In September we travelled back to Chicago for our third dinner of the year at Next Restaurant (see my
previous post for some history on the restaurant). The theme this month was Bocuse d’Or, a tribute to the international food competition and also the chef Paul Bocuse.
The Bocuse d’Or is an international cooking competition conceived by legendary French chef Paul Bocuse that occurs every two years in Lyon, France. Countries send their teams to compete and are required to prepare both a fish dish and a meat dish in front of several judges (plus a raucous live audience, giving it the feel of an Olympic event). The finished dishes must not only be executed to perfection, but must also be aesthetically unique and include specific elements from each chef's home country. The USA hasn’t ever placed very high in the competition so Chefs Thomas Keller, Daniel Boulud, and Grant Achatz (chef at Next and Alinea) became involved recently to mentor the American teams in the hopes of improving their performance. Chef Achatz's experience with coaching the USA team is what inspired him to create a Bocuse d’Or and Chef Bocuse tribute menu using Midwestern ingredients as the basis for many of the dishes.
Here’s the
link to the teaser video.
As usual we stopped at The Aviary for a quick drink before our dinner. We were lucky to have a table right in front of their kitchen, so we could see all the beautiful drink creations coming out of the kitchen. Not only are their drinks amazing, but the presentation and method of serving is so incredible!
After our drinks, we were led through to Next and it was a totally different atmosphere than it has been in the past (which is the whole point of Next – the spirit of change). Flags from competing countries were hanging from the ceiling and flat screen TVs had been mounted on either end of the restaurant showing video from the most recent Bocuse d’Or competition.
Our first dish was on the table when we arrived, a small red crock filled with a beautiful veal terrine. We were given an amazing cippolini onion marmalade and a basket of bread to accompany the terrine, and it was superb! The cippolini onion marmalade may have been the favorite part of the dish at our table, but it was all amazing. The dish was served with a Sazerac - a cocktail containing rye, Peychaud's Bitters, simple syrup, and a bit of absinthe. The absinthe was brought to the table in a perfume bottle next to the glass and we were instructed to use two sprays into our glasses. The flavors in the cocktail are all things I pretty much hate, so I didn’t partake too much in this one. But the general consensus at the table was that it was very good, and after adding the absinthe the cocktail completely changed its flavor profile. There were rye flavors in the terrine so I’m sure they complimented each other very well. We were given a very generous serving of the terrine, and as much as we wanted to finish it, we knew we had a long way to go and sadly left about half in the crock.
 |
| Terrine with Sazerac and Absinthe |
The next course was a caviar dish beautiful presented on four stacked gold lined plates. The presentation was extravagant (and apparently a nod to classic French presentation) but the little bite was perfection. The caviar was served on top of a whipped beurre blanc with pine nuts and served in a crispy ciabatta cup. It was salty, crunchy, creamy and perfect!
 |
| Caviar in a ciabatta cup |
Our next course was a beautiful Madeira aspic (think: refined jello) with a darden ham mousse in the middle. This is also a very classic French dish and was perfection. The ham was wonderfully salty and the greens on the side brought a delightful freshness to the dish.
 |
| Madeira aspic with darden ham |
A soufflé of prawns followed and it was incredible. The soufflé was light and fluffy and the flavors in the prawn were perfectly southern, but not spicy.
 |
| Souffle of Prawns |
Our next dish included a bit of theatrics. When we originally arrived there was a single rose on the table, and we know that Grant Achataz doesn’t approve of anything on the table unless it’s useful in the meal. So at some point, we knew the rose would be involved – and we were right! The server brought a tray that had a small container of liquid nitrogen and dunked the rose in it! It made the rose freeze immediately and when she pulled the rose out she crushed petals into a bowl, which was then used in the dish in front of us. The dish was a foie gras dish, but the foie gras was prepared almost as crumbs, I would guess liquid nitrogen was also used in this preparation. White chocolate and cauliflower were included in the dish and it all was just perfection. Another blogger called it edible poetry, and I have to agree, it was beautiful!
 |
| Foie Gras Dish |
 |
| Liquid Nitrogen |
 |
| Rose Before |
 |
| Rose After |
The final dish of the appetizer portion of the menu was a grilled romaine, and it was a deviation from a mostly French inspired menu. The dish included shaved bonito flakes, bottarga (cured fish roe), and peanuts. I think the consensus at the table was that it was one of our least favorite dishes, but I did enjoy it and thought the flavors were really refreshing after the mostly heavy dishes we’d up to that point.
 |
| Grilled Romaine |
While we were eating this course, all of a sudden the lights came up in the restaurant and the volume from the video (basically a cheering crowd) was turned up – it was time for the presentation of the platters! The creation of platters is a huge part of the Bocuse d’Or, and each country is required to prepare two platters that are not only beautifully assembled but tasty. Next went above and beyond and created three platters, all previews of the main courses we were about to enjoy.
First was a trout and egg platter:
 |
| Trout Platter (From Next's website) |
Followed by a smoked pheasant on top of a smouldering pile of hay:
 |
| Pheasant Platter |
And finally, a ribeye platter (which I learned later included elements honoring Chicago as a center of publishing – including typeset letters and a paper cutter.)
 |
| Beef Platter |
Following the platters, we received our first fish dish – trout with soft eggs, apparently an homage to a favorite dish of Dave Beran’s (Chef de Cuisine) growing up in Michigan. I know Chad and I really disliked this dish (hate is such a strong word), and the general consensus was that it was our least favorite of all the dishes that night. Trout isn’t my favorite dish to begin with, and the consistency of the fish was basically raw (although it had been cooked in some way, smoked I think.) The plate also had green blueberries, which I thought were really bitter and tart, and didn’t add anything to the plate. However there were a couple amazing components on the plate. There was something crunchy with trout roe and it was salty, crunchy and amazing! I was recently reading blogs to refresh my memory and I’ve now learned it was deep fried trout skeleton, glad I didn’t know that when I was enjoying it so much. Also, there was a sphere of olive oil curd, amazing! There was also an edible “egg shell,” which was edible, I just can’t remember what it was made out of.
 |
| Trout with Soft Eggs |
The next dish was another fish dish featuring salmon. The platter was fascinating – half of a hallowed out log that contained burning aromatics, adding a wonderful smoke to the plate. The salmon was incredible and with a beautiful consistency. We all agreed that it had to have been done in the sous vide, it was perfect.
 |
| Smoldering Salmon |
The following dish took us back to French classics – a mushroom consommé with a puff pastry top. Homemade puff pastry is always a treat, and of course Next’s was amazing! We always seem to get some kind of consommé at Next, and this was hands down the favorite we’ve ever had there. The consommé, mushrooms, and puff pastry all mixed together were incredible.
 |
| Mushroom Consomme |
After the soup we received our first meat dish, this one based on the pheasant platter we had seen brought through the dining room. The pheasant was cut in a beautiful triangle and covered in a sauce blanquette. The plate also included a small pastry cup that had ground pheasant in it (which I didn’t know until later, but it was tasty). It was all beautifully done and delicious.
 |
| Pheasant |
And then came our favorite dish, and quite possibly the best steak and potatoes I’ve ever had in my life. This dish also came from one of the platters. The stars of the plate were a small medallion of beef and marrow mashed potatoes served in a bone (like bone marrow typically is). I could’ve bathed in the marrow mashed potatoes, they were heavenly, and none of us could get enough!
 |
| Steak with Marrow Potatoes |
The cheese course that followed was equally mind blowing. First they brought glass spheres filled with cashews, pear and something creamy. Then they brought the cheese (Tete de Moine) to the table and essentially shaved off long shavings that looked like pencil shavings and put them in the spheres. The cheese was just slightly stinky and was a beautiful pairing with the sweet and nutty components in the sphere.
 |
| Cheese Course |
The first dessert course was a play on apple pie a la mode (or deconstructed apple pie). The latticed pie crust was standing on the plate, a slightly burned marshmallow coated the plate, and the ice cream was a quartered piece of a bombe. It may be one of the sweeter desserts we’ve had a Next. Delish!
 |
| Apple Pie a la mode |
The last dessert course included savory and sweet components of squash, pecans and oatmeal cookie. The squash was made into a cube and the little gift inside was almost like the filling of a pecan pie. This was served with an egg cream, which I thought was just too heavy this late in the meal.
 |
| Squash Dessert |
We
ended as we always do with mignardises. We had something similar to a tootsie roll,
macaroons and a chocolate truffle.
 |
| Mignardises |
This
was by far one of the best dinner’s we’ve attended at Next, every dish was spot
on, and the one dish I didn’t like, was because I just really don’t like trout
(especially smoked). It was, as always, an amazing experience! This was the
last of our season and I’m looking forward to hear what the next themes will
be. Rumor is a steakhouse theme might be one of them, yum, yum, yum!
{Contributed by the Hostess with the Mostess of our Denver Supper Club}
