Calling the restaurant’s opening a “historic moment,” Josh Ozersky is the latest journalist to lose his cool over Next, Grant Achatz’s new project in the West Loop. We certainly understand the interest, what with the menu changing completely every three months, and that innovative reservation system based on tickets. Still, it’s kind of crazy how universal this adulation has become. As you may remember, the still-unopened restaurant was already called the best restaurant of 2010 by Epicurious, and the best celebration restaurant by Bon Appétit. It was even lauded by Anthony Bourdain (who once called dinner at Alinea, “one of the longest, least pleasurable meals of my life”). Perhaps everyone should follow the example of Yelp, which, after Graham Elliot publicly flogged the site after someone reviewed an unopened Grahamwich, now prohibits advance reviews. [Time]
