In my experience dining out every night – and in the past few years, eating in restaurants around the globe – I believe Alinea is the best restaurant in Chicago and one of my top ten favorites in the world.

I’m not the only one who thinks so. In 2006, it was named the best restaurant in America by Gourmet in its 2006 top 50 feature. In 2007, Restaurant Magazine added Alinea to its top 50 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 made the top ten in 2009, moving up to number 10 in the world.

Grant Achatz is the mastermind behind it all. Achatz 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. He’s also considered, by numerous other experts, to be one of the best chefs in the country.

I last went to Alinea with my friends Kate and Seth – it was simply amazing. It boasts a cutting-edge, innovative menu that changes regularly – but it’s also a true experience. We also took a tour of the kitchen. Again, amazing.

And, as if he wasn’t busy enough, Achatz is also an author. In October 2008 he and co-author Nick Kokonas published Alinea, a hardcover coffee-table style book featuring more than 100 of the restaurant’s recipes. The book’s narrative follows life in the kitchen for Achatz and his team, and includes more than 400 behind-the-scenes photographs by Lara Kastner.

Interestingly, Achatz and I are the same age (read: young and fabulous), which makes me feel slightly under-accomplished, but definitely hopeful.

I recently had the pleasure of interviewing Achatz regarding his work as an author, his advice to aspiring writers and a bit about his upcoming memoir.

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Laura Cococcia: You’re a chef at the core, but you’re also now a published author. What was the most rewarding part of bringing your day-to-day life into real life for readers?

Grant Achatz: There are many rewarding aspects to making the Alinea book. I am very proud of the approach that the book team took towards creating something that is very expressive of the restaurant. None of the publishers were interested in letting us create the book we wanted, which led to us publishing the book ourselves so the vision was not compromised. That commitment is one of the hallmarks of Alinea.

The other thing that I think is incredibly rewarding is how people that are not professional chefs or even home cooks find the book inspiring on a creative level. To me that is what Alinea is all about, creativity and collaboration. And not strictly from the food and cooking perspective. But the fact that visual artists, musicians, painters, writers and architects all find sources of inspiration in the pages.

Laura Cococcia: The last time I was at Alinea, I had the opportunity to take a tour of the kitchen. I found it absolutely amazing how everyone working there was completely in synch. What’s the most challenging aspect of your work?

Grant Achatz: There are many challenging things about cooking this way. But the fact that the product is so transient is difficult. Where a painter or a writer can produce a work one time and it is largely immortalized for everyone to enjoy as they intended it, the dishes we produce on a nightly basis are consumed in a matter of minutes. And then, the whole process starts over from scratch the next day.

Laura Cococcia: What advice can you give others – whether they are writers by profession or just simply experts in their field – who want to start their own writing practice?

Grant Achatz: It sounds pretty obvious but I would say practice. When I was faced with writing a section in the Alinea book I found it daunting at first. I had never written much of anything let alone a published piece. I was an average student in high school and never attended college, so my experience was extremely limited.

But as I wrote more and more the words seemed to flow naturally. I found myself basically having a conversation with the computer and eventually it flowed naturally. I would first post on various food blogs, then I moved on to the Alinea book, worked on a few other online webzine articles, recently penned an article in Gourmet, and have been invited to be a contributor to the Atlantic online food channel: http://food.theatlantic.com/back-of-the-house/.

Each time I write I feel like it gets easier to articulate what is in my head to the paper in a way that expresses my voice.

Laura Cococcia: Can you give us a sneak peek at any upcoming writing projects?

Grant Achatz: Myself and Nick Kokonas (my business partner and co-owner of Alinea) are writing a memo
ir of my life. The proposal is in the hands of the publishers as I type. It will be an in-depth look at my background, the path I took in my career, the battle with cancer, and most important – creativity. Part food book, part inspirational story and part personal creative explanation. I hope that people find it a compelling read.

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Many thanks to Achatz for spending some time with us.

This reminded me that maybe we’re not all initially writers, but perhaps we have an area of expertise that we can share with others through writing. And make an impact on many different levels.

It also reminded me to make my next reservation at Alinea. Let me know if you want to join.
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