- Michael Goss
- Chef Dave Beran preparing tom yam
Next
953 W. Fulton Ave.Chicago, IL 60607
Fulton Market
312-226-0858
nextrestaurant.com
Hours: Dinner: Wednesday-Sunday
Closed Monday, Tuesday
Our Review
I stood in the kitchen at Next, watching executive chef Dave Beran prepare the iconic papaya salad som tam, the third course in his Tour of Thailand, the second incarnation of Grant Achatz and Nick Kokonas's ever adaptive restaurant. Beran deftly julienned green mango and papaya using the same treacherous crosshatching technique thousands of Bangkok street vendors employ, before tossing and pounding it further, and arranging it in upturned crab shells. Back at the table it wasn't nearly as spicy or funky as I normally prefer, but he'd achieved something I've never been able to: a perfect balance of salty, sweet, sour, and hot. It just goes to show that if any kitchen is capable of taking on the fundamentals of an entirely new cuisine in one month, it's probably this one. The Tour of Thailand begins with a selection of dainty street food bites constructed and garnished with Alinea-like precision but served on newsprint, with plastic utensils and pink paper napkins. After a few small grilled, skewered bites and the papaya salad, the street food conceit is swept away, replaced by a cloth table setting colored to correspond with deities and planets associated with whatever day of the week you happen to be touring. What follows is a series of surprisingly straightforward renditions of familiar dishes: pad thai, tom yam, catfish and curry courses. But in the middle is an array of relishes meant to be eaten with jasmine rice, not something one normally encounters in Western Thai restaurants—if ever—yet presenting some of the tour's most pugnacious and enjoyable flavors. For dessert, there's another jaw-dropping dish: whole coconuts filled with five sweets including corn pudding, coconut ice, candied lime, licorice tapioca pearls, and sugared egg strands cooked in saffron and star anise syrup. Then the paradigm shifts back to street food, and diners are sent off with plastic baggies filled with milky sweet tea. Read the full review >> Read the full review of Next: Paris >> Read the full review of Next: Childhood >>
Price: $$$$
Payment Type: MasterCard, Visa, AmEx, Discover
Related Stories
-
People Issue 2012:
Martin Kastner, the craftsman"I had no desire to be an artist. I thought art was all ego."
- Dec 19, 2012
-
Key Ingredient: cashew apples
Dave Beran of Next straightens out an "off-balance" false fruit
- Dec 12, 2012
-
Best Chef
Grant Achatz (Alinea, Next, the Aviary)
- Jun 20, 2012
-
Our favorite restaurants of 2011
From three iterations of Next to the humble pies of Bridgeport
- Dec 29, 2011
-
The wonder years at Next
With their third menu, Grant Achatz and Dave Beran revisit childhood
- Dec 1, 2011
-
More...
Reviews/comments (3)
Showing 1-3 of 3
