Next level.

Reading Alan Richman’s account of his Treme cameo led me, after a bit of Internet roundabouting, to the news that Grant Achatz’s new restaurant, Next, is finally open. And, surprise, it’s good:

I find it honestly painful to recommend Next—and particularly its grand Paris 1906 menu—so enthusiastically when the demand for the experience is so high and the seats available to so few. (To be clear, this is not something I blame the restaurant for.) … To dine at Next is not to experience a meal that reaches some objective standard of “greatness.” But it is a rare—and rarefied—opportunity to submit oneself (and this is what you do at Next, where you do not order a dish, select a wine or otherwise make anything that resembles a choice) to a very specific vision—Grant Achatz’s vision—of what great dining might look like.

To my (relatively few) Chicago friends with disposable income: you should go to there.

Linkwad.

1. I missed last night’s Treme season two premiere (HBO’s marketing budget seems to have been $.36), but here are the Anthony Bourdain-scripted kitchen scenes.
2. Shocking development in Iowa: Flavor Flav’s fried chicken joint is done.

It’s gorgeous here, so go enjoy Tennis’s “Baltimore” outside (I am doing work next to an open window).

Linkwad.

1. Goddamn. Heartbreaking.
   
2. Tyler Cowen’s best chile relleno in the US is at a Maryland gas station.
3. My college roommate has this exact problem.
4. Bradley Manning’s sadistic punishment is escalated. The Obama Administration’s utter collapse on human rights is awful and terrifying.
5. The Angry Birds story.

Linkwad.

1. A neat NYT preview of Next, via Kottke.
2. How to find fresh bread, via Caroline.
3. Obama administration decides to stop barring gay marriage, despite Obama’s personal beliefs.
4. Recycling gadgets at ecoATMs, via Andrew Sullivan.

On to the Next one.

Dispatches from Grant Achatz’s upcoming Next restaurant and Aviary not-a-cocktail-lounge:

They’ve obviously overshot their Fall 2010 launch target, but I’ll wait.