Food Presentations

In Chicago, Tru serves progressive French fare. Chef Anthony Martin selects caviar and roe from around the globe and serves it on a large coral replica. Abalone shells nestled into the coral's branches each hold a different type of caviar and can be removed and passed around the table.

At the Chicago restaurant Baume & Brix, octopus is grilled and served "Fun Dip-style." This means that it's laid out in a small bowl with a strip of olive oil on the side. Guests are instructed to dip the octopus into the oil, then dunk it into Peruvian yellow chili powder, coconut powder, or smoked-paprika-tomato powder.

At New York's Oceana, chef Ben Pollinger offers a playful take on the current "whole animal" dining trend. Made for two, his branzino fish is stuffed with mushrooms, spinach, and black olives, and its head comes out on the daintily decorated plate.

At Chicago's Alinea, chef Grant Achatz uses oak branches to skewer pieces of poached pheasant breast with roasted shallots and cider gelle. The end of the branch is then dipped into tempura batter and deep fried, and the oak branches arrive at the table still smouldering. Guests are instructed to consume the dish in a single bite.

At L20, a fine-dining seafood restaurant in Chicago, chef Matthew Kirkley fills small balls of melon with proteins such as tuna tartare or foie gras. He presents them to guests on a flowering-branch platter at the beginning of a meal.

At Dallas restaurant FT33, chef Matt McCallister serves pork with butternut squash, red Russian kale, and almonds. He serves the dish on a hand-crafted platter created by local designer Richard Wincorn. The platter, designed expressly for the restaurant, is intended to look like the cross section of a tree.

At L20, bite-size sweets are served in tiny, colorful boxes that all stack together; guests pull the boxes apart themselves.

Desserts at Tru include a vanilla parfait that's served with a surprising monkey sculpture.

The Hyde Park, New York, restaurant has a dessert made with chestnut vermicelli, pound cake, rum confit, and cassis ice milk. To finish the cake table-side, servers combine liquid nitrogen and herbal tea in a chamber beneath the plated dessert. The science-y concoction creates intense aromatics and makes the cake appear to emerge from a sea of dissipating clouds.

Chef Martin brings this mind-bending amuse-bouche out to tables himself, as he's the only one who knows how to serve it. The dish, which combines a golden potato chip with reserve Kaluga caviar and crème fraîche, is presented in such a way that it appears to levitate in a cloud of smoke atop a small, mirrored column. Check out a video of the spectacle-cum-small-bite.

At Restaurant R'Evolution in New Orleans, chefs Rick Tamonto and John Folse have a very different style of caviar service. Their whitefish roe, salmon roe, wasabi tobiko, and black caviar are served with traditional accompaniments on a small glass staircase.

At the Bazaar at SLS Hotel South Beach, chef José Andrés serves his delicate, chicken-béchamel fritters in a glass replica of one of his sneakers.

At the Topanga Canyon restaurant, chef Bradley Miller focuses on locally sourced ingredients. His smoked yellowtail spread, made with radish, red onion, and smoked sea salt, is served in an oval tin reminiscent of a sardine container. The dish is served with grilled French bread and individual Tabasco pipettes.

Somewhere between sweet and savory, Alinea's Raspberry dish is a thin, brittle transparent piece that's served in a clip created by Crucial Detail, a multidisciplinary design practice in Chicago.

L20's mussel tart is presented on a bed of seashells.

At Sixteen at the Trump International Hotel & Tower in Chicago, executive pastry chef Patrick Fahy serves sorbet in a pink, apple-shaped sugar shell. The color is meant to evoke Japanese cherry blossoms and springtime.