In a detailed, incredibly articulate follow-up e-mail addressing rumors of Chicago’s Alinea coming to NYC, chef Grant Achatz was as forthcoming as the first note was brief. The following revealing read should put any speculation to rest—here’s a taste, with the complete memo after the jump:
"The rumors started with good reason. We started aggressively looking for spaces in Manhattan about two months ago. We were lucky to stumble upon a great space in Soho early on in the search. It would have been the perfect container, it was large, clean and even had skylights into what would have been the kitchen. Everything seemed to happen very quickly; we had the space, lined up the money and started mentally allocating the staff. In fact it happened too quickly.
"When we were opening Alinea, it took us eight months for find the building, and that was with the convenience of being able to jump into the car at any given moment and drive street by street through the city. That gave me time to organically refine the concept and identity of the restaurant. As it was I was flying in every week and trying to cram in as many showings as I could. The next thing I knew I was looking at a possible late-2008/early-2009 opening. That of course prompted some serious conversation between myself and [Alinea partner] Nick. The annoying thing was, he kept asking me: ‘Why New York?’ Or I should say, the annoying thing was I didn’t have a good answer.
"New York carries that stigma of being the big pond. And of course chefs outside of the big pond, for whatever reason, feel they need to enter that arena to prove themselves. Basically that amounts to ego as the impetus for a New York opening. It didn’t take long to realize that wasn’t a good enough reason to open there. I kept asking myself what I had to prove, and to who.
"But more important was vision. When I started conceptualizing Alinea I had a very clear idea of what I wanted it to be like. That is always the hardest part. The follow-through is easy, it is just hard work, and that is not hard…. We realized that we were going about New York backward. First came the space, then the money, but we lacked the most important thing: the vision. Sure, it would have been easy for us to clone Alinea and plunk it down in Manhattan. But what does that get anyone? Sure, we make some money if it is successful, but really that is not compelling. It would mean cannibalizing the very philosophy that makes Alinea what it is. New York would have a knockoff, and it would stretch our resources here at Alinea to the point of jeopardy for no real gain to anyone.
"I expect we will open in New York eventually. I love the city. And some of the wrong reasons, like the ‘big pond’ are somewhat valid in a personal sense. But when we do it, we are going to do it the right way. Because we have some unique to say and show, not just for the sake of doing it."
Interesting story regarding Chicago’s Alinea restaurant…