Next has just announced their 2014 dinners. It will be interesting to see what Next does with steak, and also whether the three meals are so compelling that they will sell out. (I'm not sure that reviving an Achatz meal from ten years ago is the right choice, when one can get Grant's latest vision at Alinea, but we shall see).
This is from their email:
January - April 2014
Next: Chicago Steak
We admit it -- we have a love / hate relationship with steakhouses. Too often it's just 'meat on a plate' without sauces and a bigger-is-better, size-trumps-all attitude.
We love a perfectly cooked, dry-aged cut of beef, marbled, juicy, & delicious. A great lobster thermidor. Perhaps a succulent shrimp cocktail, a silky bisque, simple but perfect vegetables and a few potatoes. Mix in a cocktail to start, a trophy red in the middle, and a digestif with dessert. Big music, big smiles, and a casual satisfying time for conviviality. Perfect night, right?
Next: Chicago Steak will marry the simple and delicious with wonderfully sourced ingredients, modern techniques, and an old-world vibe. Expect a party.
** please note: due to the cost of high-quality dry aged beef this menu will be priced slightly higher than previous Next menus.
May - August 2014
Next: Chinese: Modern
What happens when a thousand year-old cuisine collides with the mind-set of culinary innovation? As China goes, so too does our Chinese Modern menu at Next.
Noodles, buns, dumplings, seafood, poultry, pork -- all the basics could be covered. Chinese cuisine typically favors small portions of each dish but many bites, not unlike many of the menus at Next. But while we honor the ingredients and traditions, we will bring a unique Modernist attitude to this menu. Recognizably Chinese.... recognizably Next.
Chinese take-out anyone? You never know....
September - December 2014
Next: Trio, January 20, 2004
Approaching the 10 year Anniversary of Alinea in 2015, our Grand Menu for the year will revisit the Tour de Force Menu that chef Achatz served on January 20, 2004.
Documented in their book Life, on the Line, the meal was the start of a conversation between Grant and Nick about building a restaurant. Barely over a year later Alinea opened.
A unique retrospective on the nascent ideas that became an identifiable cuisine... as well as a few 'classics' that were long ago put on the shelf, this menu will transport diners back to a great time in chef Achatz' career. But it is hardly a museum piece. The cuisine remains vibrant, startling, and delicious.
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