Review: Next Goes Hollywood With Impressive Plays On 'Star Wars,' 'Jurassic Park,' 'Cool Hand Luke'
Here's how Next usually works: Chefs Grant Achatz and Jenner Tomaska settle on an intentionally limiting theme (previous menus have been titled Sicily, Chinese Modern and Ancient Rome) and create a menu within that framework, albeit with some creative license.
In other words, they build a box, then find ways to think outside it.
But with Hollywood, Next's current and 20th menu, Achatz and Tomaska have settled on a theme with virtually no limits. Next could have picked Hollywood 1979 and have faced a surplus of choices ("Mad Max," "All That Jazz" and "The China Syndrome"), but just Hollywood? Talk about a green screen.
As the Hollywood menu offers some 18 film references within 11 courses, that seems like a safe bet. This might be the first something-for-everyone menu the Alinea Group has ever assembled.