So here we go, my sixth year of Next. I can't believe that it's been that long, in fact by complete happenstance this meal was five years to the day from my first meal there back in 2012.
The theme for this meal was Ancient Rome with dishes inspired by the writings of Apicius and Roman cook that published his receipes in the 4th or 5th century AD.
The initial plate setting, with some components of the first course as well as the opening cocktail for the second course.
There was a big tableside production of this and the waiter indicated that it was their chemistry experiment. This started out with a concoction of red cabbage juice which apparently is a good natural indicator of acids and bases. Red cabbage is naturally acidic which is why it's purple. The liquid was filtered through the rose petals, cinnamon and other items you see in the middle of the first picture. These items act as a filter and remove a lot of the acidity in the cabbage. Then a mixture of mead, armagnac and several other things are added and you get this;
The first two savory courses were salads two ways. On the right is a prepared salad of honey, cabbage, apple and grape. On the right is a raw salad of baby radish and other herbs with a melon vinaigrette. Two very solid bites to get the meal going.
The next two bites. On the wheat stalk is an oyster suspended in a pomegranate aspic over a thin little pancake. The other dish is a mussel rillette with safron and lardo. They oyster was delicious sweet and interesting. The mussel was flat, gritty and nasty.
The fifth course was presented in a pile of rose petals. This is a rose petal pastry almost with a puree of white asparagus and rosemary inside. Another very fantastic early bite.
Now it was time to really have some fun. In the bowl is a puree of beets and thyme. Suspended over the bowl on the sword, yes I said sword, is a chunk of black truffle wrapped in crispy chicken skin. Once this is on the table another waiter comes out and pours in a charred beet consomme. We ate the black truffle first and then drank the soup out of the bowl. An absolute homerun of a dish.
This was a dish that highlighted Roman preservation techniques. The protein of the dish is a pickled striped bass served with a smoked mascarpone cheese, this was topped with crispy chick peas, fried enoki mushrooms and chickpea foam. This was a very good dish with lots of fun textures.
This was by far the biggest "trick" of the night. They brought out this smoking hot clay pot that had coals, wheat and some other stuff in it with a dough ball. This was then covered and they baked bread table side to be served along a later course.
We now enter a dish that highlights Roman oppulance. On the left is a poached prawn tail that is layered with thinly sliced olives. On the right is a shrimp flavored creme fraiche topped with greens and walnuts. The prawn tail was amazing, the salad was good but nothing incredibly memorable.
This course is pickled red cabbage leaves, over top of a foam (possibly butternut squash) served over top of leeks. Again, not a ton memorable about this course except that it was highly acidic in a very good way since I do love vinegar.
At this point the bread was cooked and they cut it using the string it was wrapped in. It was seasoned with beef fat, poppy seeds and fennel seeds.
One of the best plates of the night and probably the best tasting dish. This is a pan roasted half quail that was lovingly stuffed with all of the innards of the bird. This was served over lovage which is an herbaceous plant similar to parsley.
I believe this dish was designed to mimick foraging. This is a perfectly cooked piece of venison and then the plate is sprinkled with chestnuts. Love love love venison so naturally I loved this dish.
This was the final savory course that was centered around oxtail. Oxtail is one of those proteins that I don't cook nearly enough. It's unique enough to satisfy the foodie in me, when cooked right it has the texture of pot roast but has so much more flavor, and it's easy to cook and cheap. What's not to love. This one was served with turnips, horseradish and nasturtium as garnish and served in a hot bowl of aromatic salt that included cinnamon and cloves. This was a very nice was to end the meal.
Meals like this always include a transitional course to take you from the last usually very heavy final savory course to desert. This version is artichoke, Carob and citrus. I don't have much thought on how this one tasted, but I do remember reading a blurb online that artichoke was chosen for this dish because some of the natural things in artichoke act as natural palate cleansers
The first of two deserts, this is goat cheese, honey and fennel.
The final few bites of the night in another ode to how Romans feasted. No we did not eat this entire bowl. In the foreground is an apricot taffy. On top of the apple in the background is an apple semifreddo and in the the that you can't really sea is a hazelnut bite.
Overall, I thoroughly enjoyed this meal, though I will say that at times I had a hard time hearing the staff describe the dishes which is why some of my descriptions were a bit short. But overall, a very solid way to start the year out. I will be back in July for the Hollywood theme in which the restaurant will take inspiration from food scenes in the movies. Can't wait.
