Next: Childhood
It’s been a long time since I asked someone out on a date. The good news is, not a lot has changed in the three years since I bowed out of the single’s market. Doing it by email is best. Make it witty but not labored. Suggest something cool, make a joke, and you’re out (anything more and you sound desperate). Then refresh, refresh, refresh your inbox ‘til they write back.
So it was when I asked M. out way back when — and so it was when I asked Emily if she and her husband Simon would like to join us for dinner at Next while we were in Chicago. It wasn’t out of the blue — we had already talked about “getting drinks” — but dinner is a commitment, we had never met, and they’d already experienced the Childhood menu.
Well, dear reader, she accepted — bells most exuberantly on. (They don’t call her emphasisadded for nothin’.)
And we had such.a.blast!
Quick background: Next is a sister-restaurant to Alinea that openend last year to much excitement and acclaim. The entire concept and menu change every quarter. They’ve done Paris 1906, Thailand, and Childhood, which we were at the tail end of. Right now, Next is closed in preparation for the menu-to-end-all-menus: elBulli. The golden ticket. When seats got on sell next month, they’ll be the hardest reservation on earth — and we got a sneak peek! But more on that later.
The first thing you see when you take your seats for the Childhood meal is a half-smoked cigar, a pair of reading glasses, and a finished crossword puzzle. At each place are three cocktail glasses with garnishes and one last swill of cocktail. It took me a moment but when I realized what we were looking at I grinned with delight: waking up in the morning after your parents’ cocktail party, perhaps you had your first taste taste of booze as you surreptitiously swiped a sip….
And then, a gift, with the instructions not to “shake it too hard” (so of course we did). Inside, a very grown-up PB&J: raspberry pâtes de fruits and peanut butter crisp.
The first proper course: chicken noodle soup. The noodles are literally made of chicken. They melted into the broth, oozing their essential chickenness, creating a fabulous emulsion as you stirred together the broth and mousseline of chicken. Imagine the most exquisitely concentrated chicken soup flavor you’ve ever had — then triple it.
Next, a playful update of fish sticks with cod, corn crisp, and pickled cucumbers. On the bottom right, crispy bits of cod skin tasted like the StoveTop Stuffing my socialist parents never served (and which I craved all the more).
“Can you guess what this is?” the waiter asked as he removed the glass tube and a creamy pile oozed onto the plate.
“Mac and cheese?” M. guessed (Emily and Simon having recused themselves).
Indeed it was. Mac and cheese with flavors of hot dog, compressed apple, Iberian ham, crispy cheddar, tomato caviar, and good ol’ Kraft Mac & Cheese, to sample and mix in as we wished.
Then, an imaginative course of wild mushrooms and Swiss chard with white truffle powder that evoked that great and glorious gift of childhood — the Snow Day. I could almost feel the crunch of the snow underfoot. (Alinea, Aviary, and Next do such wonderful things with the natural world.)
Short rib starred in a high-wire take on the fast food hamburger — not far in concept from the one that M. imagined for the Modernist Cuisine Top Chef challenge.
They nailed child-of-the-80s nostalgia, from the music (soundtracks from Star Wars, Fraggle Rock, and Jurassic Park) to a course served in old-school lunch boxes. (Here I am with my Smurfs lunch box in 1984, looking a little worse for wear.)
Inside each box were a black truffle Oreo, Wagyu beef jerky (Emily brought hers home to her lucky little baby), hazelnut and chocolate pudding, a modernist fruit roll-up, and a Thermos full of grape juice.
And a note from mom or dad, of course.
Next, a sarsaparilla float.
And then the now-notorious foie-sting — frosting made of foie gras, somewhere between savory and sweet, that you get to lick from the beater — and cider doughnut holes, an homage to Michigan, where both Chef Achatz of Alinea and Chef Dave Beran of Next grew up.
What would Childhood be without a campfire? This one was made of sweet potato logs that were edible after the fire went out (amazing). We were served deconstructed sweet potato pie and were invited to roast our marshmallows over the fire. I like mine nice and burnt (patience was never a strong suit).
Finally, hot chocolate with a little nip on the side (some things are better when you’re an adult).
Before we went, Chef Dave gave us a quick tour of the kitchen. We were all set to go downstairs to their main kitchen — the one they share with Aviary where all the really crazy stuff happens — but then Emily got a look at the clock. It was nearly 2 AM! They had to relieve the poor babysitter at home. Next time! we said. (There is always the promise of next time at Next.)
All in all, an absolute knockout punch to end a fabulous weekend.
NYC Digital: Nifty New Yorkers: Six (Locally Based) Apps to Navigate the City
In a big city like New York, people appreciate phone applications that help navigate the city with ease. Residents and visitors benefit from assistance when it comes to finding a great place to eat on a Monday night, and, figuring out how to get home with subway delays on the weekend. Many of the following applications were developed by local companies eager to produce a product that allows people to look up helpful information quickly and then go about their day. The following are six nifty applications Untapped staff members keep on their Android and iPhones to make life a bit easier….
Theme dinners at Mission Street Food, a San Francisco pop-up restaurant within a Chinese takeout joint, that ran from 2008-2010. From the scrapbook/cookbook.
Snickerdoodle & buttercream sandwich. Do not mind if I do.
I know I’m such a Vivier groupie but I love the look of her black messenger with black hardware. New for spring and bad ass.
A busy weekend (click the images for captions): Friday night dinner at the bar at ACME, a newly reopened and very beautiful restaurant in Noho. In its previous life it was a Cajun joint (not unlike the original Acme, in New Orleans) but a new Danish chef has breathed new life into it — not to mention the whole farm-to-table genre. Go for the Hottie McHotterson waitstaff and chic decor, stay for the inspired take on new American food. (And go before they jack prices — they seem too low for what they’re putting out.)
I had high expectations for Richard III — and I was blown away (that’s Kevin Spacey and company taking a final bow). M. and I have been thinking about it all weekend. Spacey threw himself into the Shakespear’s juiciest character — sometimes literally — and Sam Mendes uncovered unexpected pointed of connection between scenes and characters. (There’s a good reason it’s more than 3 hours long.) The set, costumes, lighting, and sound design worked together to create a forbidding and tense time-out-of-time. Apparently BAM releases $30 tickets on Wednesdays — go if you can.
Richard III is M.’s favorite Shakespeare play, and it might be mine now, too. He’s shown me two movie versions, both highly recommended: Laurence Olivier’s and Ian McKellan’s Fascist-era take. He’s also urged me to watch Al Pacino’s “Looking for Richard.” Noted, my sweet.
On Saturday we took advantage of glorious global warming and biked to Carrol Gardens to have brunch at an old favorite, Clover Club, hang out with friends, and stock up at Stinky Bklyn.
I snapped the ceilings at both (yes, both) movie theaters I visited yesterday. We saw “The Artist” at BAM and “My Week With Marilyn” at Cinema Village East. The first made me want a Jack Russell, the second, lash extensions. (How great were those extensions?? Even when she was zonked out on pills, they made her look as pretty as Bambi.) In all seriousness, I absolutely adored “The Artist.” What an extraordinary piece of film-making. And Michelle Williams really did nail Monroe. Hats off.
And finally, I wore my new scarf pretty much non-stop. Paired on Friday with a champagne dress and black belt that my sister got for me in Spain and on Saturday with my perfect parka and Clare Vivier messenger bag.
To paraphrase the president, God bless America, and God bless weekends!
And while I’m on the subject, I think the ultimate Super Bowl party food is Bo Ssäm, Korean pulled pork served in lettuce wraps with quick-pickles, kimchi, ssamjang sauce, and rice, made famous at Momofuku Ssäm Bar.* It’s very easy to prepare and serve — the most time-consuming part is slicing veggies and fruits for the pickles — and it’s such a succulent combination of flavors and textures that your friends will hoist you on their shoulder like the mothereffin’ MVP.
Here’s David Chang’s recipe, which is more or less what I follow. I learned how to make it from our dear friend and former roommate Akiko, who once worked at Ssäm Bar. She skips the oysters (they’re really not necessary, especially at home) and replaces them with quick pickles of thinly sliced Asian pear, cucumber, jicama, radish, fennel, red onion … whatever looks good. Pickles cut the salt and fat of the pork beautifully. I like to have four varieties for guests to choose from, about a cup or two of each pickle.
Here’s a recipe for pickling juice. I would double it and add 1 teaspoon dashi soup stock granules OR one 20 cm square piece of kombu seaweed, as per Akiko’s directions. Let steep in the fridge overnight. I definitely do not make my own kimchi, though I do make my own variation of Ssäm Sauce — you can use store-bought ssamjang or skip it altogether, whatever you like. Chang’s ginger scallion sauce would also be good.
And for vegetarians, simply marinade and roast or grill tofu in ssamjang or similar. With all those delicious garnishes, they’re not missing out on too much.
Serve the bo ssäm with Crunch Berry Snack Mix (which I adapted into a junk food popcorn mix) to complete the Momofuku domination.
* They’re now charging $200++ for the meal. Highway robbery. This is poor people’s food at its very best. Make it yourself — and save your money for the whole rotisserie duck, which is worth the price.
Potato Chip Cookies | Smitten Kitchen
These are just begging to be served at a Super Bowl party. Note the optional chocolate dip.
“You don’t have to apologize for hiding the potato chip, it’s right there, in the title, and sprinkled on the top, like the very best sea salt crunch. This is no time to feign interest in being a grown-up. These are like potato chip sandies or shortbread; the texture is crisp, the flavor is butter, vanilla, pecans and, you know, a little something-something.”
(via imwithkanye)
thebluehour asked: Since M (and you by default) are the Tumblr Cocktail aficionados, what are your (his) thoughts on whiskey stones? Worth it? A fad?
Let me take you back to Christmas 2009. It was the first that M. and I spent together and it was critical that I earn awesome-girlfriend chops by getting him snazzy gifts. One of those (or so I thought) was a set of whiskey stones. We tried them that New Year’s Eve with champagne and … they made our champagne taste like rocks. We gave them another shot with whiskey and … they made our whiskey taste like rocks.
So I would say — no, not worth it.
Instead of whiskey stones, I recommend these, ahem, cool gifts for the whiskey or cocktail aficionado in your life:
Tovolo King Cube Ice Trays: the large cubes melt slowly, keeping your whiskey or cocktail (any Collins, any highball drink) cold without watering them down too much. (We also use the regular-size Tovolo Perfect Cube trays for everyday ice.)
Spherical Ice Trays: they perform the same function as King Cubes but they’re round and very attractive in the glass. The Japanese store MUJI sells lovely silicone versions.
Polar Ice Tray: ice trays that promise “beautiful crystal clear ice” (the Holy Grail of cocktail geeks) in pebbles, cubes, rocks, or triangles. I haven’t seen it in action, but I’m very curious.
For more inspiration, I rounded up the essentials of a well-stocked cocktail bar and six classic cocktail recipes that can be endlessly improvised upon.
Hope this helps!
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