.
Wells himself wrote one of the earliest and most thoughtful profiles of Achatz a couple of years ago for Food & Wine. Our prayers and thoughts are with Grant, perhaps America's most innovative and influential young chef.
Posted by Lia Bulaong, March 2, 2007 at 2:36 PM
Chicagoist has a really fantastic interview with Grant Achatz of Chicago's highly-acclaimed Alinea, talking about all sorts of things like his philosophy as a chef and restauranteur, and how his creative process works in his kitchen and with his colleagues. This was my favorite thing to read:
C: What food-related websites or media do you keep an eye on, for ideas and feedback?
GA: I do it a lot less now, but I used to be really into all the blogs, like eGullet, LTHForum, all of those. I don’t read them so much anymore, I don’t know why. I feel that some of it is that they’re losing some credibility. There’s a lot of good, honest material there, then there’s a lot of … bullshit. You know, where, at the beginning (of these sites), there was a lot of useful information, honest information. Now, somehow, I feel that maybe it’s a lot of people using it as a microphone to hear themselves. Then it becomes less credible. But what I’ve always enjoyed about it is it's the voice of the guest. If people come here and have a lousy time for a particular reason, are they ever going to come back to the kitchen and tell me? No, it’ll never happen. You might get a phone call the next day, or the occasional letter. But, if they immediately go online and list their complaints, I’ll know and then I can fix it. So it was always about the instant understanding of how people perceive the experience. That’s why I read them.
Every once in a while I read interviews with chefs or owners talking about how much they hate that people can so easily write negative things about their food or their service on the internet, and every single time I've immediately put their names and establishments on my "never give them a dime of my money" list. Don't they realize they're badmouthing customers? And, in my case, turning off potential customers? Heaven forbid I eat at one of their restaurants and the food is bad or my waiter rude—what's to make me think I'm going to be treated any better if I complain about it there? My list of places that I know for sure will do right by me is pretty long, and life is too short for me to spend any of my time or money somewhere that might treat me like dirt.
Getting poor reviews for what you've basically put your entire life into is hard and hurtful, no matter what industry you're in. If someone's just talking smack, life is too short to spend time worrying on what crazy people think—let it slide right off your back. If the criticism is valid, then it does you a service to learn from what's been said and move forward.
Related: Danny Meyer on fixing mistakes, Danny Meyer and hospitality
Posted by Alaina Browne, January 12, 2007 at 10:25 AM
Science and food links from around the web!
Were chickpeas responsible for the rise of a human empire? Cultivated chickpeas had more than three times as much tryptophan as their wild cousins. Increased amounts of tryptophan in the diet can improve performance under stress and also promote ovulation, handy advantages when you're taking over the world.
An In-depth scientific explanation of why we develop food allergies.
Duda Farm Fresh Foods has engineered celery to grow with hollow stalks, thus celery straws.
MIT Technology Review's two-parter, "The Alchemist" (part 1, part 2) goes deep with Grant Achatz and Alinea:
The highest and most expensive forms of cooking have always involved the latest kitchen technology. But seldom has technology worked to bring food as far from what was considered normal as it does today. Cooks are straying into the preserves of the laboratory, appropriating equipment, processes, and ingredients that were formerly of interest only to biology researchers and industrial food manufacturers. Among American chefs, it's Achatz who has most successfully walked the balance beam between weird and appealing—probably because of his rigorous apprenticeship with [Thomas] Keller.
Serious Eats on Alinea: Alinea's Most Exciting Food.
Posted by Meg Hourihan, December 28, 2006 at 1:30 AM
Ruth Reichl once famously called the French Laundry "the most exciting place to eat in the United States." Until very recently, I agreed with her. Then I ate at Alinea in Chicago.
Alinea's chef, Grant Achatz, is a protégé of Thomas Keller and rose to the position of sous chef at the French Laundry before his departure. Keller's influence is apparent in his food, from menu titles like "Hot potato, cold potato" to the portion size to the perfection of every detail. But at Alinea, chef Achatz takes all he's learned and somehow makes it better. As my husband, Jason, said during our dinner, "He's out-Kellered Keller!"
I could write paragraphs about the meal itself, the "hot potato" course served with a thick slice of truffle balanced on a warm potato ball, skewered by a thin needle overhanging a perfectly cold potato soup (pictured, left). Or the meaty rich squab, or the lamb buried beneath eucalyptus leaves. But you can read a better description of Alinea's food elsewhere. I'd like to focus on what else made the meal outstanding.
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