Wow. Thanks, BR, for your account. I'm grateful - and envious!

Teresa wrote:Yay! Thanks for the report BR! I've been waiting and waiting to hear an impression of this menu from the omnivore point of view.

BR wrote:If you get excited about food, and you love to read and talk about it, and learn new things, I don't know how you wouldn't be excited to explore this menu. This is like diving from 50 meters when you've never gone diving before - it is such an in-depth exploration of vegan cuisine, and many ingredients I've never tried, at the very least in the way they were presented.

I have a friend who is a vegan chef (not in Chicago) who would be so heartened to read quotes like this and also hear about how you were curious about the ingredients used in vegan cooking. His theory is that a vegan lifestyle should not involve compromising your palate because of your beliefs, but instead vegan food should be a cuisine that is rich, varied, healthy, and satisfying in its own right. Omnivores like us should be able to enjoy a vegan meal too and not feel as though something is missing. It sounds like the folks at Next are making some headway at dispelling vegan stereotypes, which is what I would expect from their skill and creativity.

In my experience Chicago's vegan scene is pretty anemic compared to other cities. This is a meaty place for sure. The vegan places I've been to like Karyn's or Blind Faith seem stuck in the 80s. Vegan meals I've had in California (Matthew Kenney's restaurants) or NYC (Pure Food and Wine) seem to keep better pace with the general trends of fine dining. I am sorry I missed when Charlie Trotter did his vegan menus, since his raw vegan cookbook is so gorgeous. It seems like when that ended, there was nothing else like that left in Chicago. We also do have a suite of plant-based underground dining that's fantastic here like Sobremesa or Thurk, but also not vegan. I also like Green Zebra a lot, but it's not a pure vegan restaurant. I'm looking forward to Next's take on vegan fine dining.

mgmcewen wrote:I also like Green Zebra a lot, but it's not a pure vegan restaurant. I'm looking forward to Next's take on vegan fine dining.

I had to look at Green Zebra's menu because I hadn't been there in a while, but I didn't recall them having such vast vegan offerings before . . . not sure how long it has been since the menu became half (or more than half) vegan . . . interesting. In fact, they even used to serve a meat/chicken/fish dish or two. Thanks for mentioning.

We ate there last Thursday. I was looking forward to it as I don't know much about Vegan cuisine. I'm definitely more open to a veg only menu. My husband was almost dreading it as he is a full blown carnivore - the Hunt was right up his alley. We both left "meh" on the experience - it just felt like something was missing for us. Did they put a lot of effort into this menu? Absolutely, but something was just flat for us. Perhaps we just never will appreciate something that doesn't have a huge hunk of meat as a component of the meal. Little things like a portion of our apple course was WAY over salted, to the point of being inedible stick out in our minds more than the highlights. The "sundae" was probably my favorite course. I was excited to see what they would do with dessert.

We were there just over 2 hours - might have been our shortest experience yet. I couldn't imagine this being almost 4. We do water pairings always so maybe the wine helps extend the service.

TriGirl wrote:We ate there last Thursday. I was looking forward to it as I don't know much about Vegan cuisine. I'm definitely more open to a veg only menu. My husband was almost dreading it as he is a full blown carnivore - the Hunt was right up his alley. We both left "meh" on the experience - it just felt like something was missing for us. Did they put a lot of effort into this menu? Absolutely, but something was just flat for us. Perhaps we just never will appreciate something that doesn't have a huge hunk of meat as a component of the meal. Little things like a portion of our apple course was WAY over salted, to the point of being inedible stick out in our minds more than the highlights. The "sundae" was probably my favorite course. I was excited to see what they would do with dessert.

We were there just over 2 hours - might have been our shortest experience yet. I couldn't imagine this being almost 4. We do water pairings always so maybe the wine helps extend the service.

My tickets are not until next month, but your impression essentially mirrors that of what I have been hearing from friends (especially with regards to the over salting of some dishes). It looks like Next is enduring a bit of a sophomore slump; a large number of tickets went on sale approximately three weeks ago and there are still tickets available for all but two days of the remaining vegan menu (all four tops and kitchen tables - two tops are sold out). I think that people are going to have a hard time selling tickets they cannot use as time goes on and the number of people still looking to partake in this menu dwindles.

While I love Next's concept and have had a couple outstanding meals there, my first couple of meals there have definitely been vastly superior than my more recent meals (yet prices have gone up and service I feel has become more inconsistent as there has been such a high rate of turnover and some wonderful people departed). While I hope vegan reverses this trend, I am not overly optimistic from feedback I have been hearing from friends. One friend who has been multiple times to every menu already sold her second pair of tickets for vegan and another friend actually left the meal a few courses before the completion. That said some people I know did really enjoy their meal, so I am hoping that will be my experience will mirror theirs.

I would love to see Next shake some things up in 2014, though based on comments Nick Kokonas has made I am not optimistic this will occur. I would love to see a few wines available by the glass (possibly by the bottle as well) for those who want to consume some alcohol during the meal, but want to limit the quantity and/or not blow $100+ per/person on drinks (the non alcoholic beverages are not that much of savings (nearly $80 per/person with tax/gratuity for a few juices). I also would love to see Next do a better job making adjustments to the menu for allergies and aversions; while I grasp that the menus are complex and turn over completely every four months, I think that a venue of this caliber can do a better job making some modifications so that a larger number of people can partake in the experience (those with allergies) and others can obtain a more pleasant experience (those with aversions). Dropping ticket prices $5 to $10 per/person would also be nice as the price has shot up significantly since Next debuted with the Paris menu.

Will be interesting to see whether Next is able to regain it's earlier luster and once again become one of the hottest restaurants in Chicago. I am definitely pulling for them. The upcoming menu will likely be just one seating per night, so that should at least help recapture some of the excitement in terms of hunting to procure elusive tickets as there will be drastically fewer available (half the number of tickets, but same number of tickets already accounted for by season ticket holders).

Man, I tell you what, I used to have season tickets to Steppenwolf. Then came Mother Courage, a production so bad, long, and excruciating that it made me re-evaluate all of the plays I had seen there before. I realized that my impression of previous plays had been tainted by my opinions of the theater company and my first couple of plays I saw: "the plays had to have been good because look at who is involved! And Sideman was great!" I had been trying to convince myself that everything had been worth it. But it hadn't been. I had been deceiving myself.

Next: Vegan might be their Mother Courage for me. Sicily was awful for the price. El Bulli was absurd. I just wanted Vegan to end. And when it ended, it ended with the worst thing I've eaten in a long time.

But John, the front of house guy, is still really a nice guy. So maybe...

Sorry to hear others did not enjoy the food as much as I did. I'll admit I went in with lowered expectations, and I don't believe any vegan meal can measure up to a top notch non-vegan meal. I still don't. Yet I was very pleased with the flavors, textures and creativity shown, and I certainly left full. Food-wise, I enjoyed the flavors more than I did at the Thai and Sicily menus for sure.

But for me, I can eat meat, fish, etc. any night of the week. I wanted to see what Next could do when those items were removed from the repertoire -- i.e., almost cooking with your hands tied behind your back. Perhaps it's simply the way each of us considers the meal and our expectations that dictate how pleased we are when the meal is finished. And of course when it comes to food, tastes and interests are highly subjective. I hope those with future reservations will go in with full appreciation of their butter, cheese, eggs, meat and fish . . . but check their love of these items at the door (so to speak).

I was there last Wednesday, and when a friend later asked me what I thought, I said, "It was incredibly creative, perfectly executed, and vaguely unsatisfying."

I don't think I brought any baggage to the table. I've no beef with vegans, so to speak. We make our choices and that's all fine and good, and though I don't always agree with the rationale, I respect those who follow such a diet out of a true sense of conviction. Lord knows I'm in no position to be throwing stones at anybody's eating habits. Point being, whatever issue I have with vegan cuisine is neither political nor philosophical, but purely culinary, and in no way limited to veganism. Mostly, I just hate the idea that I could be sitting in front of a dish, and know the perfect thing to complete that dish, and not be able to use it. Again, speaking purely from a culinary perspective, it's the imposed restriction that drives me crazy, and I suspect that's why I just couldn't get fully behind the menu.

There are plenty of dishes that I loved. That lily bud dish was so delicately intoxicating. The roasted salsify, bark-like in appearance, crunchy and nutty with such depth of flavor, was completely new to me and outstanding. The dessert -- one of those school of Alinea coming at you from every conceivable direction mish mashes -- was delightful chaos.

But the lack of certain kitchen staples led to what felt like an over-reliance on acid. The naan, as veghound pointed out, screamed for ghee, the mushroom farotto for meat stock, and the yuba for dashi (though that last was still one of my favorites of the evening). And while you could point to almost any dish served and I'd call it an individual success, when put together -- though there was plenty of food -- I just felt, for me, that there was something lacking, a kind of satisfying richness, a neuron in the brain that never fired. Whether by virtue of nature or nurture, I couldn't escape the vague feeling that something was missing. And it's not an issue of the meal being meatless. I eat and cook vegetarian all the time (as a matter of happenstance, not with purpose), and don't have the same issue. Perhaps the space between meatless and dairy-free is just too deep and wide of a chasm for me, I don't know.

I guess what I'm saying is that if this menu didn't quite get there for me, I don't think the problem is Next. I'm pretty sure, simply because it severely limits options, that the problem is veganism. But while I'm open to the possibility that the problem is me, no matter how objective and analytical I am about it, I can't will myself to feel satisfied. My brain was full-on engaged. But my gut just wasn't quite buying it.

Thank you, Dom, for articulating better than I think I’m able to why I had pretty much the same reaction. I’ve been working on this review off and on for several weeks but, in the end, I left the meal and conclude this review in the same place—feeling conflicted.


Welcome


Centerpiece


Edible pond

This meal is probably the most difficult one to summarize or react to because I had very different reactions to different aspects of the meal. I wasn’t a fan of the taste of the food but I was often blown away by some of the imaginativeness and creativity. Vegan would not be my diet of choice but I’ve got no problems eating a meal that’s only vegan. And while there were undoubtedly courses that I liked more than others, nothing made me sit up and say, “Wow!” I just didn’t find any particular thing so delicious that I craved seconds or thirds. That said, the ingenuity, the sheer genius in the way ingredients were used, the way dishes were put together, and the creativity with both the food and the presentation may be the most impressive of all the meals I’ve had at Next (the Lovely Dining Companion and I have had every single one except Childhood).


Rock with stuff

The opening course with the crackers, avocado puree, and “stuff” (including fried kale and sprouted tempeh) on top exemplifies the meal for me. The flavors were clean and distinct even if they didn’t do anything for me, but I thought that the inventiveness was amazing. My only complaint with this course is that food kept arriving even as we were working on this course and I felt more than a little rushed to hurry up and eat so as not to fall behind. I hate that feeling and didn’t know why there was the sense of urgency to get things going so quickly. Our reservation was for 6 and the room was perhaps a third full when we arrived.

The pity of falling behind a bit at the outset is compounded, I think, by the fact that the single best bite of the evening, in my opinion, followed the rock: the frozen baked potato. It’s easy to see an Alinea connection here and this is really the single bite I remember liking the best.

I’m not going to do a blow-by-blow of each course. Partly because my theme is largely the same throughout: astonishing creativity, stunning presentation, top-notch execution, all in the service of food I didn’t particularly like. I make an exception right away though for the frozen baked potato. Probably my single favorite bite of the evening.

Next, driftwood with two items: a nori dumpling and a rambutan, the latter carefully hollowed out and (re-)filled with Earl Grey-flavored rambutan custard. In the interest of full disclosure, the LDC really loved the dumpling. Me? Meh. The rambutan was delicious but I’m not sure I understand (or sufficiently appreciate) the pairing.


Roasted artichoke hearts


Artichoke heart and (eaten) rambutan half.

The roasted artichoke heart was fine. If you like artichokes (and I do), it was lovely. Perfectly roasted, attractively presented, but, in the end, a roasted artichoke.


Tin Man’s Oilcan (used to create):


Apple cider vinegar


Green apple sorbet plus etc.

This was followed by what was presented to us as apple cider vinegar. We were so uncertain we heard right, we asked again and were told, yes, vinegar. Frankly, fermented cider makes more sense. It was unexpectedly rich and deep with only some of the acidic edge one associates with vinegar (again, in the interest of full disclosure, LDC couldn’t stand it, claiming it was far too acidic for her). Much as I enjoyed the drink, I liked the plated portion better: a sorbet redolent of green apples, lichen, and other things. (This is, indeed, one of the greatest problems I have with tasting menus—whether at Next or elsewhere. There are so many ingredients, so many components to a dish, that it is impossible to keep track of the sixteen different things in every course. Unless you bring a tape recorder or take copious notes—both methods making true enjoyment impossible—I’ve always had enormous difficulty knowing what everything on the plate is, much less recalling it days later.)



Having just eaten at Alinea a few weeks before, we should have known that something was up with the small glass “aquarium” that served as the centerpiece. At Alinea, a similar “prop” became a critical part of a course and so, too, here. The floating flora were scooped up and placed in small glass dishes. (It’s worth noting that, as always, the serving ware is nothing short of stunning. In one case, we were told Chef Beran commissioned the making of some plates that we had admired. Sure, they use things over again for different meals. They’d be idiots not to; but that doesn’t detract from the sheer beauty of much of the plates, bowls, dishes, and other containers and implements.)


Rice cracker and rice yogurt

The rice cracker reminded me of nothing so much as a shrimp cracker largely devoid of flavor. So I was the more thrilled to find the rice yogurt surprisingly luscious and even a bit sweet. Other than sharing a sense of whiteness with the white asparagus and the poached pear, I’m again at a loss to “get” the combinations. Everything was fine (there’s that word again) but nothing blew me away.


Salsify several ways

The salsifys (salsifies?) were another lovely presentation of an increasingly popular ingredient. Multiple various uses of salsify from raw to roasted and more with multiple various greens presented in different manners. Um, nice. Fine even. Indeed, this is the course where I began to realize what Dom pointed out above: the kitchen’s (over-)reliance on acid. When you take so many ingredients out of your pantry, you’re forced, inevitably, to rely on far fewer things to accomplish what those missing ingredients can do. And that means two things: overuse and what I’ll call, for lack of a better phrase, palate fatigue.


Swiss chard tempura/douchi (fermented soybeans)

And here is where my brain finally began catching up with my stomach: eye-catching presentation, impressive execution, and perfectly adequate flavor. The dish(es) were just not hitting the right note, for me at least. LDC liked this course (and most courses, in fact) more than I do but she, too, is more impressed with the creativity, the inventiveness, and the presentation more than sheer deliciousness—at least on this one.


Kombu Atoll

I don’t really have much to add to BR’s thoughts. There was nothing objectionable about the flavors but neither of us would rush to order it if it were on a menu. We did, however, acknowledge that the house-made tofu was extraordinary. I remember having the best tofu of my life at Kajitsu, in New York (a meal I reviewed here), but though this isn’t on that level, the quality is quite remarkable for “amateurs”—and I use that in the literal sense of the word, not as a diminutive in the least. Very, very impressive.


Mushroom cart

We had pretty much the same reaction to the mushroom cart as BR. We’ve seen carts of many kinds over the years, but never a mushroom cart. It was a break intended, we presume, to show us (or showcase for us) some of the mushrooms that would be featured in the soon-to-arrive risotto. Given the perfunctory oral catalogue of mushrooms displayed, this struck us as a huge lost opportunity. If you’re going to go to all the trouble of creating this wonderful idea and then executing it, why not spend more than thirty seconds on it. Don’t just tell us what’s on the cart, explain them to us, tell us what some of their characteristics are. Educate us. But they didn’t.


Risotto with farro

Some of these mushrooms (all of them?) made their way into a mushroom risotto, but Chef Beran substituted farro for rice. Sunflower seeds. Whipped sunflower milk. Sunchokes. In a nutshell, my reaction is: given the choice, I’ll have my risotto made with rice, thanks. As BR noted, it was creamy and retained the high standards of Next but just didn’t quite make it. I suspect that it was the absence of dairy (butter, Parmesan) but all in all, just “fine” yet again.



The Alex Stupak “Thai larb” course. I think I’m better off just stopping at the picture.




Curry Roasted Cauliflower


Naan

Interactivity! Roasted cauliflower and (many) other good things. Using the single chopstick laid before us, we push out the ingredients in the glass tube (note to Next: both of us had a little trouble and were seriously concerned about the glass tube breaking in our hands. Maybe the items inside can be placed in a little less snugly). The charred cauliflower was very good but I thought the naan was just plain not good: it had no airiness at all; it was more like a dense, chewy bread that should have risen but didn’t. While the flavor was alright, there was no lightness to it whatsoever; just very dense. Not tough, not leathery, just not good.

The dessert courses opened with a silver teaspoon on which was carefully placed a bit of olive oil jam and a Szechuan “button.” Instructions were to chew until your mouth felt the tingly, slightly numbed sensation you get from Szechwan peppercorns. It worked although the feeling was much milder than I had anticipated. And, probably for the better, it didn’t last very long. What followed immediately was a host of items: a bowl of chocolate, freeze-dried strawberries, and black truffle. Ahem. Pleasant.


Hibiscus and Pistachio

The LDC, who was much happier with the meal overall, didn’t care for this. I think I understand why, though I confess to enjoying it. Served atop a large “coaster” of a log was an awful lot of items—perhaps too much: shortbread crumbs, pistachio, hibiscus syrup, frozen yogurt, hibiscus and more. I liked the individual flavors but there were so many different things that again, I found the whole somewhat less than the sum of the parts.


Steamed Crepes

Three kinds of steamed “crepes” arrived: passion fruit, exceptionally dark chocolate, and toasted vanilla/maple. Very light, but calling them crepes (while accurate) puts you in the wrong frame of mind, I think. They’re not like crepes at all. They were, as BR noted, far more like miniature sponge cakes. Quite lovely, though they had one interesting characteristic that caught us off-guard. They were far more like typical Japanese desserts than we expected in the sense that the sweetness was dialed down substantially. That doesn’t mean there was no sweetness, only that it’s not like standard American fare, overly sugary.

Overall, a very good meal. However, as I’ve probably made over-clear, more for all the various aspects except sheer deliciousness. The virtuosity of the kitchen, both in terms of sheer ingenuity and their extraordinary learning curve, is second to none. But at the end of the day, no matter how much you wow me with ingenuity, creativity, inventiveness, execution, presentation, etc., I want to love the food. I didn’t. I suspect, as I noted above, some of this came from what I called palate fatigue—the over-reliance on a few things to accomplish the results ordinarily achieved by the use of more and more varied ingredients. Much as I might have enjoyed occasional items or bites, on the whole there was a “satisfying-ness” that I found missing. I can’t really do a better job explaining why I was disappointed, I don’t think.

A word on the non-alcoholic drinks: disappointing. Every single drink seemed overly thought-out. There was too much going on in virtually every drink I got. Too many admittedly interesting components that didn’t combine to create a positive overall effect. Usually, there are at least a couple drinks that wow me; this time, not a single one all evening. Some, to be sure, were more, um, pleasant, than others (thus, I didn’t mind finishing the passion fruit/yerba mate/pineapple concoction served at the outset or the tamarind/aloe/pea drink that came with the Kombu Atoll). On the other hand, the strawberry/rhubarb/black pepper (accompanying the salsify course) left me remarkably underwhelmed and the malt/bitter chocolate/black sesame that came with the hibiscus just didn’t work. I just didn’t think that any of the drinks, not one, had any synergy from the various ingredients. I left feeling slightly cheated and unhappy. I don’t question that a lot of work and thought went into each combination. But while I don’t expect to love every single thing that is presented to me, I sure do expect to like at least a couple things far more than I did. There were six drinks—and no refills, at least not for me.

All that said, it certainly won’t dampen my enthusiasm for Next. We noted, again, the turnover in staff, but the quality of service seemed better to us than the previous visit. Maybe it was luck of the draw. I’ve also noticed that, over time, there seems to be less genuine enthusiasm among the servers we’ve had. They’re still well-informed, professional, and adept. They just don’t seem to ooze the passion, the eagerness, the thrill that we enjoyed the first several times we were there.

It’s impossible, my complaints notwithstanding, not to walk out impressed. As always, the level of execution is amazing. The creativity and passion are clear. If you’ve never had vegan food or never thought much about it, you owe it to yourself to give this a shot. It’s thought-provoking in the best possible way.

I finally made it to Next for the vegan menu and have a pretty similar reaction to recent reports; beautiful and interesting plating, was impressed with what they were able to do with the restrictions a vegan menu entails but overall felt there was too many misses taste wise and a ridiculous over-reliance on vinegar for too many courses where the vinegar overpowered the other ingredients (this was especially pronounced on the salsify dish; it was the first time ever at Next that I took a bite and was so turned off I was unable to finish the course). The intermezzo course also had overpowering (and for me unpleasant) vinegar taste that just did not seem needed (the other flavors were excellent when I managed to find a bite that was not doused in vinegar). The texture on the final course (steamed crepes) was too dry and chewy and much of it just became stuck on the roof of my mouth.

That said there were a few courses I loved and that if Next was an a la carte venue I would order on a future visit. Many of the canapes I found excellent (the avocado and on the rock, the frozen baked potato and the artichoke in particular, though the artichoke was just a bit over salted). I too noticed that the canapes kept being delivered before we were done with the prior batch which was annoying and unnecessary. Next has had so much turnover in front of the house staff and while service overall was adequate, it is not top notch like it was during my first couple of visits. I did not care for the first few larger courses after the canapes, but did enjoy the tostatada and mushroom risotto. For me the best of the savories (excluding the canapes) were the curry roasted cauliflower with naan bread and the red onion inspired by Stupak; loved these. None of the desserts were anything special and were a bit anticlimactic.

This menu was the first since Childhood where it had an Alinea like vibe with all the use of centerpiece, liquid nitrogen and theatrics with some of the presentations. I enjoyed that aspect of the meal. Unfortunately we had a rather loud table next to us that at times made it difficult to hear the servers' descriptions of the courses. No drama with five pound foie being delivered to a nearby table.

We opted to stick just with water as I have previously not found the beverage pairings to be a good value at Next. I am hoping that Next elevates their game going forward; my first couple of meals here were magical and for a while I eagerly anticipated future visits and considered Next one of my favorite restaurants, but the ever since the Sicily menu it just has not been a special experience for me. While I have yet to have a poor meal here, of late they have been in the good, not great category. I am hoping that in 2014 they bring service back up to the level I experienced in 2012, have more consistent "hits" with the food and become a bit more flexible in terms of making modifications to some courses for allergies/aversions as well as with offering some beverages by-the-glass and wines by-the-bottle. Plenty of restaurants overhaul the menu 100% each season and still do a masterful job making all sorts of accommodations to the menu; while what Next does is admittedly more dramatic (changing not just the menu, but the concept) I think that with three menus per year they should be capable of personalizing the experience more than they are doing.

Not sure if this is the right place for this, but when do they typically open up tickets for the next season? I've never gone, but I'm determined to make it to Bocuse D'or. Do I just need to keep checking the website at midnight every night?

Independent George wrote:Not sure if this is the right place for this, but when do they typically open up tickets for the next season? I've never gone, but I'm determined to make it to Bocuse D'or. Do I just need to keep checking the website at midnight every night?

Often tickets are not sold until 1-2 days before the new menu starts (August 31st). Best advice is to frequently check Next's Facebook page and to sign up for their tweets (as they usually post on Twitter when tickets are placed on sale).

Bocuse D'or will likely be significantly more difficult to score tickets for than the past couple of menus as reportedly it will be a lengthy meal necessitating just one seating per/table per/night. Factoring in that season ticket holders already have their tickets, there is only approximately one third the amount of tickets left available versus The Hunt and Vegan (where each table generally was turned once during the course of the night).

Good luck with your pursuit of the tickets.

Also, they release them for a month or so at a time, and it may be easier to get them later on. If I recall the May slots for Vegan sold out in under an hour, but there are still slots open for August. So if you don't get in that very first time, there's still hope...

how do you get season tickets?

dradeli wrote:how do you get season tickets?

Towards the end of the year they will release information via their Facebook page; current season ticket holders have first dibs; anybody not renewing may open up a slot for new season ticket holders. Likely at some point in December they will put those on sale and it will be first come, first served (and likely go quick).

Gonzo70 wrote:

dradeli wrote:how do you get season tickets?

Towards the end of the year they will release information via their Facebook page; current season ticket holders have first dibs; anybody not renewing may open up a slot for new season ticket holders. Likely at some point in December they will put those on sale and it will be first come, first served (and likely go quick).

In 2012, season ticket sales started a day or two after Christmas fairly early in the morning. You might consider following them on Twitter as the time grows closer and set up Twitter to send you a text alert each time Next posts a tweet. It worked for me.