# My Wife and I are going to Next!



## stereo.pete (Apr 13, 2011)

We have reservations tonight for Grant Achatz' new restaurant Next. Check out the video I've linked for a quick preview of the place. Tonight should be able to hold me over as for my upcoming birthday in June, my Wife hooked me up with a reservation for two at Alinea. 

http://chicago.grubstreet.com/2011/04/watch_the_making_of_nexts_firs.html

I will post back here when we have finished and let you know how it was.


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## Andrew H (Apr 13, 2011)

How early did you guys sign up? Reservations are selling for literally thousands of dollars: http://bites.today.com/_news/2011/0...icago-restaurant-fetching-big-bucks?GT1=43001

Enjoy your meal :biggrin:


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## stereo.pete (Apr 13, 2011)

My wife signed up early in the year and she was lucky enough to get "the email."


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## Andrew H (Apr 13, 2011)

So how tempted are you to sell the tickets for some steel?


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## Dave Martell (Apr 15, 2011)

So what happened to Pete? Maybe he blew his mind?


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## stereo.pete (Apr 16, 2011)

Sorry folks, I left my computer at work yesterday so I was not able to post the pictures. Let me tell you that it was an absolutely awesome dining experience. The service is the best I've seen yet with the staff being attentive but not pretentious. The decor is very modern and minimalist but also comfortable with the proper amount of spacing between tables. After we had finished our dinner we asked for a kitchen tour and what we saw blew our minds. The kitchen was cleaner than any home I had ever seen, let alone any kitchen. Ok, so enough of that, let's get to the food. The theme is Paris 1906 with what Escoffier would have made at the Ritz.

1st Course included: cracker with pork, leek stuffed with mushroom, soft-boiled quail egg with anchovy, Some sort of magical custard in an egg shell with truffle shavings and my favorite, brioche stuffed with fois gras and apricot chutney.




2nd Course was duck consomme with perfectly cut, square sized onion, carrot and celery.




3rd Course was filet of sole with fried sole roe, stuffed mushroom and the crawfish head stuffed with something very delightful albeit I have no idea what it was with a wonderful and rich bisque sauce.




4th Course consisted of an amazing diamond of chicken paired with butter poached cucumber wrapped in salt pork and stuffed with a chicken pate, simply delicious.




Everyone loves bread!




5th Course was the show stopper, duck breast, duck legs confit, and pressed duck thighs along with an amazing potato gratin







Course 6 was a very clean salad of frisee, asparagus tips and watercress with a citrus dressing on the outside and a creamy pepper dressing on the inside. Notice how thin the radish was sliced!




Dessert time started with the 7th course, which was ice cream covered in cocoa powder, set on top of a chocolate wafer with a cherry rum sauce (heavy on the rum) and vanilla cream and rum cherries (again heavy on the rum  )




Finally after some coffee we were presented with the 8th and final course, which included: candied beets, salted caramel and pistachio nougat. 




Now I understand why Grant Achatz has the reputation that he has. Not only is this a very innovative concept (the menu changes every three months) but the skill/technique is stunning to say the least. I will be going back in three months when the menu changes to Thailand 2066 :Ooooh: .


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