Grant Achatz
Encyclopedia
Grant Achatz is an American
chef
and restaurateur often identified as one of the leaders in molecular gastronomy
or progressive cuisine. His Chicago
restaurant Alinea
has won numerous accolades, and Achatz himself has won numerous awards from prominent culinary institutions and publications including the "Rising Star Chef of the Year Award" for 2003 and "Best Chef in the United States" for 2008 from the James Beard Foundation
.
restaurants as a teenager, followed by enrollment in The Culinary Institute of America in Hyde Park, New York
. Following graduation, Achatz landed a position at Thomas Keller
's highly acclaimed restaurant, The French Laundry
, in Yountville, California
. Achatz spent four years at The French Laundry, rising to the position of sous chef. In 2001, he moved to the Chicago
area to become the Executive Chef
at Trio, in Evanston, Illinois
, which at the time of his arrival had a four-star rating from the Mobil Travel Guide. Over the next three years, with Achatz at the helm, Trio's reputation soared, and in 2004 the restaurant was rewarded with a fifth star from Mobil, becoming one of just 13 restaurants so honored at the time.
In 2005, Achatz went out on his own, opening Alinea
in Chicago's Lincoln Park neighborhood. The restaurant is located up the block from the famed Steppenwolf Theatre Company
and is housed in a modest gray brick building which bears no external markings beyond its street number. Inside, the restaurant has no bar, no lobby, and seats just 64 guests. Achatz serves diners a small-course tasting menu
, running approximately 18 courses. After less than two years of operation, the Mobil Travel Guide bestowed its Five Star Award on Alinea, making Alinea one of just 16 restaurants nationwide to rate five stars for 2007.
In October 2006, Gourmet
magazine named Alinea the best restaurant in America in its feature on "America's Top 50 Restaurants".
In 2007, Restaurant magazine added Alinea to its list of the 50 best restaurants in the world at number 36, the highest new entry of the year. In 2008, that publication moved Alinea up its list 15 spots, to number 21 in the world. Alinea cracked the top ten in 2009, moving up to number 10 in the world, and advanced to number 7 for 2010, when it was also the highest ranked North American restaurant honored. Alinea maintained its top North American Ranking for 2011, while moving up one position overall to 6th best restaurant in the world.
In November 2009, Achatz and his Alinea team designed the menu for Ikarus
, a restaurant in Salzburg, Austria which brings in a top chef from a different restaurant each month to design the menu for that month and train the staff.
Alinea was awarded three stars in the 2011 Michelin Guide
for Chicago.
Achatz's other restaurants include Next
, a restaurant that uses a unique ticketing system in Chicago, and Aviary, a bar.
Reservations for Achatz's restaurant, Next, are so sought after, that tickets could be found on Craigslist for up to $500 per person.
featuring more than 100 of the restaurant's recipes. The book's narrative follows life in the kitchen for Achatz and his crew, and includes more than 400 behind-the-scenes photographs by Lara Kastner.
In June 2009, Achatz and Kokonas sold Life, On the Line, their dual-voiced recount of their collaboration on Alinea and Achatz's battle with cancer
to Gotham Books. The book was released on March 3, 2011.
of the mouth
, which may have spread to his lymph nodes. Some of his colleagues and friends have expressed worry that radiotherapy or surgery
may impair his sense of taste.
On December 18, 2007, Achatz announced that he was cancer-free. He credited an aggressive protocol of chemotherapy
and radiation administered at the University of Chicago Medical Center for driving his cancer into full remission. The treatment regimen, administered under the direction of Drs. Vokes, Blair and Haraf at U of C, did not require radical invasive surgery on Achatz' tongue.
Cuisine of the United States
American cuisine is a style of food preparation originating from the United States of America. European colonization of the Americas yielded the introduction of a number of ingredients and cooking styles to the latter...
chef
Chef
A chef is a person who cooks professionally for other people. Although over time the term has come to describe any person who cooks for a living, traditionally it refers to a highly skilled professional who is proficient in all aspects of food preparation.-Etymology:The word "chef" is borrowed ...
and restaurateur often identified as one of the leaders in molecular gastronomy
Molecular gastronomy
Molecular gastronomy is a subdiscipline of food science that seeks to investigate, explain and make practical use of the physical and chemical transformations of ingredients that occur while cooking, as well as the social, artistic and technical components of culinary and gastronomic phenomena in...
or progressive cuisine. His Chicago
Chicago
Chicago is the largest city in the US state of Illinois. With nearly 2.7 million residents, it is the most populous city in the Midwestern United States and the third most populous in the US, after New York City and Los Angeles...
restaurant Alinea
Alinea (restaurant)
Alinea is a restaurant in Chicago that opened on May 4, 2005. Its head chef and owner, Grant Achatz, is known for his preparations and deconstructions of classic flavors....
has won numerous accolades, and Achatz himself has won numerous awards from prominent culinary institutions and publications including the "Rising Star Chef of the Year Award" for 2003 and "Best Chef in the United States" for 2008 from the James Beard Foundation
James Beard Foundation
The James Beard Foundation is a New York-based national professional non-profit organization named in honor of James Beard that serves to promote the culinary arts by honoring chefs, wine professionals, journalists, and cookbook authors at annual award ceremonies and providing scholarships and...
.
Early life and career
Achatz's early culinary career included time spent working in his parents' MichiganMichigan
Michigan is a U.S. state located in the Great Lakes Region of the United States of America. The name Michigan is the French form of the Ojibwa word mishigamaa, meaning "large water" or "large lake"....
restaurants as a teenager, followed by enrollment in The Culinary Institute of America in Hyde Park, New York
Hyde Park, New York
Hyde Park is a town located in the northwest part of Dutchess County, New York, United States, just north of the city of Poughkeepsie. The town is most famous for being the hometown of U.S. President Franklin D. Roosevelt....
. Following graduation, Achatz landed a position at Thomas Keller
Thomas Keller
Thomas Keller is an American chef, restaurateur, and cookbook writer. He and his landmark Napa Valley restaurant, The French Laundry in Yountville, California, have won multiple awards from the James Beard Foundation, notably the Best California Chef in 1996, and the Best Chef in America in 1997...
's highly acclaimed restaurant, The French Laundry
French Laundry
The French Laundry is a French restaurant located in Yountville, California, in the Napa Valley. The chef and owner of the French Laundry is Thomas Keller....
, in Yountville, California
Yountville, California
Yountville is an incorporated town in Napa County, California, United States. It is in the North Bay portion of the San Francisco Bay Area. The population was 2,933 at the 2010 census. Almost one third of the town's population lives on the grounds of the Veterans Home of California.The town's name...
. Achatz spent four years at The French Laundry, rising to the position of sous chef. In 2001, he moved to the Chicago
Chicago
Chicago is the largest city in the US state of Illinois. With nearly 2.7 million residents, it is the most populous city in the Midwestern United States and the third most populous in the US, after New York City and Los Angeles...
area to become the Executive Chef
Chef
A chef is a person who cooks professionally for other people. Although over time the term has come to describe any person who cooks for a living, traditionally it refers to a highly skilled professional who is proficient in all aspects of food preparation.-Etymology:The word "chef" is borrowed ...
at Trio, in Evanston, Illinois
Evanston, Illinois
Evanston is a suburban municipality in Cook County, Illinois 12 miles north of downtown Chicago, bordering Chicago to the south, Skokie to the west, and Wilmette to the north, with an estimated population of 74,360 as of 2003. It is one of the North Shore communities that adjoin Lake Michigan...
, which at the time of his arrival had a four-star rating from the Mobil Travel Guide. Over the next three years, with Achatz at the helm, Trio's reputation soared, and in 2004 the restaurant was rewarded with a fifth star from Mobil, becoming one of just 13 restaurants so honored at the time.
In 2005, Achatz went out on his own, opening Alinea
Alinea (restaurant)
Alinea is a restaurant in Chicago that opened on May 4, 2005. Its head chef and owner, Grant Achatz, is known for his preparations and deconstructions of classic flavors....
in Chicago's Lincoln Park neighborhood. The restaurant is located up the block from the famed Steppenwolf Theatre Company
Steppenwolf Theatre Company
Steppenwolf Theatre Company is a Tony Award-winning Chicago theatre company founded in 1974 by Gary Sinise, Terry Kinney and Jeff Perry in the basement of a church in Highland Park, Illinois. It has since relocated to Chicago's Halsted Street, in the Lincoln Park neighborhood. Its name comes from...
and is housed in a modest gray brick building which bears no external markings beyond its street number. Inside, the restaurant has no bar, no lobby, and seats just 64 guests. Achatz serves diners a small-course tasting menu
Tasting menu
Restaurant tasting menus offer small portions of several dishes as a single meal. Some restaurants and chefs specialize in tasting menus, while in other cases, it is a special or a menu option. Tasting menus may be offered to provide a sample of a type of cuisine, or house specialties, or to take...
, running approximately 18 courses. After less than two years of operation, the Mobil Travel Guide bestowed its Five Star Award on Alinea, making Alinea one of just 16 restaurants nationwide to rate five stars for 2007.
In October 2006, Gourmet
Gourmet (magazine)
Gourmet magazine was a monthly publication of Condé Nast and the first U.S. magazine devoted to food and wine. Founded by Earle R. MacAusland and first published in 1941, Gourmet also covered "good living" on a wider scale....
magazine named Alinea the best restaurant in America in its feature on "America's Top 50 Restaurants".
In 2007, Restaurant magazine added Alinea to its list of the 50 best restaurants in the world at number 36, the highest new entry of the year. In 2008, that publication moved Alinea up its list 15 spots, to number 21 in the world. Alinea cracked the top ten in 2009, moving up to number 10 in the world, and advanced to number 7 for 2010, when it was also the highest ranked North American restaurant honored. Alinea maintained its top North American Ranking for 2011, while moving up one position overall to 6th best restaurant in the world.
In November 2009, Achatz and his Alinea team designed the menu for Ikarus
Hangar-7
Hangar-7 is a hangar in Salzburg, Austria owned by Red Bull founder Dietrich Mateschitz. It houses a restaurant, two bars, a lounge and aircraft, and is open to the public. It includes the Michelin starred restaurant Ikarus.-External links:*...
, a restaurant in Salzburg, Austria which brings in a top chef from a different restaurant each month to design the menu for that month and train the staff.
Alinea was awarded three stars in the 2011 Michelin Guide
Michelin Guide
The Michelin Guide is a series of annual guide books published by Michelin for over a dozen countries. The term normally refers to the Michelin Red Guide, the oldest and best-known European hotel and restaurant guide, which awards the Michelin stars...
for Chicago.
Achatz's other restaurants include Next
Next (restaurant)
Next is Grant Achatz's second Chicago restaurant. It opened in April 2011. The restaurant has received media interest due to Achatz's high profile success at his first restaurant Alinea, as well as its unique "ticketed" format: unlike a traditional reservation system, in which the customer...
, a restaurant that uses a unique ticketing system in Chicago, and Aviary, a bar.
Reservations for Achatz's restaurant, Next, are so sought after, that tickets could be found on Craigslist for up to $500 per person.
Books
In October 2008, Grant Achatz and co-author Nick Kokonas published Alinea, a hardcover coffee table bookCoffee table book
A coffee table book is a hardcover book that is intended to sit on a coffee table or similar surface in an area where guests sit and are entertained, thus inspiring conversation or alleviating boredom. They tend to be oversized and of heavy construction, since there is no pressing need for...
featuring more than 100 of the restaurant's recipes. The book's narrative follows life in the kitchen for Achatz and his crew, and includes more than 400 behind-the-scenes photographs by Lara Kastner.
In June 2009, Achatz and Kokonas sold Life, On the Line, their dual-voiced recount of their collaboration on Alinea and Achatz's battle with cancer
Cancer
Cancer , known medically as a malignant neoplasm, is a large group of different diseases, all involving unregulated cell growth. In cancer, cells divide and grow uncontrollably, forming malignant tumors, and invade nearby parts of the body. The cancer may also spread to more distant parts of the...
to Gotham Books. The book was released on March 3, 2011.
Personal life
On July 23, 2007, Achatz announced that he had been diagnosed with stage 4 squamous cell carcinomaSquamous cell carcinoma
Squamous cell carcinoma , occasionally rendered as "squamous-cell carcinoma", is a histologically distinct form of cancer. It arises from the uncontrolled multiplication of malignant cells deriving from epithelium, or showing particular cytological or tissue architectural characteristics of...
of the mouth
Oral cancer
Oral cancer is a subtype of head and neck cancer, is any cancerous tissue growth located in the oral cavity. It may arise as a primary lesion originating in any of the oral tissues, by metastasis from a distant site of origin, or by extension from a neighboring anatomic structure, such as the...
, which may have spread to his lymph nodes. Some of his colleagues and friends have expressed worry that radiotherapy or surgery
Surgery
Surgery is an ancient medical specialty that uses operative manual and instrumental techniques on a patient to investigate and/or treat a pathological condition such as disease or injury, or to help improve bodily function or appearance.An act of performing surgery may be called a surgical...
may impair his sense of taste.
On December 18, 2007, Achatz announced that he was cancer-free. He credited an aggressive protocol of chemotherapy
Chemotherapy
Chemotherapy is the treatment of cancer with an antineoplastic drug or with a combination of such drugs into a standardized treatment regimen....
and radiation administered at the University of Chicago Medical Center for driving his cancer into full remission. The treatment regimen, administered under the direction of Drs. Vokes, Blair and Haraf at U of C, did not require radical invasive surgery on Achatz' tongue.
Awards
- Best New Chefs, Food & Wine MagazineFood & Wine MagazineFood & Wine is a monthly magazine published by American Express Publishing. It was founded in 1978 by Ariane and Michael Batterberry. It features recipes, cooking tips, travel information, restaurant reviews, chefs, wine pairings and seasonal/holiday content and has been credited by The New York...
, 2002 - Top Service Award (Chicago), Zagat Survey, 2006
- Best Restaurant in America, Gourmet Magazine, 2006
- 40 Top Chicago Restaurants Ever, Chicago Magazine, #1, 2010
- AAAAmerican Automobile AssociationAAA , formerly known as the American Automobile Association, is a federation of 51 independently operated motor clubs throughout North America. AAA is a not-for-profit member service organization with more than 51 million members. AAA provides services to its members such as travel, automotive,...
Five Diamond Award, AAA, 2007–2011 - MobilMobilMobil, previously known as the Socony-Vacuum Oil Company, was a major American oil company which merged with Exxon in 1999 to form ExxonMobil. Today Mobil continues as a major brand name within the combined company, as well as still being a gas station sometimes paired with their own store or On...
Five Star Award, Mobil Travel Guide, 2007–2010 - Jean Banchet Award – Best Celebrity Chef, 2007
- Jean Banchet Award – Best Fine Dining, 2007
- The S. Pellegrino World's 50 Best Restaurants, #36, 2007
- The S. Pellegrino World's 50 Best Restaurants, Highest New Entry, 2007
- The S. Pellegrino World's 50 Best Restaurants, #21, 2008
- The S. Pellegrino World's 50 Best Restaurants, #10, 2009
- The S. Pellegrino World's 50 Best Restaurants, #7, 2010
- The S. Pellegrino World's 50 Best Restaurants, The Acqua Panna Best Restaurant In North America, 2010
- The S. Pellegrino World's 50 Best Restaurants, #6, 2011
- The S. Pellegrino World's 50 Best Restaurants, The Acqua Panna Best Restaurant In North America, 2011
- James Beard FoundationJames Beard FoundationThe James Beard Foundation is a New York-based national professional non-profit organization named in honor of James Beard that serves to promote the culinary arts by honoring chefs, wine professionals, journalists, and cookbook authors at annual award ceremonies and providing scholarships and...
Award – Rising Star Chef of the Year, 2003 - James Beard FoundationJames Beard FoundationThe James Beard Foundation is a New York-based national professional non-profit organization named in honor of James Beard that serves to promote the culinary arts by honoring chefs, wine professionals, journalists, and cookbook authors at annual award ceremonies and providing scholarships and...
Award – Best Chef: Great Lakes, 2007 - James Beard FoundationJames Beard FoundationThe James Beard Foundation is a New York-based national professional non-profit organization named in honor of James Beard that serves to promote the culinary arts by honoring chefs, wine professionals, journalists, and cookbook authors at annual award ceremonies and providing scholarships and...
Award – Outstanding Chef, 2008 - James Beard FoundationJames Beard FoundationThe James Beard Foundation is a New York-based national professional non-profit organization named in honor of James Beard that serves to promote the culinary arts by honoring chefs, wine professionals, journalists, and cookbook authors at annual award ceremonies and providing scholarships and...
Award – Book Award: Cooking from a Professional Point of View, 2009 - James Beard FoundationJames Beard FoundationThe James Beard Foundation is a New York-based national professional non-profit organization named in honor of James Beard that serves to promote the culinary arts by honoring chefs, wine professionals, journalists, and cookbook authors at annual award ceremonies and providing scholarships and...
Award – Outstanding Service Award, 2010 - Zagat Guide "Excellent" Ratings. 2008
- Gayot Rating 18/20.
- 3 Michelin Stars, 2011.
- The 2011 Time 100Time 100Time 100 is an annual list of the 100 most influential people in the world, as assembled by Time. First published in 1999 as a result of a debate among several academics, the list has become an annual event.-History and format:...
External links
- Alinea's Web Site
- Early profile of Achatz
- Wired Magazine article
- Combination Therapy Saves Chef's Tongue from Cancer—University of Chicago Medical Center
- Men's Vogue article about Achatz's battle with cancer
- New Yorker article about Achatz's cancer fight
- Chicago magazine article about Achatz's cancer journey
- Cutting-Edge Food With Grant Achatz - slideshow by Life magazine
- youtube.com Grant Achatz creating Dessert of 20 Course Meal at Alinea