Dinner at Next: Terroir
Aaron and I are pretty smitten with Next, the Grant Achatz restaurant that completely changes it concept, decor, and menu every four months. We're just a few hours away from dinner at what we consider to be one of the best restaurants in the country, so we take advantage of it for special occasions. This special occasion was our five-year wedding anniversary, which coincided with the Terroir menu—a wine-focused menu. While it was the priciest meal we've had at Next (our third, so far), it was also the best. Every single dish was on point.
The meal started with a bunch of little bites that were all delivered to the table at once, and I was in a hurry to photograph them before I could dig in. These were little croquettes of créme fraîche topped with char roe. Absolutely delicious.
Floating above the table was a a prosciutto chip with honey and lemon. If I could afford to eat like this every day, I would want a bag of them to munch on the couch. And then I'd probably die of a heart attack because I wouldn't be able to stop eating them.
This was the last of the five bites that were delivered simultaneously to start the meal—caramelized onion with chicken skin and heart. I wanted to march around the restaurant chanting, "THIS IS WHAT UMAMI TASTES LIKE."
After finishing the bites, we had three wines delivered to the table—all the same style, from various parts of the world.
The trio of wines accompanied smoked sturgeon with charred scallions, white peanut butter, and peanuts (which were sprinkled over the dish after we finished the bite from the prior course. Yes, fish and peanuts. It worked. It worked so well.
Next up was a consommé of barley with arugula and montasio. I'm not going to lie, when I struggled to get the last of the consommé out, I picked up the bowl and slurped. That thing sticking out is a barley chip. And the black glass behind it holds a Scioppettino. Apparently the color can be off-putting to diners so they serve it in a black glass for a blind tasting.
Next we were presented with little bits of squab with beets (at least 3 ways) and fennel. So good. I want it back. And I want to know how they managed to do those shoestring beets on the top.
The following course was delivered to our table as smoke wafted from it. This dish was served stop dry ice. It's pear (in liquid form) within a blue cheese sphere. My mouth didn't know what was going on, but definitely liked it.
It was time for the champagne course! Prior to visiting, we read a great review in the Chicago Tribune and we'd been looking forward to this part. We were served Krug Grand Cuvée in two different glasses to see how the bubbles changed. The first whimsical pairing was chips and dip. There were potato and beer chips in créme fraîche. I didn't have a chance to finish it all before the staff whisked it away. Turns out this was a bit of a timed course because......
After removing the top of the serving vessel, there was a caviar dish in the middle. More champagne. More amazing tastes. So amazing that I forgot to take a picture until I'd already had a few bites. But it wasn't done yet......
In the bottom of the vessel was popcorn soup with browned butter. The timing, I think, was to make sure this was at the appropriate temperature when we got to it. The soup was amazing—it tasted like all the best things about popcorn. They should offer a small thermos of this at the movie theater concession stand in the winter.
They took away our champagne and replaced it with an Eis Wein Riesling. It paired with some delicious bison and lion's mane mushrooms that were sprinkled with black truffle soil. There were also some macerated cherries hiding in there. This was the first dish I chose not to finish. I was getting full and we weren't in the home stretch yet. Aaron stepped up to the plate and finished my portion.
Next up: himachi, ginger, and fermented goose berry. Both of us avoided most of the cilantro, but this still made for a very tasty dish. Aaron had to eat about half of mine. I was struggling and not keeping up with the wine.
The server explained that this was snails with snail roe, and the snails were raised in a diet of only basil and artichokes about 45 minutes from where the grapes for the Cabernet Sauvignon was grown. I laughed out loud at that because it's ridiculous. But also delicious.
Here's a closeup. There's an artichoke purée at the bottom, basil toasts and snail roe on top, and when you put it all together...snail pizza. Seriously. It tasted like an incredibly rich tomato sauce and the little toasts were like crust. Snail pizza needs to become a thing.
On the left, lamb in an herb tempura. Then smoked, charred carrots, lamb rillette, olives, radish....and they even hid some chocolate in there! This was served in a dome filled with smoke from rosemary branches. Every time it was served around us we got a whiff of campfire. Aaron had to eat at least half of this, which is depressing because it was definitely one of the top five dishes.
Looks like dessert, but it's the cheese course. Molasses cake, cottage cheese, bay. The dish bordered on bitterness, but was served with a raisiny-sweet Madeira. It was a perfect pairing. I was able to finish that wine, which I was unable to do for about the last 4 courses. But wait!! 
The plate was sprayed with white chocolate. I wiped some off with my finger. Yum.
The desserts at Next are always whimsical and delicious. This was frozen flan, tea cookie, carmel white chocolate noodles, saffron, and other tasty goodies. I cleaned my plate in this one.
After our meal, we were invited down to The Office for an after-dinner drink. I was incredibly full, but after watching the table next to us beg to go and get denied, we had to take our chance! The staff in the office are amazing, and make sure you get exactly what you're looking for at that moment. I couldn't even finish my custom cocktail (a riff on a Mezcal tonic), but the experience was wonderful. Another fantastic anniversary meal in the books. Now, do we finally need to suck it up and get Next season tickets? We shall see...
The meal started with a bunch of little bites that were all delivered to the table at once, and I was in a hurry to photograph them before I could dig in. These were little croquettes of créme fraîche topped with char roe. Absolutely delicious.
Next was brussel sprouts with beer and flaxseed. It tasted very earthy, and we were instructed not to touch the bed of peanuts upon which the bite rested.
Topped with a nasturtium leaf (hey! I grow that in my garden) was a parmesan crostini. However, calling this a a simple crostini is severely understating its complexity. It took me five bites to eat this because it was so savory.
Floating above the table was a a prosciutto chip with honey and lemon. If I could afford to eat like this every day, I would want a bag of them to munch on the couch. And then I'd probably die of a heart attack because I wouldn't be able to stop eating them.
This was the last of the five bites that were delivered simultaneously to start the meal—caramelized onion with chicken skin and heart. I wanted to march around the restaurant chanting, "THIS IS WHAT UMAMI TASTES LIKE."
After finishing the bites, we had three wines delivered to the table—all the same style, from various parts of the world.
The trio of wines accompanied smoked sturgeon with charred scallions, white peanut butter, and peanuts (which were sprinkled over the dish after we finished the bite from the prior course. Yes, fish and peanuts. It worked. It worked so well.
Next up was a consommé of barley with arugula and montasio. I'm not going to lie, when I struggled to get the last of the consommé out, I picked up the bowl and slurped. That thing sticking out is a barley chip. And the black glass behind it holds a Scioppettino. Apparently the color can be off-putting to diners so they serve it in a black glass for a blind tasting.
Next we were presented with little bits of squab with beets (at least 3 ways) and fennel. So good. I want it back. And I want to know how they managed to do those shoestring beets on the top.
The following course was delivered to our table as smoke wafted from it. This dish was served stop dry ice. It's pear (in liquid form) within a blue cheese sphere. My mouth didn't know what was going on, but definitely liked it.
It was time for the champagne course! Prior to visiting, we read a great review in the Chicago Tribune and we'd been looking forward to this part. We were served Krug Grand Cuvée in two different glasses to see how the bubbles changed. The first whimsical pairing was chips and dip. There were potato and beer chips in créme fraîche. I didn't have a chance to finish it all before the staff whisked it away. Turns out this was a bit of a timed course because......
After removing the top of the serving vessel, there was a caviar dish in the middle. More champagne. More amazing tastes. So amazing that I forgot to take a picture until I'd already had a few bites. But it wasn't done yet......
In the bottom of the vessel was popcorn soup with browned butter. The timing, I think, was to make sure this was at the appropriate temperature when we got to it. The soup was amazing—it tasted like all the best things about popcorn. They should offer a small thermos of this at the movie theater concession stand in the winter.
They took away our champagne and replaced it with an Eis Wein Riesling. It paired with some delicious bison and lion's mane mushrooms that were sprinkled with black truffle soil. There were also some macerated cherries hiding in there. This was the first dish I chose not to finish. I was getting full and we weren't in the home stretch yet. Aaron stepped up to the plate and finished my portion.
Next up: himachi, ginger, and fermented goose berry. Both of us avoided most of the cilantro, but this still made for a very tasty dish. Aaron had to eat about half of mine. I was struggling and not keeping up with the wine.
The server explained that this was snails with snail roe, and the snails were raised in a diet of only basil and artichokes about 45 minutes from where the grapes for the Cabernet Sauvignon was grown. I laughed out loud at that because it's ridiculous. But also delicious.
Here's a closeup. There's an artichoke purée at the bottom, basil toasts and snail roe on top, and when you put it all together...snail pizza. Seriously. It tasted like an incredibly rich tomato sauce and the little toasts were like crust. Snail pizza needs to become a thing.
On the left, lamb in an herb tempura. Then smoked, charred carrots, lamb rillette, olives, radish....and they even hid some chocolate in there! This was served in a dome filled with smoke from rosemary branches. Every time it was served around us we got a whiff of campfire. Aaron had to eat at least half of this, which is depressing because it was definitely one of the top five dishes.
Looks like dessert, but it's the cheese course. Molasses cake, cottage cheese, bay. The dish bordered on bitterness, but was served with a raisiny-sweet Madeira. It was a perfect pairing. I was able to finish that wine, which I was unable to do for about the last 4 courses. But wait!!
The plate was sprayed with white chocolate. I wiped some off with my finger. Yum.
The desserts at Next are always whimsical and delicious. This was frozen flan, tea cookie, carmel white chocolate noodles, saffron, and other tasty goodies. I cleaned my plate in this one.
After our meal, we were invited down to The Office for an after-dinner drink. I was incredibly full, but after watching the table next to us beg to go and get denied, we had to take our chance! The staff in the office are amazing, and make sure you get exactly what you're looking for at that moment. I couldn't even finish my custom cocktail (a riff on a Mezcal tonic), but the experience was wonderful. Another fantastic anniversary meal in the books. Now, do we finally need to suck it up and get Next season tickets? We shall see...
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