Grant Achatz

People can (and do) say a lot of things about chef Grant Achatz and his Chicago restaurant Alinea. There are those on one side of things who claim that it is the best restaurant in America right now, and one of the best in the world; that this is the place where the soul and direction of cuisine will be decided for the next generation of chefs and restaurants. They say that once there was Chez Panisse, then the French Laundry, and now Alinea, and that these three restaurants, taken together, say everything worthwhile there is to say about professional cooking in America and the path that it has taken. On the other hand, there are still plenty of people out there who hear the name Alinea, and the very first thing that comes to mind is “bacon on a swing”—the half-dismissive, half-accurate description of the dish which, for a long time, defined Alinea and its place on the cutting edge of modern cuisine. In his new memoir, Life, on the Line: A Chef’s Story of Chasing Greatness, Facing Death, and Redefining the Way We Eat (Gotham, $27.50), Achatz and co-author and partner Nick Kokonas, talk about all of that—about food, about inspiration, about the rise of Alinea and what’s coming next, and the stage-four tongue cancer that nearly killed Achatz while he was at the top of his game. JASON SHEEHAN

Wed., March 16, 7-9 p.m., 2011