There are a bunch of food and dining related public forums out there on the Internet, and I don’t have the time to participate in any of them. Besides, 90% of the discussions there are either uninteresting or just drivel. Occasionally though, a gem pops up, and I’m thankful to have people like Alaina over at A Full Belly to point them out. Last week she highlighted someone who had posted a behind the scenes look at the kitchen of Grant Achatz, whose soon to be opened Alinea is the talk of the Chicago restaurant scene. One of the reasons that this is particularly interesting is that Achatz is a practitioner of molecular gastronomy, the science infused laboratory based cooking made famous by Ferran Adria of El Bulli among others.

So a few days spent inside the Alinea food lab is a fascinating, informal look at the how, what, and why of this type of cooking. The chef himself gets involved in the conversation as well and there are some great photos.