As I mentioned yesterday, Robert Lang invited me to dinner last night at a famous Chicago restaurant called Next, whose metier is mulitcourse menus with a theme. And they completely change the theme every four months, so they’re always working on and testing the dishes to come (see the history of the themes at the Wikipedia link given in the first sentence). The theme of our meal was “Japan,” inspired by the restaurant chef, manager, and some staff having taken a trip to Japan to absorb the food and culture. They they returned to the U.S. and worked for a few months to develop dishes that were not explicitly Japanese, but inspired by the food they tried in Japan.
While preparing the account of our meal for a post, I realized that it is going to take some time, what with 12 dishes and 8 wines (including 2 sakes), as well photos of the menu and the restaurant. I will say now that it was one of the best meals I’ve had in America—even better than the vaunted French Laundry in California, where years ago I paid a lot for a disappointing meal.
We managed to get into this restaurant, which has a huge waiting list, because Robert’s niece is the general manager; and because of that we got a few gratis dishes.
The meal was terrific, with a largesse of small, lovely, and wonderful dishes and thoughtful and appropriate pairings with wines and sakes. The meal did not fail where many of small-dish places do: making you leave when you haven’t had enough to eat. This was not the case at Next: I left dazzled, sated, and a bit buzzed.
I will ask your indulgence because it will take me a few hours to crop the photos, insert them in a post in the proper order, and try to describe the dishes from a memory clouded by sake. The post will be up tomorrow morning.
To wet your whistle, here’s a photo taken by Robert, showing the introductory tipple, a glass of sake poured to overflowing inside a cedar box. This is traditional: you sip the full glass until it can be poured into the box, and then drink the rest from the box, which lightly flavors the sake with cedar. This was also a rare form of sake for me: a sparkling one.
All will be revealed tomorrow. Right now I am recovering.
I’m almost sated with the sparkling saki in the cedar box. Wow.
Oh. I did not realize that it was so soon- last night. Please take your time. I went through the write-up on Japan and photos of some previous menus on the Next website yesterday and just your photo and summary today were further enlightening. I really look forward to the full story and I am so glad you found the evening to be so satisfying. So please take your time and fully enjoy revisiting your evening as you write.
I’m glad that it was great! Looking forward to the pictures.
Sounds great, looking forward to the post, especially the sake!
That’s awesome! Big fan of Lang.
Chef Grant Achatz worked for a time under Thomas Keller at The French Laundry. Hopefully he was not involved in your disappointing meal there! The Netflix series “Chef’s Table” did a feature on Grant in Season 2, Episode 1 (2016), which is well worth watching. (Incredible story arc, I won’t give any spoilers.)
Look forward to your review. I have never tried sake. What does it taste like?
That’s like asking what wine tastes like 😉