LTHForum.com

Next Restaurant officially launched its vegan menu last night. I'm going to refrain from offering subjective comments about the food because a) it was the first night of service and b) I'm suffering from horrible allergies, so my palette is definitely off. But they made some changes to the beverage program, and I left feeling a bit disappointed with it.

It's no secret that Next has been generous to a fault with their alcoholic beverage pairings, going so far as to leave the bottles on the table during courses so you can refill your drink. And many people comment that they've gotten unexpectedly sloshed during the course of dinner. I can understand why they'd want to address that & make some changes. But...

* It appears that bottles are no longer left on the table. They weren't left on ours and we didn't see them being left on anyone else's either.
* Our servers didn't do a good job communicating of when a drink was expected to last several courses. So there were times where went a couple courses without beverages, because no refills were available.
* There were six pairings. Two of those six were identical for both the standard and reserve pairing. So you're paying about a $10 ($108-$78 x tax and tip) premium for each of the four other pours if you get the reserve pairing.
* Based on the prices below, you're paying $13 (non-alcoholic), $17 (standard) or $25 (reserve), on average, per (small) pour.

The pairings--non-alcoholic, standard and reserve--were delicious, as always, but after paying an additional $100+ (my table split the cost of our assortment of pairings) I headed home feeling as if there was a mismatch between the price I paid and the value I received. Ultimately, I probably would have been happier just having water, and I haven't felt that way with the alcoholic or non-alcoholic pairings in the past.

Non-alcoholic pairing: $58
Alcoholic pairing: $78
Reserve pairing: $108

They probably made the changes because people would order a non and alcoholic pairing and then share. We would be reasonable and not empty the bottle but as experienced next diners we knew the danger of sprinting out of the gate. I'm sure there were other tables that would order water and alcoholic and then essentially get a bogo .

I really don't like this change though, as there are several usually shared courses for a single pairing so you'd end up empty with courses left.

I'd done that on prior menus at the suggestion of the server, and I'd been thrilled with the results...I felt as if I enjoyed a nice combination of alcoholic drinks and non-alcoholic drinks, without over-indulging, but while receiving the appropriate value for what I paid.

Honestly, I suspect Next realized that their traditional pairing provided too much alcohol--true, in my mind--and they felt as if they needed to find a way to give the average person a more manageable amount. Because Next refuses to sell a la carte drinks, many of us found an alternate solution: Split an alcoholic and a non-alcoholic pairing. But once you've conditioned people to do that, if you suddenly change the rules--lesser volume for the same price--it's almost inevitable that people will feel disappointed.

I don't want to make too big of a deal about it. I realize that I was there on the first night of a new menu, which is admittedly a work in progress. Maybe they hadn't gotten all of the pairings figured out yet, maybe they were testing the pacing of the beverage service, maybe my section of the dining room was simply an anomaly. (Frankly, I noticed some other inconsistencies that I haven't seen at Next before, and that I'd assume were occurring because of the menu changeover.) Before drawing too many conclusions, I'll be interested to hear what others experience in the coming weeks.

I like how their vegan youtube video doesn't take itself so seriously: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gBDGzW_xLK8



Also, I'm looking to trade my 5:45 June 30th table for two tickets for another weekend. I do not have drink pairing included. PM my if you're interested in a trade.

We're going this Wednesday. Any other reports on the wine pours? We were planning to split the wine tasting and the non-alcoholic tasting, but may not if if the wine tasting has gotten a lot smaller.

We were there Saturday night. Dinner took around 3 hours and 45 minutes. I really enjoyed the wine pairings (we did the standard) and I thought it was an appropriate amount of alcohol. I was even able to handle a drink at The Aviary afterwards, which I am rarely able to do.

_________________
-Josh

An amuse bouche at breakfast is called a Bloody Mary - Scott Manlin

Great to hear since I'm a confirmed lightweight.

"They probably made the changes because people would order a non and alcoholic pairing and then share."

Yeah that's what I do.

Any word on the food? Glad my tickets are later into the menu because I ate The Hunt very early and did not like it.

_________________
- melissa

I thought the menu was in good shape given how early in the season they are. Service was a little spotty but not to the point where it really bothered me. They did a great job incorporating a variety of global flavors through the entire menu. I really respect what they've put together with this one.

_________________
-Josh

An amuse bouche at breakfast is called a Bloody Mary - Scott Manlin

As far as the more limited alcohol goes, it seems like a fine idea, but then their prices should reflect the change.

My efforts to justify any of Next's pricing stopped with the Thailand menu. I like the restaurant, I just try not to think about how much it actually costs to eat there.

_________________
-Josh

An amuse bouche at breakfast is called a Bloody Mary - Scott Manlin

I wonder if the original business model was just not profitable? From an early press release: (http://eater.com/archives/2010/05/03/br ... urants.php):

"Prix fixe menus will be $40 to $75, with a $25 supplement for wine pairings. Tickets will be made like a "theater or sporting event" via the restaurant's website. Nick Kokonas told GS Chicago that "Next will be four star dining at three star prices.""

The standard wine pairings for Paris cost $10 less than the non-alcoholic pairings currently do...

_________________
"Ah, lamentably no, my gastronomic rapacity knows no satiety" - Homer J. Simpson

Lol @ those prices. I don't even think Paris ended up being that cheap. Standard wine pairings certainly weren't that cheap and I don't even remember if they had non-alcoholic back then.

I paid 65 dollars each for my Paris tickets. I didn't get the wine pairing.

Clearly they raised their prices due to high demand.

Yeah, I remember those cheap prices, especially that crazy deal for Childhood that was something like $35/person.

But, in all fairness, the menu's at Next have gotten longer and, with perhaps the exception of Sicily, each course has become as intricate as any other high-end tasting menu around the world. El Bulli and Bocuse D'Or are both much more expensive and the others seem comparable based on menu price (of course my memory could be faulty):
• Kyoto vs. Katsu's $180 kaiseki-order-in-advance
• The Hunt vs. Faviken ($188, though that tends to have seafood too)
• Vegan (which is the 2nd longest menu behind El Bulli) vs Charlie Trotter's vegetarian menu (was $135 I think) or Grace's Flora ($185)

I don't think it's simply a matter of charging more because "they can" or demand exceeds supply etc., though that very well may be part of it. My guess really is that Achatz & Beran have become more ambitious once they saw that there was the market for doing something creative and risky by changing menus seasonally and thus tried to run with each menu's concept to the fullest extent.

Achatz and Beran occasionally mention which restaurants they have travelled to in the process of researching each menu and I've been struck by the fact that many of them are very famous and more high-end than the original concept of "four star dining at three star prices" (ex. Il Duomo in Ragusa for Sicily or Aronia de Takazawa and Kitcho for Kyoto)

I'm really looking forward to the Vegan menu. Part of the allure of the Next system is signing up for meals you might not otherwise pursue, and knowing you are getting them from a thoughtful and talented kitchen.

(But, yes, at the current prices, the place needs to re-establish consistency and to step up, or at least return, to 4 star service. I doubt I'll renew my tix if I get the bum's rush out again. But I also doubt they'd really care. So whatever.)

I just looked.

I had Paris on the first Friday. My cost was 188 a person with standard pairings.

Next is still pretty awesome, but it is one of many awesome places around town.

At the current prices I really need to pick and choose which menus I try to go to.

Thanks for the advice. We ended up getting two wine pairings. Perhaps they follow some of the complaints about the wine service because when we finished our first drink early (we didn't realize it went with two courses), they poured a second glass for each of us. I thought it was a fair amount of alcohol, but I couldn't guess as to the total. Most of the rest of the meal they gave us a warning of how many courses were associated with the pour. They didn't leave the bottles at the table, which was fine with me. We may have been better off splitting the non-alcoholic and alcoholic pairings, but it was a lot of fun.

It was my first time at Next because I'm pescetarian and they wouldn't adjust the other menus. I really, really enjoyed it. The presentations were so playful--the first course looks like slime on a rock and other bites were presented on a log. I was really impressed with the flavors and I thought the pairings were really interesting and complemented the food--in addition to champagne, a herby wine that I think was Spanish and a truly lovely barolo, we had one cider course, one sake, and a mixed drink at the end.

I thought the service was excellent--relaxed but very attentive. Very friendly. It may not be to everyone's taste, but I thought it was comfortable and fun. It could be that they're easing in to this menu a bit more.

The entire meal took about 4 hours, with several long breaks in service that we enjoyed. It gave us time to chat and watch what was happening in the rest of the room.

The food was definitely restrained a little by the fact that it was vegan. There were a very few courses where they made a traditional pastry or bread that simply paled in comparison to what you can do with butter and egg. For example, the pieces of naan screamed for a bit of ghee. But other courses with house made rice milk yogurt and other non-dairy creams that were fabulous. They also used tempeh and vegetables in ways that I haven't seen before (one onion substitution for meat stands out). I also really loved the Asian courses. But my favorite was when they played with the outer limits with what food can be--a savory course that seemed like a deconstructed apple pie with house made apple vinegar was a stand out.

Several years ago we did the vegetarian tasting menu at Charlie Trotters. That is and likely will remain the high point for me in dining out. This dinner was more playful, and high concept, but didn't reach that level. And I don't think it was really reaching for it--it was a different experience and that's great too. I would recommend going, especially if you have a restricted diet--this may be your only chance. I love this kind of meal--it's such a treat and a lot of places can't or won't adjust their menus. I understand that, so I'm so grateful when this kind of opportunity comes along so I can stop being jealous about everyone's posts.

veghound: I had the Charlie Trotter's vegetable menu a year or two ago, and it was one of the best meals I've ever had, and I'm not a vegetarian. I'd love to compare it to the current meal at Next, but I don't think I'm up the the effort involved in getting tickets!

For the past couple of menus there has been tons of excitement/demand the first several weeks of the new menu, but then demand sharply dropped for the last few weeks of the menu. While it likely will take some effort to score tickets for May (and possibly June) if you wait until July or (especially) August you may find tickets readily available.

I also am not vegetarian, but sometimes enjoy vegetarian meals (heading to one tonight). My personal favorite vegetarian menu in Chicago right now is at Grace - well worth trying for anybody intrigued by the Next Vegan menu (though unfortunately it is considerably more expensive). I am excited for Next Vegan, but have to wait until July for my tickets. Have been enjoying reading about people's impressions so far.

Thanks gonzo. I'll wait a month or two and check the web site.