Next

Next is the second restaurant of Alinea, and opened in April 2011. It is very unusual in offering entirely different themed menus for a fixed period of time before changing to something completely different. It started with “Paris 1906” and has moved on to “Thailand” and “Modern Chinese” amongst others. The theme tonight was “Tapas”. Next, like Alinea, has a ticketing system for reservations, so you have to pay up-front for a seat just as you would at a theatre, and demand for these tickets substantially outstrips supply.

Next is situated in the historic meat packing district, an area now becoming gentrified, with for example a Google office almost opposite. A skeleton of the old business lingers in what was in the 1950s the largest meat-packing district in the world, but most of these businesses have moved further out. Dave Beran is the head chef here, previously he was chef de cuisine at Alinea. 

The dining room has two long rows of tables, and can seat 120-130 or so diners at capacity, which given its popularity is essentially every night. The room has dark walls and there were no tablecloths, which was appropriate enough given the menu theme. "Tapas" is the fourteenth of the changing menus here, intending to evoke the bar food of Spain, from the modern tapas of Bar Elina to the pintxos of the Basque region. There is no choice on the menu,, though they will accommodate dietary preferences within reason. There was no wine list either, so the choice is one of drinks pairings: non-alcoholic, a mix of wine and cocktails, or just wine, which cost $145 including 20% service, more than the menu itself, which was $110 plus local taxes. However bear in mind that the Next menus vary wildly in price; a different one later in 2015 is priced at $295 for the food alone. 

The meal began with a trio of Spanish flatbreads topped with assorted nibbles: anchovy and olives, white bean and mushroom, and goat cheese and basil. The goat cheese one was the best of these, the white bean and mushroom the least, but overall this was a simple but pleasant start to the meal (14/20).

A can containing mussels with olive purée was brought next, along with some bread. This was harmless enough though quite oily (13/20), paired with a nice fino sherry. Alongside was a dish of octopus in octopus foam with fennel and paprika. The cephalopod itself was tender, presumably the product of lengthy slow-cooking, and the fennel had good bite (15/20).

This was followed by a pair of dishes. On part of a roofing title was served leek and scallion with a little lemon, and on a tree log was pork belly on bread with Romesco (red pepper and nut) sauce, which was flambéed by the brief application of a blow torch. The leeks were not very interesting (13/20), but I enjoyed the rich pork belly with its slightly spicy sauce (16/20). 

The next dish was a trio of fried dishes. A sphere of tempura of egg yolk with anchovy and pepper laid on it seemed rather odd to me; mixing hot and cold in the same bite is a tough trick to pull off (13/20). Better was a salt cod cracker with what was described as a creamy brandade but was in reality rather watery given its purpose as a dip, though the cracker itself was very good (14/20). These were accompanied by the liquid olives invented by the Adria brothers a decade or so ago. These were well enough made, presumably a leftover from the El Bulli menu here. Spherification seems a bit dated now, but was certainly inventive when introduced. The taste effect is of a melting sphere that indeed tastes of olives, though whether it is an improvement on a good olive is debatable, more a science experiment than something purely pleasurable.

In an ice block a glass tube sealed at the bottom with gelatin had burnt grapefruit juice then a layer of pine nut purée. To eat this you needed to push up the gelatin bung and then suck from the tube. The effect was bitter though not unpleasant, and the grapefruit flavour came through (13/20). Sherry meringue with a date and chocolate purée fortunately tasted better than it sounded (13/20).

The menu reverted to more traditional style with the next set of elements. A plate of Iberico ham was sliced very thin and presented in a flower petal shape. Next to this was a version of patatas bravas with an enjoyable strong garlic sauce (15/20), along with a rather bland dish of cuttlefish, white and green asparagus and chorizo (13/20).

The final savoury course was a very good tortilla modelled on the version at Bar Nestor in San Sebastian. I have tried this dish at the place itself and the Next version was a good facsimile, having a slightly soft texture (15/20). This was served with slices of good USDA prime beef rib eye (15/20) served "on the bone", which here meant appearing on an actual bone.

This was followed by a dish that was supposed to be a transition from savoury to sweet, notionally inspired by eating sweet prawns at Dani Garcia in Marbella. A prawn head was soaked in strawberry juice, the effect being pretty odd. I would much rather have just been served a raw sweet prawn (10/20). Fava bean frozen yoghurt was as appealing as it sounds (8/20) whilst an olive oil white chocolate candy bar at least tasted mostly of chocolate (11/20). Apparently this stage if the meal was intended to evoke a strong reaction from the diner, which it certainly did in me. I simply do not understand why anyone would serve anything that many diners are going to simply find unpleasant, just in order to cause a shock reaction.

The menu returned to sanity with a cheesecake that was really more of a Basque style flan or baked egg custard. This was very well made, with good texture and unlike the previous dish was actually enjoyable (14/20). This came with a chocolate hazelnut mousse with olive oil jam, and a honey and sea salt biscotti. Coffee was from a company called Counter Culture, a Colombian blend that was excellent.

Service was excellent, the staff attentive and quite knowledgeable about the dishes and wine being served. The bill came to $265 (£167) for a menu and wine paring for one person. This is actually one of the cheapest of the ever cycling Next menus, and to be honest felt like an awful lot of money for what appeared on the plate. This is roughly what you might pay for a three Michelin star meal in San Sebastián, and many, many times what you would pay at places like Bar Nestor there.

It is always tricky to score a restaurant whose menu changes entirely three times a year, but the impression of a couple of local foodies who have tried several menu iterations here was that the standard has been somewhat erratic. This is understandable, but the pricing is at a level that sets very high expectations. The joy of wandering around San Sebastián is that you can stroll from bar to bar and get good, tasty food based on high quality local ingredients for a few euros, along with very modestly priced wine. This kind of experience is not something that is easily transportable to another continent. Still, the Alinea association is clearly working for Next given the completely packed dining room.