Overall a good meal, but lacked a wow factor that would lead me to return. With a myriad of fine dining options in Chicago, I would not recommend a trip to next for this menu at this price point. The ingredients lack luxury and the plates do not make up for it with taste, some plates were complete misses.
At $360pp after tax and tip (without booze), I cannot recommend spending your money on this menu.
The service was fine but certainly short of the magical and whimsical experiences I’ve had at the likes of Ever or Ormer Mayfair.
It was also very hot outside and there didn’t seem to be much AC inside, I was fairly warm throughout the meal.
Plate reviews:
Rabbit liver mouse – Sweet, salty, acidic, irony, herbaceous paired very will with the parm breadstick, very unique bite. 9/10.
Oyster – 30 years aged meat, tasted like extremely good pepperoni, paired well with Chicago pepper and a dollop of something I can’t put my finger on. 8/10
Hamachi fish and chips- very good blend of textures, some sweet, some salty with an acidic sauce on top of a tempura element. 7.5/10
Carpaccio salad – very tasty. Basil Parmesan foam on top with marinated cucumber, red tomato, and something crunchy inside. Like the best bite of a margarita pizza you could ever have over and over again. Outstanding. 10/10
Green goddess salad – caper based salad with cured egg yolk shaved on top. Too salty, not enough yolk to balance out salt from caper. Pretty bad, and I love salt. 4/10
Sablefish – delicious perfectly cooked fish, amazing dashi chip and sauce, placed on top of shishito peppers that did not belong on the dish, we ate around the peppers, otherwise incredible 7/10
Tortellini with multiple meats on a cherry racing strip. Deep and flavorful brother, tasty and well presented. Very comforting, could eat a whole bowl with very familiar flavors. Not mind blowing. 7/10
Steak in 3 sauces on top of much aprons. Outstanding flavors when all 3 sauces mixed together, rub on steak was peppery / Smokey. Perfectly cooked meat, very tender and substantial. Very good main, perhaps a bit busy, not particularly luxurious. 7.5/10
Cheddar 5 ways – too salty, tastes like Mac and cheese from a box 4/10
Lemon tart – delicious, not particularly unique or luxurious. 7.5/10
Foie gras pop – too rich, too sweet, was unable to finish this, but clever and unique. The accompanying cake was delicious. 5.5/10
by tinkstockman
7 Comments
Is this supposed to be an Osteria Francescana tribute act?
Apologies for the many typos. Copy pasted from my notes a bit lazy and spell check on mobile is a pain for me. Beef served on top of mushrooms, not aprons 🙂
Next is highly variable. We were long time season ticket holders until this year. We’ve had amazing meals and underwhelming meals there. For us, the variety of styles and influences kept us coming back. We didn’t renew this year because they raised their prices, the concepts didn’t pull us in, and, most importantly, we have small children so we don’t get out as often anymore — committing half of our dining for the year to a single restaurant is challenging.
Interestingly, 2 of our favorite meals there over the years have been tributes — José Andrés and Bobby Flay (did not expect this one!).
TY for the review, detail, and opinion. Please keep it up. Appreciated.
Agree with a previous comment that Next is highly, highly variable menu-to-menu, with recent concepts being more miss than hit. Living in Chicago, my approach has been to hold off on booking a reservation at a new concept there until it has proven to be good.
Also, not sure when you went, but for what it’s worth we’ve had a run of abnormally hot days here in Chicago lately that has challenged the HVAC systems of a lot of places. Valhalla’s AC went out during service last week and my new-ish build luxury apartment building is currently struggling as well.
We’re going next season for the “Outer Space” themed menu. It could be great or it could be a disaster, but either way, it should make for a funny story. (will be our second visit – the Julia Child menu was very lovingly done)
Glad you liked the dashi chips. I make about 120 of those everyday. And the grissini