Restaurant Architecture

Local San Francisco Critic Michael Bauer writes a little on the trend of food stacking.

One of the commenters points out that the word choice is a little confusing.
In the context of the article it makes sense to talk about deconstructing the dish so that they can eat it, literally undoing the construction.

Lately, however, the connotation of 'deconstruction' (of a dish) has been used more to imply the breakdown of a dish to its constituent parts in order to rebuild it, usually in an original way. Thomas Keller of the French Laundry is the prime example of chefs that pull of this technique well, somehow remaining classy with dishes such as mac 'n cheese, oyster and pearls or the aptly named tongue in cheek. Keller's skill is in the way he puts the pieces back together - flawlessly, with an obsession for precise technique.

Once a dish is deconstructed, you can reconstruct it the way Keller does, or you can go down a slightly different road. Practitioners of molecular gastronomy like to test the chemical limits their ingredients, and build it back up in creative way.

The food site Chow has a little piece that shows pictures of how one such practitioner, chef Grant Achatz of Alinea (who also worked at The French Laundry) in Chicago, does this.

It was from Alinea's website that I first learned of the 'Anti-Griddle'.