Next Restaurant

     Wednesday night I was sitting at my computer, checking facebook, and I saw that Greg (a classmate) needed someone to go to dinner with him.  He had already made reservations and had to make them for two, so he needed a companion for Friday night.  The restaurant is called Next and it cost X amount of dollars etc.  Immediately, not even knowing about the restaurant, I wanted to go.  It was the X amount of dollars that was causing some scruples.  I decided that if he hadn't found anyone by the next day I would "volunteer."  Man I was glad nobody could go.  This allowed me to go scruple free, I mean I was doing the guy a favor right?

     I had to google the restaurant to find out exactly what it was.  All that I knew was that it was new (opening week), same chef as Alinea (ranked #7 restaurant in the world) and that you had to buy tickets to get in.  The whole ticket thing is pretty different but kinda neat.  You go to their website and purchase a ticket for whatever it is that you'd like to order, then when you get there you just sit down and they start serving you.  Ticket prices very by day and time, peak hours and weekends you pay more.  At the end of the meal you just get up and leave, no check.  This being the case, as soon as people had tickets they started popping up on craigslist... anywhere from $500-$3,000 (for chef's table)!  Needless to say X amount was a drop in the bucket in comparison.  Greg had put his name on the waiting list the first day possible and that list is now almost 20,000 people long!
     The place looked very sophisticated in shades of grey, with beams on the ceiling that were more artistic than industrial.  And the staff was super friendly in a not stuffy way.  It was very chill, especially considering the couple at the next table may have paid a thousand dollars to eat the same food we were.  The menu is Paris 1906 as it will be for the next three months, then it will switch; the menu will change four times a year.
  

     It all started with the hors d'oeuvers and these are a few of my favorite things.  Four little bites and a truffled egg custard served in an egg shell.

     One of those little bites, a quail egg with an anchovy was one  of my very favorite things all night.  Recently I have grown to love eggs and everything about them.  I think the yoke is my favorite color and this quail eggs yolk was liquidy deliciousness inside.

     It's a close call between the quail egg and the brioche with a foie gras center.  I read a review that said it reminded them of egg in a basket and that's just what it looked like.  As Greg pointed out how did they do that?  It looks as if they baked the brioche with the foie gras inside.  Foie gras is my new best friend by the way.  It was aces.  The egg custard in the shell was definitely something of a novelty.  I've always loved the little egg on a pedestal that I've only seen in movies.  I think it really made the plate, so it looked as good as it all tasted.  Greg had ordered a drink pairing that was all house made juices and this course had been paired with a drink that featured ginger; it was like zing! in a glass.

  
     Anybody who ever has doubts or feelings against eating turtles needs to try this soup, it's delicious.  Sometimes it feels like there's nothing better than a really nice consomme.  The drink pairing for this and the next course featured green tea, apple and passion fruit.  Greg was such a great dinner date and his smooth... oh wait he is the most awkward person ever; it was hilarious!

     Filet of sole was definitely tasty but for me the sauce normande made me want to lick the plate.  The little mushroom stuffed with crawfish was a nice highlight.

     Supremes de poussin must mean tasty chicken in french because that's what it was.  The drink pairing was a horchata that was very smooth and featured sesame and coriander.

     The duck was fantastic and the sauce was bath worthy.  They take the meat off of the duck and put everything that's left in a press and get all of the juices out.  Then they reduce it with red wine and brandy= amazing.  They served it and Greg was trying to spoon as much of the sauce off of the plate as he could and then they step in with a boat of extra sauce.  It's like a little show, they make you want more before they give it to you.  Greg was very happy.  Scalloped potatoes with gruyere rounded out this course.  They were super cheesy and I love my cheese.  Drink pairing: cherry, lapsang souchong (tea) and sanbitter.  Yum.

 video of antique duck press in action (to make the sauce)

     Salade Irma was a nice little palate cleanser and yes I did eat the flower.  It tasted just like you would expect a flower to and I mean that as a good thing.

     Dessert was the bombe, bombe ceylan.  Cocoa on the outside and coffee ice cream on the inside.  The rum soaked cherries were strong and delightful.  The anglaise (sauce on the plate) also made me happy; I love that creamy deliciousness.

We ate these from right to left: 

nougat, caramel and beet pate de fruit

     To top the evening off was the mignardises, or teeny tiny tasties at the end of the meal.  Hmm... what do you think it could of been?  Some very familiar desserts I think.  Pistachio nougat, salted caramel and beet pate de fruit.  All things we've been making this week in class.  The beet pate de fruit truely had the earthy flavor of a beet and may have been Greg's favorite bite of the night.  Beets happen to be one of my mothers favorite things and I thought of her as I took my last bite of the evening.  

     Truly a once in a lifetime chance and I loved it.  And in June it'll change to Thai Street Food, wow.