Grant Achatz

Grant Achatz (born April 25, 1974, St. Clair, Michigan, U.S.) is an American chef whose culinary innovations made him a leader in Modernist cuisine and a trailblazer in the use of molecular gastronomy.

Early career

Achatz grew up in a small town in eastern Michigan, where he worked at his parents’ family diner. After graduating in 1994 from the Culinary Institute of America in Hyde Park, New York, he served a brief—and unsuccessful—stint at Charlie Trotter’s eponymous Chicago restaurant. In 1996 Achatz persuaded California chef Thomas Keller to hire him at the French Laundry, then one of the country’s most-acclaimed restaurants. After four years under Keller’s mentorship—along with a short spell as a winemaking assistant at a nearby winery and a stage at Ferran Adrià’s groundbreaking El Bulli in Roses, Spain, during the summer of 2000—Achatz in 2001 took charge of the kitchen at Trio restaurant in Evanston, Illinois. He was named Best New Chef (2002) by Food and Wine magazine and Rising Star Chef (2003) by the James Beard Foundation.

Alinea

In 2005 in Chicago Achatz and Nick Kokonas (an enthusiastic Trio customer) launched Alinea, where Achatz had free rein for his increasingly inventive style. There, they pushed creative boundaries in service, atmosphere, and cuisine. The creation of the restaurant’s progressive American menu focused on “flavor bouncing,” a technique that takes a focal ingredient and then combines it with a variety of supporting components whose flavor profiles work with the main ingredient but also taste good with each other. These complimentary, but sometimes seemingly disparate, ingredients were then combined using techniques of molecular gastronomy to create a wholly unique, surprising, and immersive dining experience.

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Within two years Gourmet magazine pronounced Alinea the country’s best restaurant. A string of awards from the James Beard Foundation followed, including Best New Restaurant in 2006, Outstanding Chef for Achatz in 2008, and Outstanding Restaurant in 2016. In 2010 Alinea was awarded a coveted three stars from the Michelin Guide, a standing it maintained until November 2025, when the guide demoted it to a two-star ranking.

Other restaurant projects and publications

While Alinea continued to rise in prominence, Achatz’s The Alinea Group embarked on additional ventures in Chicago, including The Aviary cocktail lounge in 2011; Next, a prix-fixe restaurant that sold tickets (rather than taking reservations) for a themed menu that was replaced several times a year; and The Office, a 21-seat speakeasy-style lounge underneath The Aviary. In 2017 Achatz expanded outside Chicago, opening versions of The Aviary and The Office in New York City, both of which closed in 2020.

Working with several coauthors, Achatz published the Alinea cookbook in 2008 and The Aviary Cocktail Book in 2018. His memoir, Life, on the Line (written with Kokonas), was published in 2011. Achatz appeared as himself in the documentaries Spinning Plates (2012) and Love, Charlie: The Rise and Fall of Chef Charlie Trotter (2021), as well as in a season three episode of the Emmy Award-winning Hulu cooking dramedy The Bear (2022– ), a program on which he also served as a consultant.

Cancer diagnosis and personal life

Achatz was diagnosed in mid-2007 with stage 4B nonmetastatic tongue cancer. Although most of the doctors he consulted recommended the removal of about 75 percent of his tongue, Achatz selected a team of oncologists who were running clinical trials on a protocol that relied on chemotherapy and radiation rather than surgery. Significantly, the treatment destroyed his palate and ability to taste. By early 2008 tests had determined that he was cancer-free, and Achatz began to gradually regain his sense of taste.

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Achatz married Samantha Lim, a creative consultant and brand marketing strategist, in November 2023. He has two sons with former wife Angela Snell.