Nick Kokonas '90 set to open more innovative restaurants

Alinea's pheasant which is served with
burning oak leaves to give the aroma of
autumn, just one part of their $225
28-course food "tour." 

Nick Kokonas '90 is the co-founder of Alinea, a Chicago restaurant that is widely considered one of the 10 best restaurants in the world. We're working on getting an interview with Kokonas for next week.  When we first tried to reach him, Kokonas was busy sampling 32 classic cocktails for Avairy, his new cocktail bar which promises to "redefine the cocktail."  At the same time, he's working on Next, a restaurant that will have four menus a year, each one trying to re-create the cuisine from a particular time and place in history. The movie-like trailer for Next (see below) announces that the first three menus will be Paris 1912, Sicily 1949 and Hong Kong 2036.

Kokonas and chef Grant Achatz got a lot of press today.  Today's New York Times article says the duo “evoke a modern Michelangelo and Medici, bonded by mutual trust and now locked into a very public artistic endeavor.” The Chicago Tribune, who has credited the pair for reviving Chicago's restaurant industry, has a lengthy but interesting piece today about Alinea and chef Achatz's battle with tongue cancer. Stay tuned for more from this Colgate entrepreneur

Have questions you want us to ask Kokonas? Post them in the comment section.