A new concept from the people behind Alinea? [Next]

I have heard from a reliable source that a new place is in the works. I dont know who all is involved or how quiet is supposed to be so maybee i shouldnt mention the finer details of what exactly I heard. Grant A. had mentioned on his twitter that he was "looking for a space for a new concept. Lincoln park and/or bucktown areas." last march, but nothing has been mentioned since that post regarding this. I do know that insiders were very forthcoming with info about the Alinea opening so I hope we get a heads up on this also.

so, who wants to spill the beans?

You would be a good choice as bean spiller.

GAF wrote:You would be a good choice as bean spiller.

I second this motion.

What did your source tell you? Don't hold back, inquiring minds want to know!

thorough wrote:I have heard from a reliable source that a new place is in the works. I dont know who all is involved or how quiet is supposed to be so maybee i shouldnt mention the finer details of what exactly I heard. Grant A. had mentioned on his twitter that he was "looking for a space for a new concept. Lincoln park and/or bucktown areas." last march, but nothing has been mentioned since that post regarding this. I do know that insiders were very forthcoming with info about the Alinea opening so I hope we get a heads up on this also.

so, who wants to spill the beans?

Can you be more thorough?

No, really, what do you know?

yeah ... I hate it when people are deliberately coy. "I know something you don't know but I can't tell so does anyone else who knows the same thing want to blab instead ?"

here is what i overheard.
It will focus on cocktail inspired items (like what has been on recent alinea menus)
A location has been selected in bucktown.
Achatz will not leave Alinea but will be involved.

I will continue to search for info.

Chef Achatz praised BarChef in Toronto on his Twitter feed back in August.

thorough wrote:here is what i overheard.
It will focus on cocktail inspired items (like what has been on recent alinea menus)
A location has been selected in bucktown.
Achatz will not leave Alinea but will be involved.

I will continue to search for info.

Iiiiiinteresting. Makes me picture a more Violet Hour-ish version of Otom. Thanks for the followup post! I'm looking forward to hearing about any other juicy details you might be able to dig up

Perhaps we'll see something like this?

Alinea's Cocktail Block
http://alineamosaic.com/forum/index.php?showtopic=838

One of the items was inspired by The Violet Hour's Juliet and Romeo cocktail. I wonder if they're collaborating on this new concept.

Jeez... why not just ask us?

1) We are working on several concepts but nothing is yet totally concrete... we are close to signing a lease, but it may or may not happen. It is not in Bucktown.

2) It will NOT be called Thorough or anything near that...

3) We are not collaborating with the Violet Hour folks... though we do have a few drinks there from time to time

Thanks for setting the record straight! And please fill us in when there's something concrete enough that you can tell us...

nick.kokonas wrote:Jeez... why not just ask us?

1) We are working on several concepts but nothing is yet totally concrete... we are close to signing a lease, but it may or may not happen. It is not in Bucktown.

2) It will NOT be called Thorough or anything near that...

3) We are not collaborating with the Violet Hour folks... though we do have a few drinks there from time to time

Now that we know what you are NOT doing, perhaps you will let us know what you will be doing (when the time is right).

If I want to hear someone repeat "NO," I can just ask my son.

nick.kokonas wrote:Jeez... why not just ask us?

1) We are working on several concepts but nothing is yet totally concrete... we are close to signing a lease, but it may or may not happen. It is not in Bucktown.

2) It will NOT be called Thorough or anything near that...

3) We are not collaborating with the Violet Hour folks... though we do have a few drinks there from time to time

Nick
I would be very surprised if you (and the team) were not working on something. BTW, am still waiting for a few of those somethings from earlier talks .

As for a name, I am guessing (since this post is all about speculating) that it will come from a typographers vocabulary.

From the WSJ yesterday: http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748703414504575001351489487566.html?mod=rss_Food_and_Drink

Chefs Cook Up Cocktails

Mr. Achatz's next project is to open a bar of his own in Chicago.

Mr. Achatz envisions opening a standalone bar and lounge where food will come second to drinks. The cocktail menu will be "playful," in his classic manner, solids will be turned into liquids and liquids into solids.

"Liquid nitrogen, dry ice, tapiocas, foam cotton candy, it's endless," Mr. Achatz says. "Not that I am bored here, but it's opening up new possibilities. I would love the opportunity to sit down at a bar and say I am going to have an alcohol tasting menu."

So, there will be an Alinea bar, "Aviary"...it will be cocktails 'redefined'.

But, that would be burying the lead, I guess, as there will also be a new restaurant...

http://nextrestaurant.com/

Been done. With Rock & Roll

http://www.tributosaurus.com/

So, where is it going to be? While they naturally can't really predict an opening date, I would assume that since they've announced the place that they actually, you know, have a place to put it.

Very interested in the lower price point and ticketing system:

How much?
A meal at Next will represent a great value. Depending on the menu AND what day and time you are dining, food will be $40 to $75 for the entire prix fixe menu. Wine and beverage pairings will begin at a $25 supplement. Next’s goal is to serve 4-star food at 3-star prices.

Tickets?
Yes. Instead of reservations our bookings will be made more like a theater or a sporting event. Your tickets will be fully inclusive of all charges, including service. Ticket price will depend on which seating you buy – Saturday at 8 PM will be more expensive than Wednesday at 9:30 PM. This will allow us to offer an amazing experience at a very reasonable price. We will also offer an annual subscription to all four menus at a discount with preferred seating.
Two walk-in tables will be available every evening.
The tickets will be available via our website, and we are building the reservation system from scratch to ensure the best customer experience. It will be simple to use, efficient, and familiar to anyone who has booked a show or travel online.

I was at Alinea on Saturday, enjoying the "tour" and thought a few dishes were rather interesting. I may be wrong but two of the courses seem to fit the mold or at least point to the new restaurant's/cocktail bar theme.

The first was a take on the Sazerac - a Kumquat that had been prepared with rye, Peychaud's and Demerara. You drink/eat it in one bite and it tastes just like a Sazerac. It was a little harsh for my wife who doesn't like Whiskey/Rye. It accompanied the bacon "trapeze" with butterscotch, apple, and thyme. I thought it was a nice combo but it also really jumped out at me as a course served in the middle of the tour.

The second was a dish that looked like no other during the tour. It was Filet de Boeuf, Godard. It was served on an early 20th century-styled plate and served with a Cote de Beaune (2006) in a leaded wine glass. The server explained that it was an old French recipe that was carried on by Escoffier. Bascially, it's a medallion of beef filet in the middle of the plate and the garnish was arranged in quennelles around the beef.

According to my Escoffier recipe book, Garniture Godard is only Garniture Financiere to which is calf's or lamb's sweetbreads are added. Traditionally, Garniture Godard includes (according to Escoffier): 18 veal or poultry quinnelles moulded in a dessert spoon and poached in salted water, 15 small mushrooms cooked in butter and lemon juice, 12 cock's combs, 12 chicken livers, 3 oz truffles cut into thin slices, 20 stoned olives, and to make it Godard - calf's of lamb's sweetbreads. I think I'll miss something here but I remember quennelles of sweetbreads, beef tongue, mushrooms, truffles, cock's comb (not a quennelle), a "veal" quennelle (I think), and perhaps one or two more. It was arranged in clock-like formation around the filet. It was very good and came towards the end of the tour and we were getting pretty full by that point.

Overall, it was a great meal - my first at Alinea and surely one I'll remember. I'll have to see if I can snag some tickets to "Next" as I'm sure they will be going fast.

According to WGN Morning new this a.m.:

"CHICAGO - Chef Grant Achatz is slowly releasing details about his sequel to Alinea, the best restaurant in the United States, as cited last week by Restaurant Magazine's annual World's 50 Best Restaurants list..

The restaurant will be called, 'Next'.

According to hints at http://nextrestaurant.com/ , the new restaurant will change it's menu every three months as part of "the exploration of world cuisine."

The website suggests cuisines from Paris of a hundred years ago and Hong Kong 25 years into the future.

Without more explanation, it says, "Tickets (yes, tickets) go on sale soon."

Finally, the website announces, 'Aviary' a cocktail bar, redefined."

No word yet when this year it will open or its exact location in Chicago.
Copyright © 2010, WGN-TV"

There was a write-up on this in the NYT yesterday as well.

That looks fantastic but the concept of tickets (and thus scalpers) sounds like a fiasco. I'm interested to see how that aspect will be handled.

ews wrote:That looks fantastic but the concept of tickets (and thus scalpers) sounds like a fiasco. I'm interested to see how that aspect will be handled.

Here's hoping they establish a strict policy of confirming that the ticket-buyer (or ticket recipient, in the case of a gift) and the diner who shows up to eat are, in fact, the same person.

ews wrote:That looks fantastic but the concept of tickets (and thus scalpers) sounds like a fiasco. I'm interested to see how that aspect will be handled.

That's actually somewhat simple if they want to do it -- make tickets have your name on them and your name is in their system. When you check in, they check an ID to make sure the name matches the ticket and the computer. Make them non-transferrable, but make them so that you can return the tickets to the restaurant up to, say, a week before your night for a full or mostly-full refund so that if you can see you're not going to be able to make it you aren't out the funds. No calling up and saying "I want to transfer them to this person" either (because obviously, that's what the scalpers would do then) -- they go back into the ticket pool and anyone can buy them.

Preventing scalpers isn't terribly hard if you want to set up a system designed to stop it. Sports teams and concert promoters mostly don't care about it so they don't do it (and of course, some of them actually scalp their own tickets AHEM CUBS). FIFA does it for the World Cup although I hear that actually checking IDs and comparing to the tickets is somewhat spottily done at best, at least for the 2006 tournament.

Since it's clear that the intention here is to make this more affordable than a night at Alinea, I would hope that they put these kinds of preventative measures into effect, because I wouldn't be surprised if the price ended up being similar to Alinea if the scalpers were able to buy up tickets and resell them.

AdmVinyl wrote:Make them non-transferrable

It would be nice if you could enter a recipient's name in an optional field on the order form when you initially buy the tickets, in case you want to give them to someone as a gift.

Other than that little addition, I agree with you 100% about checking ID to prevent scalping.

Having spent quite a bit of time at Alinea (a lot in the dining room and a fair amount behind the scenes) I would bet heavily that the 'scalping' issue has already been considered and an effective plan to manage or prevent it will be implemented before 'tickets' go on sale. These folks are meticulous and leave absolutely no detail unaddressed.

=R=

yeah with a smaller crowd size (100 vs 20000+ for events) scalping shouldn't be an issue. you're supposed to show your ID with your reso at momofuku ko.

No IDs in evidence at Momofuku Ko - just great food. Perhaps at their Phoenix branch.

What's the difference between a ticket and a reservation that requires payment in advance? Media attention?

Kennyz wrote:What's the difference between a ticket and a reservation that requires payment in advance? Media attention?

Yeah, it's kitschy. But, for one thing it gives them a large infusion of cash whenever they decide to put new tickets on sale, an IPO for the new establishment, which only needs to be paid back in meals on the schedule they determine. It's a pretty nice gig, if you can get it. A whole lot of places are apparently willing to pay Groupon handsomely to set something similar up for them...