After a particularly brutal few weeks of work, Jean and I took advantage
of our recent “empty nester” status and traveled up to Chicago for an
evening of food and wine, ostensibly to celebrate our 34th anniversary.
On this occasion, we revisited Next, Grant Achatz’s other restaurant
during its “Paris 1906” menu season. While I have gone on record here as
stating that I have no desire to dine at Alinea, I have no such
reservations (pun intended*) about Next. Their 8-course tasting menu
homage to Escoffier featured prominent use of black truffles and had
several truly spectacular dishes. We also opted for their “Prestige”
wine pairing (the second of three tiers of cost), all featuring wines of
France, natch. Alas, they weren’t entirely forthcoming with details
about the wines served, so I’ve tried to interpolate where I can.

The menu:
HORS d'OEUVRES
Oeuf benedictine
Tete de porc
Gougere
Mousse du salmon froid en banquette

POTAGE A LA TORTUE CLAIRE

FILETS DE HALIBUT RACHEL
truffe, vin blanc, white asparagus

SUPREME DE VOLAILLE FINANCIERE
poulet, sauce financiere, brioche

CARRE D'AGNEU AVEC SAUCE CHORON
ris d'agneu, sauce choron, duchesse potatoes

SALADE IRMA
bitter greens, cucumber, lemon vinaigrette

BOMBE CEYLAN
coffee pate a bombe, rum ice cream, gelatine cherries

MIGNARDISES
candied almond
beet pate de fruit
pistachio nougat
salted caramel

With the hors d’oeuvres, they served a 2010 Drappier Grande Sendrée Brut
which was slightly oxidative in character, though not to an extent to
bother my oxidatively sensitive spouse, but also delightfully lemony and
fresh. Of the hors d’ouvres, the ouef bendictine and salmon mousse
barquette were the standouts, the former perhaps even eclipsing the
Arpege egg I ate at Manresa an eon ago.

With the phenomenal turtle soup (made with snapping turtle they hastened
to inform us), they served the 2016 Fosse-Seche Saumur Blanc ‘Arcane’
which was bone dry and tasting of slightly bruised apples with zippy
acidity. Jean, not normally a big fan of Chenin, loved it. I don’t have
a whole lot of experience with Saumur Blanc, my one previous exposure
having been Clos Rougeard ‘Breze.’ The sommelier was pleasantly
surprised that we knew Chenin, especially when we mentioned the Huet in
our cellar.

The filets of halibut amounted to a terrine of alternating layers of
gelatinated halibut and gelatinated black truffle, which was one of the
highlights of the meal. With this, they served a Chassagne-Montrachet,
but I caught neither year or producer. It went passably well with the
dish, standing up even to the truffle, but still was white Burgundy (meh).

The Financier chicken was another well-crafted dish with both mushrooms
and truffle. With this, they served a 2017 Genot-Boulanger
Chambolle-Musigny, which was painfully young , smelling of pine needles
and oak, but showing some very pretty red fruit. Personally, I felt that
an earthier Burgundy would have set off the dish better.

The lamb dish was notable primarily for the lamb rilette at bottom,
which was outrageously tasty. They served with this the 2019 Georges
Vernay Cote-Rotie which was shockingly light bodied with soft tannins,
though the alcohol stick out a bit. I’ve only had the Condrieu from this
producer before, though we were informed of a generational change there,
with mother and daughter now in charge. We were informed that there was
10% Viognier added for its floral character, but the somm didn’t know
whether it was a traditional co-fermentation or not (and looked puzzled
by my question).

The Bombe and mignardises at the end made for a fine finish to a great
meal. We also chose the Chartreuse off the digestif trolley because why
not? We chatted about the scarcity for a bit with the server, who
assured us that they get all that they need (what a shocker!).

This meal did live up to expectations, as we hoped it would, though
again I felt that the wine pairings could have been better thought out.
(FTR, the next tier up started with Krug — we were informed that they
were all “highly rated wines,” a complete turnoff for us)

* in case you’re not familiar, Next operates on a “ticket “ model: you
purchase tickets for a date and time that are all-inclusive of food,
wine, tax and tip. They’re non-refundable and you pay up front. I
noted to a Jean that I didn’t need to bring a wallet, really.

Your intrepid reporter,
Mark Lipton

On Wednesday, May 10, 2023 at 1:29:03 PM UTC-4, Mark Lipton wrote:
> After a particularly brutal few weeks of work, Jean and I took advantage
> of our recent “empty nester” status and traveled up to Chicago for an
> evening of food and wine, ostensibly to celebrate our 34th anniversary.
> On this occasion, we revisited Next, Grant Achatz’s other restaurant
> during its “Paris 1906” menu season. While I have gone on record here as
> stating that I have no desire to dine at Alinea, I have no such
> reservations (pun intended*) about Next. Their 8-course tasting menu
> homage to Escoffier featured prominent use of black truffles and had
> several truly spectacular dishes. We also opted for their “Prestige”
> wine pairing (the second of three tiers of cost), all featuring wines of
> France, natch. Alas, they weren’t entirely forthcoming with details
> about the wines served, so I’ve tried to interpolate where I can.
>
> The menu:
> HORS d'OEUVRES
> Oeuf benedictine
> Tete de porc
> Gougere
> Mousse du salmon froid en banquette
>
> POTAGE A LA TORTUE CLAIRE
>
> FILETS DE HALIBUT RACHEL
> truffe, vin blanc, white asparagus
>
> SUPREME DE VOLAILLE FINANCIERE
> poulet, sauce financiere, brioche
>
> CARRE D'AGNEU AVEC SAUCE CHORON
> ris d'agneu, sauce choron, duchesse potatoes
>
> SALADE IRMA
> bitter greens, cucumber, lemon vinaigrette
>
> BOMBE CEYLAN
> coffee pate a bombe, rum ice cream, gelatine cherries
>
> MIGNARDISES
> candied almond
> beet pate de fruit
> pistachio nougat
> salted caramel
>
>
> With the hors d’oeuvres, they served a 2010 Drappier Grande Sendrée Brut
> which was slightly oxidative in character, though not to an extent to
> bother my oxidatively sensitive spouse, but also delightfully lemony and
> fresh. Of the hors d’ouvres, the ouef bendictine and salmon mousse
> barquette were the standouts, the former perhaps even eclipsing the
> Arpege egg I ate at Manresa an eon ago.
>
> With the phenomenal turtle soup (made with snapping turtle they hastened
> to inform us), they served the 2016 Fosse-Seche Saumur Blanc ‘Arcane’
> which was bone dry and tasting of slightly bruised apples with zippy
> acidity. Jean, not normally a big fan of Chenin, loved it. I don’t have
> a whole lot of experience with Saumur Blanc, my one previous exposure
> having been Clos Rougeard ‘Breze.’ The sommelier was pleasantly
> surprised that we knew Chenin, especially when we mentioned the Huet in
> our cellar.
>
> The filets of halibut amounted to a terrine of alternating layers of
> gelatinated halibut and gelatinated black truffle, which was one of the
> highlights of the meal. With this, they served a Chassagne-Montrachet,
> but I caught neither year or producer. It went passably well with the
> dish, standing up even to the truffle, but still was white Burgundy (meh)..
>
> The Financier chicken was another well-crafted dish with both mushrooms
> and truffle. With this, they served a 2017 Genot-Boulanger
> Chambolle-Musigny, which was painfully young , smelling of pine needles
> and oak, but showing some very pretty red fruit. Personally, I felt that
> an earthier Burgundy would have set off the dish better.
>
> The lamb dish was notable primarily for the lamb rilette at bottom,
> which was outrageously tasty. They served with this the 2019 Georges
> Vernay Cote-Rotie which was shockingly light bodied with soft tannins,
> though the alcohol stick out a bit. I’ve only had the Condrieu from this
> producer before, though we were informed of a generational change there,
> with mother and daughter now in charge. We were informed that there was
> 10% Viognier added for its floral character, but the somm didn’t know
> whether it was a traditional co-fermentation or not (and looked puzzled
> by my question).
>
> The Bombe and mignardises at the end made for a fine finish to a great
> meal. We also chose the Chartreuse off the digestif trolley because why
> not? We chatted about the scarcity for a bit with the server, who
> assured us that they get all that they need (what a shocker!).
>
> This meal did live up to expectations, as we hoped it would, though
> again I felt that the wine pairings could have been better thought out.
> (FTR, the next tier up started with Krug — we were informed that they
> were all “highly rated wines,” a complete turnoff for us)
>
> * in case you’re not familiar, Next operates on a “ticket “ model: you
> purchase tickets for a date and time that are all-inclusive of food,
> wine, tax and tip. They’re non-refundable and you pay up front. I
> noted to a Jean that I didn’t need to bring a wallet, really.
>
> Your intrepid reporter,
> Mark Lipton

Wow, sounds like a great meal! Although at that level somm should know basics. Actually sounds like nice selections, too young but that is standard in restaurants.