Next Restaurant
 

Went there last night. It was outstanding. We got the wine pairing option (+$48) and the nonalcoholic beverage pairing (+$22), of which more later.

For those who don't know, Next is Grant Achatz's (of Alinea and the French Laundry) new restaurant. Instead of the standard ordering-from-the-menu thing, you buy tickets to dinner ahead of time on the restaurant's website. You pre-pay the cost of everything, including tip. Then, you just show up, eat, and leave. There is no menu to order from; everyone gets the same tasting menu. The tasting menu changes every three months, and each iteration is designed to evoke a place and time.

The current (and first) rotation is Paris, 1906: Escoffier at the Ritz. It's an 8 course tasting menu of Escoffier's recipes from Le Guide Culinaire.

Hors d’Oeuvres: a large silver tray of bite-sized hors d'oeuvres, including a soft boiled quail egg with anchovy, some delicious form of shredded pork on a cracker, brioche with foie gras and apricot, and some sort of egg custard with truffle served inside the eggshell. There was also another item (on the edge of the tray) that I don't remember, but it was yummy.

Paired with a delightful Crémant d'Alsace.

http://a4.sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/hphot..._6806742_n.jpg

Potage à la Tortue Claire (907) - Turtle Soup. I'd never had it before, but I'm a fan: at once rich and light.

Paired with an interesting white wine (all the wine pairings were, of course, French) that tasted like a non-sweet sherry: very woody. I wouldn't have liked it by itself, but the pairing worked really well.

http://a2.sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/hphot..._7938627_n.jpg

Fillet de Sole Daumont (1950) - First course of many involving a WHOLE TON OF CREAM SAUCES. This was a bit of a sole fillet with some crayfish: the head, a mushroom stuffed with crayfish meat, and some little bit of miscellaneous crayfish. This was paired with, IIRC, a white Burgundy.

They mentioned that there was a surfeit of the sauce so we could soak it up with some bread. The bread - oh! the bread - was small squares, about 1.5" on a side, and served burning hot with a pot of warm butter that was just shy of melting temperature. It was amazing.

http://a6.sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/hphot..._3307888_n.jpg

Suprêmes de Poussin (3130) - The chicken course moved us into red wine territory. The diamond in the photo is a pounded piece of chicken breast in a cream sauce. The circles are chicken stuffed inside butter-poached cucumbers surrounded with salt pork. The wine was a Languedoc red.

http://a7.sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/hphot..._2914190_n.jpg

Caneton Rouennais a la Presse (3476) - The duck was sublime. It was served on a large platter for the whole table, in a red wine and cognac sauce. And served with...

Gratin de Pommes de Terre à la Dauphinoise (4200) - ...potatoes Dauphinoise, or as I say, medallions of potatoes in Gruyere and cream. My Dutch friend at the table said they were precisely as his grandmother used to make.

Wine was a Côtes du Rhône.

http://a4.sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/hphot..._7909317_n.jpg


Salade Irma (3839) - In keeping with early 20th century France, salad was served last. The salade Irma was small and refreshing. No separate wine pairing.

Sorry, no photo. It was a small, lightly dressed salad of nasturtium blossom, asparagus and radish.

Bombe Ceylan (4826) - A light dessert. It was a molded half-sphere with a thin layer of chocolate at the bottom, coffee ice cream. The cherries in the picture were soaked in booze. Served with creme anglaise and a swirl of cherry sauce. Yum.

Wine pairing was a delicious port.

http://a7.sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/hphot..._3000665_n.jpg

Mignardises - various one-bite desserts. In the below picture, there are pistachio deliciousnesses, salted caramels, and something red and jelly-like. They also brought us a second tray with more of those in addition to shortbreads and nut cluster things.

http://a3.sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/hphot..._3322030_n.jpg

Now, a word about the pairings. Starting with the first red wine, they left the bottle with us and replaced it if it ran out. They did this for every table in the restaurant. We got the "standard" wine pairing; there's also the option of a "reserve" one.

The nonalcoholic pairings were beverages made in-house and worked very well with the courses. I don't remember all of them, but the first course was a lemon-ginger fizz. The second was something guava-based. There was also a variant of horchata with coriander.

Service was perhaps a little rough in places, understandable for a restaurant that opened only a few days ago. They made mistakes like pouring wine for my BF, who had the nonalcoholic option. One of the red bottles (the one with the duck) was corked. I thought it was when I tasted it, but didn't say anything until the wine director came by with a new bottle. After comparing the two, it was obvious. Very proud of myself that I called it. :) But you'd think they would have tasted it before serving. But the service was very friendly and informal, overall. They also gave us a tour of the kitchen at the end, and a menu with all the course and wine pairings.

Price isn't bad for a Grant Achatz restaurant and 8 courses. They adjust pricing based on your dining time. I saw a 9:30pm on a Thursday for $70/person. Our Saturday evening at 7:15pm slot was $108/person. Tables are sold as either two-tops, four-tops, and one six-top by a floor-to-ceiling window looking at the kitchen.

Starting July 1, I hear that the new menu will be Thailand in the 1970s.

Thanks for the report and great pics. I do have a question-if one of your party is allergic or just won't eat a course, will they do anything to substitute? Do you know in advance what the menu is going to be?

I ask because my wife won't eat duck or lamb. Period. It would be a shame to miss such a a large portion of the meal if they can't sub something.

Prices are not that awful considering....

I am impressed: you probably are aware of this:

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/04/09/us...tml?ref=dining

I have also gone there and I can tell you they won't make any substitutions and it would definitley not be worth going without the duck. There was an interview with Grant Achatz where he stated that they can't change the menu becuase it would lose the authenticity they are going for. Future menu's might be able to.

I also second the review of the bread. It was the best part and we kept asking them for more. I think i had 5 rolls by the time I left.

Thanks. Probably saved me a headache....!!

The FAQ on the website says what kinds of accommodations they can make:

Trying for tickets every day but so far no love for me.

I literally sat clicking "Tickets" on the top left every 30 seconds for about two hours before I got some.

Be sure you do that instead of refreshing the "we're sold out" page.

Hmmm. I was told that tickets are released at 10am each day, and are then gone in nanoseconds.

They are released throughout the day. Check Next's Facebook page; they usually post about what time they'll be releasing tickets. But yes, you have to be quick with your mouse.

As I just discovered. I had a chart on my screen with one date (June 30 I think), but by the time I clicked on the date it was sold out.

Yup, that happened to me a few times. Just got to keep on doing it. Once you click on a specific time after clicking on the date, it will hold that table for you for 9 minutes. That will give you plenty of time to choose beverages and make a payment.

Be warned that if you click on a time and it gives you the 9 minutes, and then you decide that time doesn't work for you, you must log out, clear all cookies and cache, and then log back in. I didn't do that, and when I thought I was buying tickets for later in April it turned out it kept the previous table I had thought I'd canceled. That's why we went last weekend instead of a few weeks from now. :)

Thanks for the great report. ^

I thought this was a pretty accurate description, especially given my BF's thoughts that he was a little underwhelmed with the second half of the dinner.

http://chicagoist.com/2011/04/11/review_next.php

My experience was different - I'd say I wasn't on the screen for more than a few seconds - when I clicked on the only date offered it did nothing.

Adding: This is really frustrating - just got another option this time for a single time on June 2nd, but I nothing I do allows me to actually select it - clicking, double clicking, dragging, nothing. Using Firefox 4. System broken?