I've been wanting to eat at Alinea for years and f...

I've been wanting to eat at Alinea for years and finally had the opportunity last night. I read the Life on the Line book (highly recommend) before going so I was very eager to see the dining tables and entryway.

I enjoyed the word search on the table that hid clues to the menu and that we were able to bring home a complete menu as a memento.

I passed over the wine pairing to have a glass of Pinot Noir instead. The sommelier had no written list for by the glass, so we had to trust in his selection. It was adequate and reasonably priced.

Alinea gets a 11/10 for presentation and cool party tricks. As a scientist, to see the uses of distillation and liquid nitrogen in a dining setting was really cool. I also loved being brought to the kitchen to see their 1 of a 30-kind mass cocktail shaker machine that came via NZ.

I did the salon experience which was 10 courses last night. In terms of food quality, Alinea did not quite live up to the hype for me. I don't want to ruin the experience for future attendees, but last night's dinner was very heavy on the Asian influences which I was surprised by. The closest comparison to Asian fusion would have been Blue Ginger by Ming Tsai and I just did not really feel that Alinea incorporated the Asian flavors as well as Tsai does. The uses of Korean bbq sauce and soysauce overwhelmed the food they were used with; however, a yellow curry dish did work well. An overall major qualm for me was that some of my food was still frozen. As in, I took a bite and got brainfreeze. When I asked my dining partner if he had a similar problem, he responded no. Then when we had "dumplings", mine was hot and his was cold.

The highlight for me was the non-balloon dessert. I really enjoyed the presentation and the flavors.

SPOILER: the disappointing dish for me was a "clam chowder" that was supposed to evoke "the cape". I spend every summer at the cape and as a Bostonian, I take my chowder very seriously. I've probably had "chowder" at hundreds of restaurants from holes in the wall to established seafood fine dining restaurants. The fun spin on the chowder was the aerated chowder served out of a whipped cream can (reminiscent of all the great ice cream shops at the cape!) However, the flavors were completely off for a chowder and all I could taste was salt. I realized pretty quickly that a lot of the other tables also did not finish their "chowder" so it was not just me. I think the staff should have realized that the chowder was a miss (or perhaps the flavors were just off that night?) when they had to return a bunch of uneaten bowls at a 3 Michelin star restaurant.

A complete miss on one out of ten dishes is not terrible and obviously Alinea is still a must-try restaurant due to its matchless food theatrics. Although, I was really hoping that the flavors would be worthy of its reputation, I felt that the presentation definitely carried Alinea through. I will add that my boyfriend is not a foodie and said it was the best meal of his life.