Thanks, all. Another reminder to learn how to use Facebook and dig into the 404 unread Serious Eats posts in my Google Reader.

Hi Lth Forum - long time troller first time poster here.

Can someone clarify to me a couple of things:

1. what drinks are included in the extra drink pairing? is it just those three drinks posted above - the tea, the water and the gin drink?

also 2. if I - in my moment of Next Website Panic - just went ahead and selected water service only, is there a way to change my reservation to add the drink pairing?



thanks,
v

You can update drink packages when you get there

cakeface wrote:1. what drinks are included in the extra drink pairing? is it just those three drinks posted above - the tea, the water and the gin drink?

For the beverage pairing: a tropical cocktail (sparkling wine base), gin, wine, beer, Italian muscat, tea, watermelon/lemongrass juice (based on the menu, the last two are considered to be actual "dishes", not drinks).

also 2. if I - in my moment of Next Website Panic - just went ahead and selected water service only, is there a way to change my reservation to add the drink pairing?

You can upgrade once you get there for an extra charge. You can downgrade but no refund will be given.

cakeface wrote:1. what drinks are included in the extra drink pairing? is it just those three drinks posted above - the tea, the water and the gin drink?

Sorry, I didn't get many good photos of the drink pairings and should have been more specific.

• First course (street food) pairing was a spiked punch served in a plastic cup (Menu states "Batavia Attack, sparkling wine, guava, mango, papaya")
  
• Second course (hour & sour broth) pairing was described to us as a chrysanthemum limeade with gin (Menu states "Gin, chrysanthemum, lemongrass, lychee")
  
• Not sure if the rice & condiments count as a separate course or not- they did not have a unique pairing
  
• Fourth course (catfish) pairing was a Spanish white (Itsas Mendi Hondarrabi Zuri 2010)
  
• Fifth course (pork cheek curry) pairing was Hitachino white ale
  
• Sixth course was the watermelon & lemongrass juice, non-alcoholic and not part of the pairing
  
• Seventh course (coconut dessert) pairing was a dessert wine (Alpinae, Moscato Reale di Molise 2006)
  
• Eighth course (dragonfruit dessert) pairing was a shot of rum
  
• Ninth course was the thai iced tea, non-alcoholic and not part of the pairing

clogoodie wrote:

cakeface wrote:1. what drinks are included in the extra drink pairing? is it just those three drinks posted above - the tea, the water and the gin drink?

Sorry, I didn't get many good photos of the drink pairings and should have been more specific.

• First course (street food) pairing was a spiked punch served in a plastic cup (Menu states "Batavia Attack, sparkling wine, guava, mango, papaya")
  
• Second course (hour & sour broth) pairing was described to us as a chrysanthemum limeade with gin (Menu states "Gin, chrysanthemum, lemongrass, lychee")
  
• Not sure if the rice & condiments count as a separate course or not- they did not have a unique pairing
  
• Fourth course (catfish) pairing was a Spanish white (Itsas Mendi Hondarrabi Zuri 2010)
  
• Fifth course (pork cheek curry) pairing was Hitachino white ale
  
• Sixth course was the watermelon & lemongrass juice, non-alcoholic and not part of the pairing
  
• Seventh course (coconut dessert) pairing was a dessert wine (Alpinae, Moscato Reale di Molise 2006)
  
• Eighth course (dragonfruit dessert) pairing was a shot of rum
  
• Ninth course was the thai iced tea, non-alcoholic and not part of the pairing

This list is slightly different from what we had. Interesting. I guess they constantly adjust based on the customer's opinions and/or availability. I am curious to see what they have for the last day of service.

Any who is going, try to see if you get the other two condiments, and take pictures. One had a fish, anchovy I believe, in it, and the other was a tamarind paste. The server had told us that she had noticed our enjoyment of he funky and spicy condiments and sent these other two out. Not sure if you can request them or not.

Interesting interview with GA about Next: http://www.gilttaste.com/stories/878

From the interview:

Another menu we're planning is El Bulli. One course from each year from 1983 to 2003. I'd work with Ferran [Adria] to choose the dishes that he feels are his most significant; I'd need to get him on board with that.

This will be fun.

Yeah, that does sound really cool.

I can't imagine how fast the tickets will sell out to the El Bulli dinner.

pacent wrote:I can't imagine how fast the tickets will sell out to the El Bulli dinner.

about the same length of time it took to sell out the thai menu tickets.

I doubt it if Nick gets the servers back on track as he promises. The demand for El Bulli reservations is ridiculous, maybe even moreso with the restaurant's upcoming closure.

I would imagine that tickets for an El Bulli menu would be well above the current prices. That being said, they'll still sell out as fast as the servers will allow.

dudefella wrote:

pacent wrote:I can't imagine how fast the tickets will sell out to the El Bulli dinner.

about the same length of time it took to sell out the thai menu tickets.

The chance of getting a seat (during the last month) at El Bulli was 1 vs 500, which is far far worst than the ratio at Next. Sure, Next is not El Bulli, but IMHO, Chef Achatz is one of the closests you can get to Chef Adria. So if the crew can actually get Ferran Adria involved, as pacent said, I can't imagine the ticket situation.

Darren72 wrote:Interesting interview with GA about Next: http://www.gilttaste.com/stories/878

Some interesting quotes in there about funk and his sensitivity to spiciness:

I like Thai food, but I honestly I don't necessarily love a lot of the funk of it, personally. My palate isn't trained for it. The duck egg relish we're making is actually little much for me. But we wanted people to know what this is. It's the exploration of gastronomy.

When I taste our Penang curry, I'm on fire. Of course, that's me; the radiation made chiles really painful. We've adjusted the heat in the food up four times since we opened. And I'm appreciating the explosiveness of it.

That's really interesting, actually. I've noted before, but the one single letdown about out meal at Alinea was the relative dearth of strong flavors to any of the dishes (and perhaps a little too much sweetness as well). I suspected GA's treatment may have had something to do with it, so now we know.

I remember from previous discussions with chef Achatz, even before his cancer was diagnosed/treated, that he was not a big fan of really spicy foods.

=R=

I remember reading somewhere that one of the first tastes Grant Achatz could discern after he recovered from treatment was sweetness. He acknowledged that the food served at Alinea in that timeframe was probably too sweet.

The comments about spice and funk from Chef Achatz are interesting and illuminating, and forcing me to change my opinion on certain things. I've been pretty willing to accept that Next/Thai would be good and special; that it could be "done." The latest comments make me reconsider. I think I was not giving enough thought to how much the chef's palate matters to the end product. I think I expected that Achatz would *want* to produce food that tasted like Aroy or Thai Avenue or Spoon, but now I'm not so sure as it seems like that kind of food is not what tastes good to him. How do you produce recipes when you don't like the product. How do you adjust the various components?

Vital Information wrote:The comments about spice and funk from Chef Achatz are interesting and illuminating, and forcing me to change my opinion on certain things. I've been pretty willing to accept that Next/Thai would be good and special; that it could be "done." The latest comments make me reconsider. I think I was not giving enough thought to how much the chef's palate matters to the end product. I think I expected that Achatz would *want* to produce food that tasted like Aroy or Thai Avenue or Spoon, but now I'm not so sure as it seems like that kind of food is not what tastes good to him. How do you produce recipes when you don't like the product. How do you adjust the various components?

You do realize that Achatz is not the only force behind all of those creations?

theskinnyduck wrote:

Vital Information wrote:The comments about spice and funk from Chef Achatz are interesting and illuminating, and forcing me to change my opinion on certain things. I've been pretty willing to accept that Next/Thai would be good and special; that it could be "done." The latest comments make me reconsider. I think I was not giving enough thought to how much the chef's palate matters to the end product. I think I expected that Achatz would *want* to produce food that tasted like Aroy or Thai Avenue or Spoon, but now I'm not so sure as it seems like that kind of food is not what tastes good to him. How do you produce recipes when you don't like the product. How do you adjust the various components?

You do realize that Achatz is not the only force behind all of those creations?

Of course, but at the end of the day, someone has last say over the way a dish will taste.

And for that reason I think it's good that they give you some spicy and funky condiments to use as you see fit during the meal (meaning the Thai chili and the fish sauce/shrimp paste mixtures). The papaya salad was almost completely transformed (for the better) with the addition of both.

We had dinner here last night after eating at paris in the opening season.

The previous diners have reviewed the meal well so I'm not going into details on that. However a couple of things that may be interesting to people who are going now.

1. The half acre "Horizon ale" is now available. It started on Thursday.
2. You can pay $12 and bring a bottle home!
3. If you can't finish the beef cheek you can ask for a doggy bag I'm looking forward to eating the rest of it today. It was simple just too hot last night to eat that much food.

Below is a picture of the beer label.

A few things to note:

- The spicy and funky condiments are now being served with all dinners. You don't have to ask for them specially.
- The deformed bun problem seems to largely be a thing of the past. Appearance aside, these just didn't have a ton of flavor.
- Attention fellow celery haters: do not worry abou the catfish course. While it is strewn with celery in a number of forms, as long as you don't eat the celery itself, the fish and the sauce are not overwhelmed by celery flavor (and I am sensitive to this). In fact, the sauce was richly flavored and enjoyable. I was probably least excited about this dish having read the description and came away pleasantly surprised and how good it was.
- The Half Acre Horizon was a great pair with the beef cheek curry. According to the server, it was made specifically for the restaurant and will only be available at Next.

It verged on uncomfortably stuffy in the restaurant as the night wore on. Maybe they were having ventilation issues, but air felt still and warm for long stretches. Guess it makes for a more authentic Thai street food experience, but I'm glad I had a lighter weight shirt on and was sans jacket.

Agree on the ventilation issues. It was pretty uncomfortable in there. Definitely need to work on the A/C.

Can't wait for this. My wife and I are sharing a 4-top with friends (beverage pairing) in about a month.

clogoodie wrote:

• First course (street food) pairing was a spiked punch served in a plastic cup (Menu states "Batavia Attack, sparkling wine, guava, mango, papaya")

That sounds thrilling. I'll be slightly disappointed if it turns out to be Batavia Arrack (instead of “attack”), an Indonesian rum-like liquor that figures in one of the Aviary cocktails: http://www.flickr.com/photos/janiceangstrom/5930788562/

Peto wrote:Can't wait for this. My wife and I are sharing a 4-top with friends (beverage pairing) in about a month.

clogoodie wrote:

• First course (street food) pairing was a spiked punch served in a plastic cup (Menu states "Batavia Attack, sparkling wine, guava, mango, papaya")

That sounds thrilling. I'll be slightly disappointed if it turns out to be Batavia Arrack (instead of “attack”), an Indonesian rum-like liquor that figures in one of the Aviary cocktails: http://www.flickr.com/photos/janiceangstrom/5930788562/

Thought that was a really odd name... Will have to check the menu to see if it was a misprint or just my mind turning an unfamiliar word into one it knew.

BTW, I was accidentally given a copy of the 'No Red Meat' menu on my visit. For anybody curious, these were the modifications:

1st course - Squid replaces fermented sausage
2nd course - Cod replaces pork belly
4th course - Sturgeon replaces beef cheek

I have gone to both Paris 1906 and Tour of Thailand, and while I agree it is difficult to compare the two, I do think that the service during Paris was leaps and bounds better than Thailand. I really like the friendly laid-back waitstaff, but when my group was there on Friday, the pacing was way off. Tables next to us were getting their next courses while we sat multiple times with nothing in front of us for extended periods (including empty water glasses). Also, when our waiter poured the beer at our table, one glass did not have a good pour. He said he would be back with another bottle, and never was. I feel like Paris was more generous with the beverages (leaving the bottle at the table etc.) and had a better handle on timing. With the air conditioning not really working, it was not acceptable to not have water glasses filled or full beverage parings. I appreciate that they are creating new experiences every three months so there is a learning curve, but with something with this price tag, it just doesn't fly.