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Private ChefChicago

Your kitchen. Their menu. Nothing reheated.

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Private Chef ChicagoEvery profileAlvin Yu

Six full menus — Pan-Asian, Japanese, French, Italian, Latin, Mediterranean — every one of them at the same price.

Alvin grew up in San Francisco watching aunts and uncles turn out food for twenty or thirty people in an afternoon, and started young in his father’s Cantonese banquet restaurants — which is where the volume and the timing come from. He started Fyusion Dining in 2005 and is a premier member of the United States Personal Chef Association. What is unusual about his book is its shape: six complete menus, Pan-Asian through Japanese, French, Italian, Latin and Mediterranean, each with a genuinely long list of choices at every course, and all of them priced identically. Guests describe eight-course evenings with wine recommendations per course, dairy-free plates made on the side for a child with an allergy, leftovers packed up for the next day, and a kitchen handed back cleaner than he found it. He usually works with a server, so nobody at the table is getting up.

Plates from recent dinners

A pan-asian dish from Alvin Yu, plate 1A pan-asian dish from Alvin Yu, plate 2A pan-asian dish from Alvin Yu, plate 3

What they cook

These are published menus with published prices, per guest. Any of them gets rebuilt around your table before the number is agreed.

Pan Asian

Four courses · 2–20 guests

$150/headUSD

His home menu, and the longest list of choices on this site — the appetiser section alone runs to nearly thirty dishes. Pick two openers, one first, one main, one dessert, and he will talk you through the rest.

  • Openers — Roast duck crostini with Asian pear and hoisin balsamic · Shanghai crab cake with plum ravigote · crying chicken dumplings with spicy mango coulis · tuna poke tartare
  • First — Lemongrass lobster bisque with Thai sage ice cream · supreme crab dumpling in seafood stock · shaved Brussels sprout salad with pickled daikon and apple pear
  • Main — Tea-leaf smoked duck · rising sun scallops with mala chilli and bok choy · Mysore lamb chops with minty red-onion salad · waterfall salmon in miso butter
  • Dessert — Matcha moon cake · spiked mango lassi ice cream · lychee ice cream with an almond cookie

Japanese

Four courses · 2–20 guests

$150/headUSD

The most focused of the six. Omakase sushi sits on the main course list, which is worth knowing before you book — say the word early and he plans the night around it.

  • Openers — Ebi sakamushi — seared tiger shrimp in orange ponzu · agedashi tofu · karaage with kewpie aioli · tako fritter with mirin-mustard aioli
  • First — Trio mushroom cream soup with truffle oil · lomi lomi smoked salmon salad · cucumber sunomono
  • Main — Omakase sushi, chef’s choice · steak japanois with a butcher’s salt crust and miso cream · okadu shaking lamb loin with caramelised onion marmalade
  • Dessert — Black sesame mochi with lychee ice cream · matcha strawberry shortcake · Tokyo bananas foster

French

Four courses · 2–20 guests

$150/headUSD

Proof the price really is flat: the same figure buys a two-way duck or a steak au poivre. The starter list here is the longest of any of his menus.

  • Openers — Beef tartare with shallot vinaigrette on crostini · scallop and caramelised onion in puff pastry · baked brie with caramelised pears and walnuts · butternut velouté with fried sage and pancetta
  • First — Lobster bisque with a cheese crostini · smoked trout Lyonnaise with herb potatoes · endive and Roquefort with roasted pear and candied pecans
  • Main — Two-way duck — confit leg and pan-seared breast — with clementine relish · steak au poivre · braised short ribs in red wine with sweet-potato mash · sole meunière
  • Dessert — Apple tarte tatin with cinnamon ice cream · saffron panna cotta · trio of truffles

Three dishes Alvin is known for

  • Tea-leaf smoked duck with red bean and cashew-coconut compote
  • Shanghai crab cake with leeks, Chinese broccoli and plum ravigote
  • Lemongrass lobster bisque with Thai sage ice cream

Booked more than anything for long tasting menus at home, bachelorette weekends and big celebrations, tables with allergies across several courses and anniversary dinners.

Travels to Lincoln Park, Lakeview, Streeterville, West Loop, Naperville, New Buffalo, MI, Union Pier, MI.

Left by the guests themselves

rated 5 of a possible 5
He was responsive before I even booked, then quick with answers and wine pairings for each course. He arrived early and I genuinely did not have to do a thing — I got to host and relax. I was scared I would not make it through eight courses, but we did. The dishes, flatware, stove and counters were all shining afterwards.
Chicago
rated 5 of a possible 5
Thoughtful overviews of each dish, and every course was excellent. He rolled with our group’s preferences, allergies and appetites, packed up the leftovers for us, and left a very clean kitchen.
Chicago
rated 5 of a possible 5
The service was on a par with, if not better than, the high-end restaurants I have been to. Attentive, personable, and they left the house spotless. A great treat for a bachelorette or a big event — the team is superb.
Michigan
rated 4 of a possible 5
A beautiful, thoughtful meal, and he made the whole thing seamless and comfortable. Our only complaint is that every course was so generous we were too full to finish dessert.
Michigan

The other two