Cuisine: Thai (Until the end of September)
Location: 953 W Fulton Market, Chicago, IL
Price: $$$$
Food: ****
Service: *****
Overall: **** (These ratings reflect the Tour of Thailand
menu only)
At the James Beard Award ceremony in May 2010, Grant Achatz
announced that he would be opening his second restaurant, after the critically
acclaimed Alinea – Next, a restaurant that would change cuisines, time periods,
and menu every three months, so drastically that he would essentially run four
completely different restaurants a year with no common thread between each,
except perhaps for the staff and the brick and mortar that housed this radical
concept. Over the next few months, the hype built up to unimaginable
proportions – before it had even officially opened its doors to the public,
Next was preemptively named one of the best dining locales in Chicago by some
publications. As soon as the ticketing system was revealed and the tickets
released in April for Paris 1906, Next’s inaugural menu, Next immediately shot
to the top of the list for places where reservations (or tickets, here) were
both coveted and considered unattainable for the mere mortal1.
If doubters wondered whether Next could meet these wholly
unrealistic expectations, they were silenced when Paris 1906 opened. Chicago
Tribune food critic Phil Vettel gave it four stars (the highest accolade
possible), heaping layers of praise on the restaurant. My taste buds would soon
verify the truckloads of positive reviews from diners – each dish left me with
a lasting impression, from the simple but elegant Salade Irma to the fatty,
buttery, cheesy Gratin de Pommes de Terre a la Dauphinoise paired with the
Caneton Rouennais a la Presse2. Starting
with the hors d’ oeuvres and closing with the mignardises, there wasn’t a
single dish or wine pairing that disappointed. Each dish I had opened my eyes
to a new level of refinement when it came to French classical cooking, and it
instantaneously became one of the best meals I have ever had in my life.
The success of Paris 1906, of course, only caused foodies to
clamor for more and expect even greater things for the next menu. When Tour of
Thailand was announced, people began to speculate how Achatz would put his own
unique spin on Thai food, a culture steeped in the ways of street food and
cheap eats now being transformed into $150 haute cuisine.
I have always considered myself to be well versed in Thai
food – for a more detailed discussion of Thai food as I saw it growing up, you
can read my review of Sukhothai here. So for this menu to impress me, it would
have to be far and beyond the best Thai food I had ever set eyes upon in order
to match the standard that Paris 1906 had set.
And so it was, armed with an empty stomach and high
expectations, I found myself dining at Next once again a few weeks ago.
The progression of the menu is meant to simulate a day spent
in Thailand – starting from sampling street food from vendors and moving into a
nice restaurant for some more refined dishes. To this point, we are asked to
take the newspapers (in Thai, of course) laid on the table and spread them out,
so as to further authenticate the experience of eating in the streets of
Thailand while simultaneously sitting inside an air conditioned room in Midwest
United States.
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| Clockwise, from left: Roasted Banana, Fermented Sausage, Sweet Shrimp, Steamed Pork Bun, Prawn Cake |
Shortly after, our Tour of Thailand begins. Our meal starts
with a street food platter, consisting of various foods vendors there might
sell. The high point of the platter is undoubtedly the roasted banana – the
banana is subtly sweet, and is well balanced by the crunch of the garlic, the
acid of the pickled shallots, and the pungent kick that the cilantro blooms
give it. From the artfully placed chili curlicues to the color contrast, the
banana, while being just a small bite, is an absolute winner and shows how Next
can elevate cuisine to a level beyond what one might come to expect.
However, this is countered by the low point – a steamed pork
bun that our server jokingly claims has been shipped in from Wow Bao because
they ran out. The inspiration, he goes on to note, comes from the Chinese who
used to be settled in Thailand that left part of their food culture with the
Thai. As someone who grew up eating steamed pork buns, my expectations are
through the roof. Will the bun come close to matching the bite sized wonder
that is Din Tai Fung’s Xiao Long Bao? Will it be light, fluffy, and airy and
make my tongue dance with excitement with a taste of home? The answer is a very
resounding no. The bun is too heavy, and overpowers the taste of the delicate
pork inside. As a result, it soaks up much of the juices and renders the bite
more doughy than it should be, ruining the balance between the bun and the pork
that is supposed to impart its juicy flavor upon the entire bite. Snobbish as
this might make me sound, I truly believe that buns of this quality are a dime
a dozen in Taiwan. I realize that it is almost impossible as a foreigner to
spend a few short weeks studying a cuisine and then not only replicate it but go
above and beyond, but unfortunately such is the high standards that Next has
set for itself, and such are the expectations that I have been led to having,
from the hype machine and my past experience there.
The rest of the platter is better than the pork bun, but
still falls short of my lofty hopes for the meal – I love the shrimp on a mint
leaf, which pairs the fresh cold shrimp with the cool minty aftertaste the
garnish gives it. But neither the prawn cake or fermented sausage leave a
lasting impression with me. It is not that they are poor dishes – both are
tasty and the majority of Thai restaurants would probably be proud to serve
those and call it their own. But Next is not the majority of restaurants, and
the street food pales in comparison to the hors d’ oeuvres the Paris menu
presented as a start.
After the platter, the newspaper is removed and tablecloths
placed on the table, as our meal moves into the restaurant portion. We begin
with a twist on the traditional Tom Yum Soup, a hot and sour broth with pork
belly, tomato, and kaffir lime. All the traditional tastes of Tom Yum Soup are
noticeably present, from the distinct flavor of the lime leaf to the
simultaneously spicy and sour taste the broth leaves on my taste buds. However,
the pork belly adds another layer onto the dish, by giving the broth a little
more body. The pork is fork tender and melts in my mouth, imparting a bite
fully of fatty goodness that commingles with the already complex flavors of the
broth. This is the kind of dish I was looking for, something that draws
inspiration from a well known staple of Thai food culture but adds a unique
twist that makes it even better. In the future, I will request all Tom Yum
soups to be served with a big fatty tender piece of pork belly.
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| L-R: Salted Duck Egg, Chili blend, Pickled Fruits and Vegetables |
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| Our friends Chili (green) and Funky (red), and the accompanying rice |
The soup was followed by rice and relish, which, as the name
implies, is simply steamed jasmine rice with accompanying relishes. The
relishes: salted duck egg, pickled fruits (mango, predominatly), and a spicy
chili/ shallot/ garlic blend. Two sauces are also served with them – one called
“Chili” (can you guess why?), and one called “Funky” because of the heavy
presence of fish sauce. Funky ends up being a big hit with the table –
something about the tang of the fish sauce keeps me going back and shoveling
the sauce and rice into my mouth. The salted duck egg also pairs well with the
rice, giving the fragrant jasmine rice excellent flavor. Just with those two
simple components, Next creates a very impressive dish out of simple
ingredients. However the course is not without flaws; The pickled mango is on
the sweet side, and “Chili” tastes like completely untreated green chilies that
one might find in curry sauce. The chili isn’t spicy or tangy or a kick at the
end – it is simply a dry heat that lingers in my mouth, coating it with the
taste of raw chilies.
The relishes remain on the table for the coming dishes,
allowing us to pair them with the next few courses at our leisure. First up is
catfish, braised in a caramel sauce with celery and coriander root. For me, I’ve
only ever had catfish prepared southern-style – that is, fried, in a po boy, or
served as a filet with remoulade. This catfish just might be the most tender
fish I’ve ever had – then I remember that two months ago Next served me a filet
of sole that also blew my mind. In any case, the catfish is beautifully
prepared, with the tender flesh almost falling off the fish and melding with
the slightly sweet sauce and crispness of the celery and coriander root.
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| Best curry. EVER. Don't even try and argue with me. |
We are then served what is, in my opinion, the crown jewel
of the meal – a braised beef cheek coconut curry accented with nutmeg and
lemongrass. The first thing that strikes me is how large the portion is – there
is plenty of beef cheek to go around, with several humongous chunks floating
around the curry as if they are languishing in the pool on a sunny summer
afternoon. I start with the curry sauce – the nutmeg gives it a distinctly
sweet flavor that matches the coconut well, and the sauce is creamy and silky
smooth, cloaking the rice with a brilliant taste that hits all of my taste buds
simultaneously. Then I have the beef cheek. Served in big chunks, the meat is
so tender that no knife comes with the course – the fork slices through the
beef, shredding it into bite sized pieces. And oh, my goodness, how good the
beef cheek is. A cut of meat that is usually tough and chewy because of the
muscles in the cheek, whatever magic Next has imparted onto the meat has turned
this lean cut of meat into a fatty piece of wonder bursting with flavor. Mixed
in with the curry, I am relatively certain the dish represents everything that
is right with the world and has the ability to bring about nuclear disarmament
and world peace simultaneously. Or something to that effect. You think I’m
exaggerating, but this is a description that really can’t be understood unless
you’ve had the experience of eating this exquisite dish.
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| The tabe is presented with this... |
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| Which we split open to reveal this. |
At this point, I’m more or less stuffed – determined not to
let any of that beef cheek go to waste, I clean my plate and get ready to do
battle with dessert. The waiter brings four huge coconuts to the table,
providing us with a little more audience participation for our meal. Per his
instructions, we split the coconut in half, revealing two separate desserts –
on one side, coconut water sorbet, on the other, some molecular gastronomic
magic, in the form of freeze-dried corn and coconut, egg noodles with saffron
threads, and licorice pearls3. Yet
another lesson in Next’s ability to conjure up out-of-this-world dishes. The
coconut water sorbet is amazingly refreshing, capturing that feeling of
drinking fresh coconut water but freezing it to make it a delectable dessert.
The other half involves so many components, but all work together wonderfully –
from the small bites of corn and coconut to the sweet noodles and licorice
pearls giving the dessert some body. The dish isn’t overly sweet, rather making
up for it by being a very cold dessert and stimulating my taste buds in a very
different fashion.
The coconut extravaganza is followed by some dragon fruit accented
with rose water, another light dessert that highlights the original taste of
dragon fruit. The idea is good and the flavors go well, but here it strikes me
that the dragon fruit isn’t as tender or juicy as its Southeast Asian brethren,
where the tropics breeds amazingly delicious fruit year round. As a result, the
dish suffers slightly, another problem with trying to cross geographic
boundaries by tackling a different culture’s cuisine.
Finally, our meal comes to an end with bags of Thai Iced
Tea, served street style. There is nothing too special about this Thai Iced Tea
– like most others that I’ve had, its got a distinctly sweet flavor that I
love, a unique taste that isn’t like any other drink I’ve had. I’m impressed
with the authentic taste of the drink, but again, that’s to be expected at an
establishment like Next.
Final Thoughts: Again, Next manages to do amazing things on
short notice with their very limited resources. The highlights produces some of
the best Thai food I’ve ever eaten – the beef cheek curry is without a doubt my
absolute favorite curry dish ever, and the coconut dessert and catfish are
other courses that I’ll be replaying in my head and trying to taste mentally
for a long time to come. However, the meal is sullied by some weak points,
which Paris 1906 did not exhibit, perhaps because the subject at hand was far
more familiar to Chef Achatz. Between the ho hum street food display and some
unimpressive dishes, I didn’t get the absolute world-class meal that I expected.
But although Next’s Tour of Thailand fell victim to its overbearing hype that
it shouldn’t have been expected to match up to, it is important to underscore
that this meal was still wonderful and well worth the price. All things said, I
eagerly anticipate their future menus when they return to Achatz’ wheelhouse –
perhaps when they trot out the Sicily menu for some ultra-fine dining Italian.
1. An entirely
false belief, based on the fact that through some dumb luck and perseverance to
slug it out amongst the Facebook masses, I’ve been able to score tickets to
both menus without too much trouble at all. Of course, I did have to stare at
my computer screen waiting for the announcement that tickets were released for
hours at a time.↩
2. These names
come from Auguste Escoffier’s cookbook, considered to be the bible of classical
French cooking. In plain English, these would be a lightly dressed salad in
lemon vinaigrette, the most buttery (butteriest?) potato gratin you could ever imagine, and
duck dressed with a sauce that came from a duck press, or essence of duck as I
like to imagine it being. ↩
3. The most
amazing part about this dish is that we split the coconut and were greeted with two separate desserts, not one gloppy mess on one side and an empty shell
on the other. Magic, I tell you.↩
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