When a 3 MICHELIN STAR Chef Serves You BURGER & FRIES

You have probably heard of private chefs. Most people think of billionaires, private events, hidden locations, luxurious food. Today we are doing something in that spirit. A private lunch with a former three Michelin star chef and a few best of bottles of crude champagne on the 73rd floor in the middle of Chicago. We are heading towards Michigan Avenue. Our destination is this 73-story building that was designed by Helmut Jung. An iconic architecture and his name is especially well known here in Chicago. My friend Marco said he has a buddy who used to be a three Michelin star chef. He's hosting a private dinner and they are bringing out some rare bottles of crude. All of this in a special location. Say no more, I'm in. We are already on our way to the rooftop. It's a private space in the building that's been rented out just for the event. Now this is a welcome. A glass of Kruger's 21st Magnum edition. I take a sip of that beauty and then I start discovering the room. The interior is beautiful, minimalist, the material choices are great. Marble, stone, steel, matches perfectly with the building. It was designed by Karaman, who has more than 20 years of experience in this. Well, it shows. Beautiful design, I love it. Let's take a peek into the kitchen. Make some chaos. If you need any help, please do not ask me because... I just want you to enjoy the clouds. Speaking of which, we haven't even checked the view. Although it's cloudy out there, it's still spectacular. We mingle and chat with other guests and soon our first bite arrives. Here, now, as we are standing. It is a brioche toast with crab salad, avocado mousse and finger lime on top of it. This is the best structure for an appetizer. And it succeeded in everything it needed to. Great flavors and great texture in every bite. Nicely layered. We don't have to wait long for the next one. A charred vegetable tartlet with pickled rump oil and sweet alyssum on top. I can smell that I'm going to love this one. I wasn't wrong. Lovely flavors. But what about my champagne? I think Rüegg is better with their blancs. But this rosé is damn serious. We barely swallowed it and another bite is already coming. This is Hokkaido scallop ceviche with citrus coconut vinaigrette, chili oil, toasted sushi rice and charred scallion. This is the one. This is my kind of food. Beautiful ingredients, playful textures and most importantly acidity. So far so good. A very pleasant experience. Delicious bites, Rüegg and sharing all this with nice people. Then Simon appears and asks everybody to take a seat if we already got to know each other. Right after we do so, a big gun arrives. A really, really big gun. Rüegg Clos de Meunier from 2006. What comes with it is possibly the best thing you can have with champagne. Caviar. And three plates right away all build around it. So we're gonna just hammer you with caviar now. This is an elixir classic. It's a roasted chestnut crepe with lemon creme fraiche between the layers and it's glazed with golden osetra caviar. Next is osetra caviar with a kabosu and togarashi vinaigrette, coconut and a little bit of shio kombu. And then finally, entering into spring here in Chicago, we've got some spring pea with macroute lime leaf oil and osetra caviar. Cheers. I love caviar and I also love when it's served with exciting combinations. These were exciting and definitely delicious. Next up is a fish. Uh, this is sea fish or black bass. It is served with butter sauce, preserved enoki mushroom, grilled napa cabbage, lemon and myrkane, which is a Chilean spice. This is my moon. It's a grand cuvee. In this case, it's the 117 second edition. To be honest, I was curious how this event would turn out. I ate at two and three star places before and I will after this. It's hard to compare this to them, but I tell you, I am impressed. I shouldn't be surprised anyway, since we are talking about Simon Davis. Simon grew up in California. He studied culinary arts in Portland, Oregon, and worked in several restaurants during his school years. Right after graduating, he was accepted as an intern in Alinea. Yes, that Alinea here in Chicago. By 2014, his creativity and outstanding work ethic earned him the chef de cuisine position. By 2018, he was the executive chef. During this time, Alinea was on the world 50 best list and maintained three Michelin stars. In his career, so far he has been on lists such as Forbes 30 under 30, Crane's 20 in their 20s and Zaga 30 under 30. After leaving Alinea, he decided to create his own business. But it wouldn't be a restaurant, rather an experience centered around food. This is how Elixir was born. This video is not sponsored. I did love this experience. They do catering, private dinings, curated culinary activities, and so on. The next bottle I see is an old friend of mine. Krug 2008. If you're a subscriber, you have probably saw me drinking this beauty a thousand times. Speaking of which, if you haven't subscribed yet, you should do it now. But anyway, there is a very simple reason why I love this bottle. Because it's great. And it's only going to get better in the next few years. If you ever wondered why I'm slurping while drinking wine, let me tell you in a nutshell. Taste and smell are strongly connected. When you're tasting something, you actually smell it at the same time. If you sip the wine and take some air with it, the flavors go up into your nose. So basically that's it. You do it to maximize the flavors. For champagne like this, I bet you could imagine a dozen dishes. Caviar, lobster, truffles, whatever. If you have a dish in mind, don't hesitate to leave it in a comment. But I bet it wouldn't be this. A burger with fries. We can do a cheeseburger. As every great and bad burger, this also has a special sauce. They call it the happy sauce. The name doesn't reflect on the recipe or ingredients. It's more like a playful metaphor for something that makes people happy. And boy, I am happy. This is the grown-up version of the Happy Meal menu. Champagne and burger. Champagne and acidity of the burger. There's some mustard, which goes brutal. Here come the sweets. A martini, but not the one the 007 would order. This is a chocolate cake martini. Distillation of chocolate cake, miso-overed Nikka vodka and Carpano Antica. The little popsicle is a leftover of the distillation process. It is filled into a miso shell with caramelized pineapple caramel. So this is practically chocolate cake in two ways. This is my moment to hear it. I love it. Great one. Well, this is it. How could I describe it? First of all, I am really grateful I got to be part of this event. Second, I am lucky enough in my life to visit some incredible restaurants. Places where I get to meet so many humble souls whose whole life is dedicated to gastronomy. But then came this opportunity, a chance to meet a talented young chef outside a restaurant. Someone whose path in life took a different turn. And right away, I felt the freedom of this event. As I stood there, eating these fantastic dishes, sipping these special champagnes, I just thought this is the kind of afternoon I would happily repeat any time. And one more thing. My Michelin star restaurant 42 moved into a stunning new place in the same building. I think it turned out amazing. And we can't wait to welcome you there. Cheers! And that does it for this episode. Thank you for joining me. If you like this video, hit subscribe. See you next time!