Needless to say, this is not a spur-of-the-moment ...

Needless to say, this is not a spur-of-the-moment joint. But Grant Achatz has achieved substantial things in establishing his high end restaurant empire in Chicago. If you would enjoy being taken hold of by a team of intense, exacting culinary experts who will provoke your ideas of what constitutes high end dining with complex, allusive dishes that will probably include a pillow of flavored "air", an Escoffier dish served on century old china, and a dessert that includes kitchen staff painting the table surface with molten chocolate, let's face it, there's only one place in the world that is Alinea. Encouragement to spend large sums on a complex arrangement of paired wines is unsubtle.