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i care about your kitchen table experience. and posting about the food might actually get the thread back on track.

Please, folks, let's refrain from making this discussion personal or veering off into tangents that are barely related to Next.

Thanks,

=R=
for the moderators

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I just wanna live until I gotta die. I know I ain't perfect but God knows I try. --Todd Snider

Twitter: ronniesuburban

PLEASE do!!! The only way to get the thread back on track is to post about our experiences. And yours is one that i don't think is represented yet!! Welcome

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“The problem with people who have no vices is that generally you can be pretty sure they’re going to have some pretty annoying virtues.” Elizabeth Taylor

Yes, please add some comments on the food and kitchen table experience to this thread that has been filled with debate over the merits of the reservation system. What are the additional courses for the kitchen table menu, if any?

How did the kitchen table taste?

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This person is as bad as Steve, the guy who hates Alinea but still wants to go to Next (to cross it off a list). Of course the meal is important and most people here would enjoy reading about it. However, rather than just post about the meal, the person seems to have an attitude "I got in, so let's not waste time talking to those who cannot." What is it with people today?

The dining experience has several components, from ease of making reservations, to how you are greeted to how the staff handles the table to the food on the table. All are revelant. I would like to read about all three.

That being said, maybe we should divide this thread into three:

1. People who got in and can report back on the experience;

2. People and their experience with the reservation experience; and

3. People who hate Alinea, Next, and everything they stand for (i.e., "the Steve Thread").

RonTam, this is the point of LTHforum. So please do post your photos and your evaluation of your meal.

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Toast, as every breakfaster knows, isn't really about the quality of the bread or how it's sliced or even the toaster. For man cannot live by toast alone. It's all about the butter. -- Adam Gopnik

I was there! I didn't sit (or try to--I was afraid), but I did see the dude who sat with her like everyday. Literally

What GAF said. I'm beginning to think everyone who sits at the kitchen table is signing a non-disclosure agreement.

I'll post pictures once I figure out how.

Atmosphere
The Kitchen Table was neither in the kitchen nor a completely private room, more like a nook off to the side of the kitchen. That being said, it was very comfortable (albeit a little too warm) and intimate compared to the close tables in the main dining room. We were there for the 6:30pm seating, and we left the restaurant close to 11:30pm, so I would allow 5 hours for the entire meal.

Service
Very friendly, knowledgeable staff. About 30 people working the dinner shift of which half are front of the house. Each person knew almost everything there is to know about each dish. The demeanor was casual yet professional.

Menu
There were Seven Hors d’Oevres items, and if you consider that one course and the Pressed Duck and Potatoes 2 courses, there were in total 14 courses for the Kitchen Table. Since some of the courses are rather more substantial to something you would get at Alinea, we all left Next extremely full (and more than a little buzzed). The wine pairings are generous and does not stop. I had about 5 glasses of champagne before realizing that I would have to be carted away mid-meal if I kept up the pace. Our intentions were to visit Aviary for a cocktail on a futuristic Bunsen burner afterwards, but no one could muster our way next door after 5 hours of wine pairings.

Hors d'Oeuvres
-Vincent Carre Brut Champagne
This course included everything that yellow truffle experienced, plus two extras. An amuse bouche sized Salmon Boat, which is a pate brisee filled with smoked-salmon mousse; and a boudin blanc (white sausage) of rabbit served on a mini slice of toast. The Egg Custard was triple layers, with white truffles on the bottom and black truffles sprinkled on top, very decadent. It also came independently on a gorgeous small silver platter. My favorites were the anchovy over soft boil quail egg and the richness of the foie in brioche.

Caviare
This was a Kitchen Table Only course, with a massive hunk of Farm Raised Osteria Caviar (from Uruguay? ) to be eaten with amazingly fluffly baby potato pancakes and crème fraiche.

Potage a la Tortue Claire
-Domaine de montbourgeau 'L'Etoile Vin Jaune', Jura 2002
Same as been described- Turtle Consumme. Sous Chef Rene came out and served this delightful dish, very common in early 20th century France. I found it thin but very rich and beautiful. After inquiring what they did with the turtle meat, our waiter mentioned that this course was made with turtle bones that were shipped in fresh to the kitchen; although fresh turtles were considered early on.

Puree Palestine
-Olivier Merlin 'La Roche Vineuse', Macon 2008
This was a Kitchen Table Only course, which was unfortunate because many of the group felt this was one of the best courses of the night. It was a pureed sunchoke (often known as a Jerusalem Artichoke) soup, with hazelnut and a hint of tonka bean. Definitely more substantial than the Turtle Soup, it was velvety smooth and sweet and subtly nutty. Very satisfying. They had considered putting this in the regular dining menu but it lost out to the Turtle Soup (I think because of the popularity of Turtle Soup in that time period).

Filet de Sole Daumont
Same as been described, so I won’t elaborate on this course. Definitely definitely use the bread to soak up the Normande Sauce.

Supremes de Poussin
-Meursault Goutte d'Or Premier Cru, Coche-Bizouard 2005
Our waiter came out with this and said “This is Chicken.” Obviously an understatement, the chicken was butter poached with a perfect sauce. We could see a chef working the line who’s sole responsibility was to cut this piece of chicken into the perfect diamond shape. The concentration and perfection was admirable, despite us relaying the message to Chef Beran that he should get a diamond shaped cookie cutter. The cucumber has been seeded and replaced with a mousse and the skin replaced with perfect tiny slices of pork belly.

Carre d'agneau
-Michel & Stephanie Ogier, Cote-Rotie, Rhone 2003
Kitchen Table Only Course. Tiny perfect onion rings, over sweetbread, over medium rare lamb loin, over a tongue ragu, over duchess potatoes makes this tower of deliciousness worth the price of admission.

Caneton Rouennais a la Presse avec Gratin de Pommes de Terre a la Dauphinoise
-Domaine Brusset 'Les Hauts De Montmirail', Gigondas 2005
Chef Beran comes out and prepares the sauce for the Caneton Rouennaise a la Presse, using the smaller Duck Press that they found via Twitter The larger, black Duck Presse is actually a Sausage Presse (that can fit seven ducks at a time) that they acquired via Ebay. This dish is as amazing as everything you’ve heard about it, but we simply couldn’t finish despite it being family style and just one enormous duck.

Salade Irma
They replaced the giant flower with something smaller. Twenty Seven distinct ingredients goes into making these two bites. I’ve come to realize that tweezers are apparently the most important tool in a kitchen. 20/20 vision helps.

Sorbet Sauternes
Kitchen Table Only Course. Think a Sorbet, made with sweet alcohol. That’s pretty much this dish. You can see Chef Beran freezing the alcohol with Liquid Nitrogen shortly before serving. Tasty and fun.

Bombe Ceylan
Perfect. Rich. Delicate. You know.

Souffle au Chocolat
-Smith Woodhouse, 10 year Tawny Port
Kitchen Table Only Course. Very well made Souffle, albeit by this time we were all so full of food and liquor that this course was mostly forgettable.

Mignardises with tea/coffee
Did I mention we were stuffed?

Conclusion
I’ve never been in a Kitchen Table before, but truly felt this was one of the best dining experiences I’ve ever had. Is this Alinea? Course not it’s not supposed to be, but I had more fun at Next. I’ll compare it to some of the very intimate and incredible keiseki meals you can find in the top restaurants in Japan. The precision and execution was impressive given that they’ve been at it for less than a month. Whether I would go back to the Kitchen Table on a new menu is debatable (given my budget), but I’m very happy to have been lucky enough to enjoy it once.

Sounds amazing. We must have had the same person presenting the chicken dish because he said the same thing to us. I found myself cutting it into the smallest pieces possible just so I could savor the course and make it last.

Interesting that they served you a "sorbet", even if the term is used loosely. When they brought out the Salade Irma, it was explained to us that sorbet was not used as the palate cleanser during this period and that salad was the more appropriate choice, which is why they chose it.

Terrific post. Again, welcome!!!

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“The problem with people who have no vices is that generally you can be pretty sure they’re going to have some pretty annoying virtues.” Elizabeth Taylor

Are you telling me that Ron Tam is a first time poster and he had the cojones to complain about the direction of this thread? And he just happened to come along while I was pulling the curtain away from the wizard and he produced a review of the chef's tasting table. Seems pretty smelly to me. But then again, what's another market manipulation when that's been your M.O. since the day you opened your business? If I were you guys, and some stranger got to eat at the chef's tasting table and write about it here instead of you, I would be outraged.

I am done here but I have just one more thing to say. Grant is a great chef and Nick is a great businessman. And I am sure that their restaurants would be successful without any of this nonsense. In my opinion, the nonsense only cheapens their brand (remember that's my opinion but there are many people who silently agree with me.) What they should do is extend Paris 1906 for a year and put all of the tickets on sale so everyone can enjoy the experience. Anything less is treating their customers like crap (again my opinion.) Other than that I hope no one responds to this post so I don't need to post on this topic again.

I'm not too worried about Next's ticketing system. I'm sure I'll get in sometime. I just hope I can try a menu focused on classical Middle Eastern or North Indian court cuisine.

Until then, I'm totally into the hippest thing no one is talking about - Chicago 2011. The featured chicken dish recalls the royal cuisine of Harold the Chicken King - "half mixed (dark and light), hot on the side".

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"By the fig, the olive..." Surat Al-Teen, Mecca 95:1"

Steve! Have some faith in people! We've actually emailed back and forth in the past so hopefully you will believe the comments that follow. (I am formerly @kristainlondon of londonelicious.com, recently repatriated to the USofA. Longtime LTH lurker, but I don't post too often. That's my style. Such that it is.)

I made it to Next on Day 3. Friday, April 8th. I can only say that I probably signed up for the Next mailing list at some point last summer, once I knew I was moving back to the States. When the reservation system opened up on that Wednesday, I originally got the message about how my email was in the system, but it wasn't my turn yet. At some point around 4 pm, I just plugged my email address in and was able to generate a password and very quickly made my bookings and snagged a table on Friday because I was so excited I could go so quickly.

We were 10 minutes early for our reservation at 6 pm and the second table seated. Service started nearly immediately upon our arrival. The hors d'oeuvres were GORGEOUS and my particular favorite was the foie gras brioche. I (coyly, I suppose) asked if it were possible to have some more and lo and behold, later on in the evening, a platter arrived with four additional pieces. We saw a lot of grougeres later in the evening but our table never received any.

I thought the turtle soup was good and interesting, but let's just say it was a slow start after the excitement of all the beautiful hors d'oeuvres.

The Filet de Sole Daumont was FUN. Mainly because of the crayfish head and trying to get the waitstaff to say "suck." (They wouldn't.) But that sauce...really rich and decadent. There wasn't a clean plate left on our table. We had all mopped up the buttery deliciousness with the little knobs of bread served. (Which, IMHO, were just okay. I think they could have done better with the bread.)

Suprêmes de Poussin for me was a really clean and light dish. Cooling. Almost a palette cleanser. I really loved this but my tablemates felt it was a bit bland.

Ah and the duck was absolutely fantastic. It was stuff-yourself-silly-fantastic. I only wish I had used more of the sauce or realized in advance how much work went into the sauce. Sadness.

The salad Irma was--perhaps oddly--my favorite dish of the night. The flower was so peppery and spicy and such a nice and different touch. I remember thinking that the salad dressing felt old-fashioned. (As in serious "salad cream," as the Brits oftentimes call it.)

I'm not a huge chocolate fan so I can't rave about the Bombe Ceylan. Everyone else liked it though.

What I loved most after the Salad Irma and the foie gras brioche were the petit fours. The beet jelly in particular was lovely. And the salted caramel. Very well done.

Service throughout was a mix...some servers were very official were others were--dare I say it--quite flirtatious and cute and jokey. There were times though were I really wanted information and all I got was a half-joke answer. (I REALLY wanted to know how they cut the top off the egg in the hors d'oeuvres and didn't get much more than "lasers.") I did have the slight feeling that they put tables into buckets and respond as such. But really, they were all charming in their own way.

I do have pics but as always am challenged by how to upload them here.

Back to the reservation system, which many are dissecting...it seems to me that Next tried its darnedest to democratize the booking process. The original plan was to email 500 people a day or something, right? It's an experiment. Give them some credit for being responsive and open about things while they figure this all out and deal with the massive onslaught. (Check out their Facebook page if you haven't already.) I've volunteered to be their unpaid intern for a weekend in order to help them with their inbox. (No response as of yet.) Come on...has anyone tried calling Schwa lately?? How'd that work out?

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http://www.passportdelicious.com
recently repatriated anglophile. #jetslag

With a side of gizzards, I hope?

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http://www.passportdelicious.com
recently repatriated anglophile. #jetslag

I'd be curious, especially a little later down the line, to learn how Achatz's investment in Next (that is, time and talent) begins to influence the menu at Alinea, and vice versa. Conceivably, the Next concept will force/encourage him to stretch beyond his already broad comfort zone as times/places demand specific spices and ingredients he might not have otherwise gravitated toward - that's one reason he opened Next in the first place. Will those new spices and ingredients migrate to Alinea? I know when I dined at Alinea in February (likely the only time I'll dine there, because it's stupid expensive) there was at least one dish that seemed possibly related to Next. Similarly, might some of the techniques pioneered for Alinea make their way in some shape or form to Next? I really like the idea of Alinea, Next and even Aviary working in a sort of symbiosis, each encouraging or bringing out the best in the other, like different but directly related components in the same system. In some ways it seems a little similar to Rick Bayless's local mini empire: high end, low end, mid; street food, food courts, sandwiches; many similar or related dishes and ingredients executed and presented in different ways. The context shifts, the talent stays constant.

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As promised, some photos:

Great pictures! For some reason the holes in Chef Beran's jacket made me laugh.

It looks like a fancy Bar Mitzvah!

Sorry I couldn't resist.

I'm right there with ya. And I ate at McDonald's the other day (at 3 in the morning in the middle of Indiana)! Definitely didn't deserve to go to Next.



Again, right with ya. Our (main) server was a bit awkward with his jokes, but still made us feel very comfortable. He was very knowledgeable and there was much more conversation than I am typically used to having with a server, but it definitely made the meal/experience more enjoyable.

I don't have much else to say about the experience because gypsy boy captured my feelings (and did so much more eloquently than I ever could) pretty much perfectly.

Are those onion rings?

Still no email for me, even as I signed up at the very beginning.

They are. I know only because we asked our waiter about that dish as it arrived at a neighboring table as we were finishing our dessert. I had such a great time that nothing was going to bring me down, but one member of my party was pretty disappointed that we missed out on that and mentioned it to our waiter. He gave a very professional-but-not-overserious explanation along the lines of what we've read here: that they send out things they're developing to try, it's completely random, it's not up to them, etc. etc. It did sting a bit when I read in Vittel's review on Sunday that the lamb was one of his favorites. It's a dish that's made many appearances (in this thread, in the NYT article, etc.), and since it's second only to the duck in terms of scale, it's kind of a strange choice to only offer selectively (but not too selectively). I've been hypothesizing that it might replace the chicken course, which is OK, but really not on par with everything else.

But I want to make clear that I greatly enjoyed the meal and think it's a phenomenal value. Definitely among the best meals I've ever had, and maybe even more fun than Alinea.

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http://chicagoburgerproject.blogspot.com

Not sure if you've tried this already, but enter your e-mail address (the one you used to sign up) on the Next page to see if it gives you access.

That's the "You know you're at the top of your game when you can stroll out into the kitchen table with holes in your jacket" look.

Obviously, he just killed your dinner with his bare hands.

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"I've always thought pastrami was the most sensuous of the salted cured meats."