You would probably not have liked hanging out with me during these past 36 hours. That’s because I was so giddy about getting tickets to the Chicago restaurant Alinea that wherever my conversations with Irene headed, they always looped back to some aspect of the restaurant, whether it was the quest to get a table, the kind of food served there, or how thrilled I was to have actually scored tickets.

As I told you last month when I was first contemplating where’d I’d be eating during the Chicago Worldcon next month:

There are a few other gastronomical wonders I’m hoping for, such as the playground that is Alinea and the apparent perfection that is Next, but neither of those is a certainty. In fact, far from being locks, they may be impossibilities. But I can dream, can’t I?

Amazing, both of those dreams are going to come true!

The reason I’ve been so insufferable is this—

Alinea is not just the only restaurant in Chicago awarded three stars by the Michelin Guide—it is the only restaurant in all of North America to have that earned that three-star rating. It currently ranks #7 on the list of 50 Best Restaurants in the World. (Astrid y Gaston, which left me gobsmacked when we ate there during our stay in Lima, came in at 35.)

It had been announced a few months back that Alinea was moving to an advanced ticketing system, rather than one involving standard reservations, and those of us who hoped to eat there were waiting nervously for the new online system to be instituted. Tickets for the entire month of August were released suddenly at around 5:00 p.m. Thursday, and because I was following the restaurant on Facebook and Twitter, I was in within seconds, and even so, here’s how great the demand was—I booked the final table for six available on the night I hoped for.

Forget the Olympics—I felt as if I’d gotten a gold medal!

And so, on August 29, I’ll be dining at Next (because I’d worked my magic there as well), which changes its menu every three months. During this period, they’ll be visiting Sicily, and attempting to replicate a meal served in a genuine Sicilian home.

And the following night I’ll be at Alinea, which as you can see by Chef Grant Achatz’s philosophy, aims to deliver a totally different experience.

Two meals, at two of the world’s greatest restaurant, only 24 hours apart. And, oh, yes, a breakfast with Robert Silverberg in-between.

Ain’t life grand?

(And now that I’ve shared all that, I’ll try not to insert a reference to Alinea into every conversation I have today.)