What’s “Next” for Grant Achatz? Paris 1906 (for now, that is)

Award-winning Chef Achatz’s new restaurant Next will take on a different cuisine and a different era every three months. This adventurous undertaking is the subject of my latest USA Character Approved Blog post.

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Grant Achatz has set himself one tough act to follow. On Monday, his acclaimed molecular gastronomy restaurant Alinea moved from seventh place to sixth on the S. Pellegrino “World’s 50 Best Restaurants” list. Gourmet magazine had named the Chicago restaurant the best in America in 2006, the second year it was open. In 2008, the James Beard Foundation called Achatz the “Best Chef in the United States.”

Small wonder that USA Network chose Achatz as their 2011 USA Character Approved Honoree for food. And even smaller wonder that his highly anticipated new restaurant Next is almost completely booked through the end of June, as far out as they’re currently booking. But what exactly is Next?

achatz-next-restaurantRather than try to out-progressive the chem lab progressive American cuisine of Alinea, Achatz is taking on another high-wire act. Every three months, Next will completely transform its menu, presenting his take on a cuisine not only from a different part of the globe, but from a different period in time. For the opening, he chose Paris 1906, with a menu inspired by Auguste Escoffier, the legendary French chef who, like Achatz, played a major role in shaping modern haute cuisine in his time.

To successfully open a new restaurant is no mean feat, let alone essentially remaking it four times a year. But if you’ve stared down stage 4 tongue cancer (as Achatz did in 2007, missing only a few long, grueling shifts at Alinea while undergoing radical chemotherapy), your idea of what is possible broadens considerably.

To find out more about Achatz’s exciting new restaurant, including his unconventional approach to reservations—and to see the stylish YouTube video used to announce the opening of Next—check out my latest post on the USA Character Approved Blog.

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