Mr Sharkie and I had the pleasure of dining at Next last night for their vegan menu. For those of you unfamiliar with Next, it is the sister restaurant of Alinea, and they change their menu and theme about 4 times per year. Past menus have been themes such as Paris, Childhood and Sicily.
Upon sitting down, we were greeted with a card explaining the premise behind offering a vegan menu. Essentially, the menu is not about showcasing the "meat is murder" philosophy, but instead being challenged to showcase vegetables in a new venue, and to challenge perceptions of vegan cuisine.
Short version: the menu knocked my socks off. It's the first purposeful vegan meal I've had, and every perception of vegan cuisine I've had has been thrown out the window.
Long version (and yes, we went with the pairings):
The meal begins with what the waiters can only describe as an onslaught of appetizers, aptly named "starters and burnt avocado" on the menu.
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| A lot of courses were served on rocks and pieces of wood |
- Burnt avocado - this was smothered on the top of a rock. It was like really complex guacamole spread. It was eaten with a cracker that was hidden in a plant tree on the table
- Kale bouquet - little crispy bit on top of the burnt avocado - very yummy
- Sprouted tempeh
- Frozen baked potato - this was a crispy purple potato skin with a potato sorbet inside. It was an amazing combination of hot/cold and crispy/creamy. One of my favorite bites of the evening
- Nori dumpling
- Earl grey rambutan
- Baby artichoke - three ways. The plate was full of roasted artichoke leaves, then they essentially made a "twice baked artichoke."
This course was served with Chauteau Moncontour Brut from Vouvray. A delicious sparkling wine. Kept trying to get seconds
Fermented apples and lichen - cubes of apple with apple sorbet. Really delicious transition into dinner.
This course was served with house fermented apple cider vinegar. Really tasty.
Lily pond - I like when the centerpiece on my table is involved in my dinner. There was a little square glass box on the table with floating flowers and a candle. The waiter came over and scooped some of the microgreens that were in the box (a combo of water and vinegar apparently) and then incorporated them into the dish.
Fennel with white cherry - One of the more fun dishes of the night. It was served on a clear plate that had a bulb on the bottom. The bulb was full of a bubbling liquid that turned out to be the pairing for the dish. It was bubbling due to liquid nitrogen. We were given metal straws to drink the liquid while eating the dish on the plate. The dish was a combo of fennel puree, roasted fennel and pickled fennel.
Salsifies with oyster and dandelion - This dish was done two ways. There was a charred salsify root on one side that was served with dandelion leaves, and then a sous vide piece of salsify on the other side that was served with this delightful green puree. I still don't know what salsify is, but it's tasty!
This course was paired with a Guy Breton Regnie Beaujolais that we've loving nicknamed the blackberry outhouse wine.
Swiss chard and douchi - Also done two ways. There was a tempura chard on one side with a red sauce and a sauteed chard on the other side that had yummy puffed rice and other yummies with it.
Kombu atoll - I don't remember this course. But I did just learn on google that Kombu means seaweed. Oh wait! I remember! This dish was an awesome piece of tofu skin and seaweed in a broth that had this weird jelly consistency. Odd textures, but pretty good.
Paired with Scholium Project Gemella from California. Per the sommelier, it's a winery that makes wine by buying the oldest crappiest grapes they can get. Consider the solid (terrible) sell by the sommelier, it was't that terrible.
I probably forgot about it because I was distracted by the:
Mushroom cart! The waiter appeared at our table with one of those carts they use to showcase steak cuts/cheese/desserts at fancy restaurants. Instead of those non-vegan things, the cart contained different kinds of mushrooms. We were told that these mushrooms would be featured in our next course. Which was an AMAZING mushroom risotto made with farro instead of rice. It was Mr Sharkie's favorite course of the night. He's still talking about it today.
This course was paired with Parusso barolo. Hands down my favorite wine of the night. But that's because I'm a barolo whore.
Red onion/Inspired by Stupak - Probably my favorite course of the evening. Slow cooked caramelized red onions. Delicious!
Paired with Schlumberger Grand Cru. I get confused when I have to switch back and forth between red wine and white wine. But overall a tasty pinot gris.
Curry roasted cauliflower - Another fun course. We were able to garnish our own dishes using clear tubes full of cashew crumbles. Served with Next-made naan.
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| Yeah. I did the plate decorating! |
Olive oil jam and black truffle - This was a two-parter. We were given a spoon with a minuscule bite on it. It turned out to be a palate cleansing Szechwan peppercorn. I HATE all things menthol-esque in food, so my tongue was displeased with this bite. The truffle crumble made up for it. The perfect conversion from dinner to dessert
Dessert was paired with a wine cocktail containing lambrusco, mezcal and carpano antica. Very refreshing and paired great with dessert
Hibiscus and pistachio - one of the famous deconstructed desserts, very Alinea like. This was served on a tree stump and contained hibiscus sugar, pistachio cake, and a couple of liquid nitrogen frozen nuggets, one of which was bursting with vanilla sauce. So tasty...
Sweet potato nest - like thanksgiving. This bite started out really weird, but got better once the sweet potato broke down a little.
Aerated chocolate with passionfruit - this was awesome. It tasted like a dark chocolate truffle.
Overall, this meal was amazing! I've been worried that the Next hype has been played out, but dinner last night restored my faith that good things are still to come.
I should also probably mention that we were offered a tour of the kitchen, which we jumped on. It wasn't so much a tour as awkwardly standing around a tiny kitchen, but I got a chance to interview Chef Dave Beran about running (see! It IS a running blog after all!!)
Sharkie: So...you running the marathon this year?
CDB: Yep, Chicago. And I know a guy who says he can get me a last entry into New York
Sharkie: I'm running NewYork too (while thinking that it must be nice to know a guy)!
CDB: If New York goes well, I'm also doing Columbus
Sharkie: You know, they have a club for people who really like running that many marathons, it's called the Marathon Maniacs
CDB: Let's not get crazy
We also talked about other more important things like why he's not bring the Childhood menu back, and what's up Next at Next.
I'm excited for Bocuse D'Or in November!!
