Bizarre Foods Chicago Episode Features Grant Achatz' Alinea and Graham Elliot

On last night's episode of Bizarre Foods, host Andrew Zimmern headed to Chicago to check out Grant Achatz' Alinea ("It may be the most important restaurant in America," said Zimmern) and Graham Elliot's eponymous restaurant. Putting these restaurants under the rubric of "bizarre" is maybe a disservice, but Zimmern gave the viewers a really great behind-the-scenes look at the chefs' techniques and cuisine.

The sci-fi electronic music played during the Alinea segment was, well, pretty goofy, but in the clips below you get to see the anti-griddle in action and a distilled flavor essence being made of green Thai chile ("basically we're cooking on the moon right now," said Achatz). And then there's video of Achatz plating the infamous tabletop dessert.

At Graham Elliot, they sample Elliot's "foielipops" (foie gras lollipops with pop rocks) and the deconstructed Caesar salad with brioche "Twinkie." Said Zimmern to Elliot, "I know that you do a lot of TV, but usually you're on camera with a bunch of skinny people talking about eating a lot of food. Which we all know is BS," mugging to the camera. "Because if you eat a lot of food, you look like this."

Video: Bizarre Foods: Alinea, Part 1

Video: Bizarre Foods: Alinea, Part 2

Video: Bizarre Foods: Graham Elliot

· All Andrew Zimmern Coverage on Eater [-E-]
· All Grant Achatz Coverage on Eater [-E-]
· All Graham Elliot Coverage on Eater [-E-]