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The el bulli season is going to be tough to get tickets for. They're only doing one seating, so tickets will be scarce. A majority of them will go to season ticket buyers - I assume that's not an option for you. They're holding back one reservstion per evening to auction off for charity, so if cost is no object...

How do you access the free prints? I'm a registered 1st edition owner but all I see is the full-price links on the online store page.

In an interview in Timeout Chicago, Achatz talks about upcoming menus at Next: Grant Achatz talks what's next for Next Starting in mid-October they'll be doing a menu evoking memories of childhood. They're a bit fuzzy about what that might entail. Summer of 2012 will be Sicily. They'll also be doing the French Laundry, October 28, 1996, the day that Achatz started work there. Most exciting to me is a confirmation that the el bulli retrospective is actually going to happen. He had floated that idea in previous interviews, but it looks like it will really happen.

I don't think the source of the bread has been mentioned. Tom, did you get the brioche from Golden Goose (aka Blue Door)? I was fortunate to take home an extra loaf. It made some amazing French toast. The tasty nut-dried fruit breads I picked up at the Shaker market came from Lucy's Sweet Surrender. We've got some great bakeries in the area, and I'd like to make sure they get credit where credit is due!

I can't process the photos from my new camera because the software I use hasn't been updated to handle the new model yet. I'm able to upload videos from it though. Here's a glimpse of the kitchen and Pass at Greenhouse Tavern Friday night. I should have asked them how many dishes they sent out that night. The place was hopping! Pig Face up!

Yes! I say that "Heartland" is a state of mind.

Fantastic Gathering this year. It was great seeing everyone. So who's up for hosting next year's events? I nominate Philadelphia! (Actually, I think it was mentioned by several people at brunch this morning.) It would be great to go to a city that hasn't hosted the Gathering in the past.

There are several Asian markets in the area. They almost always have lemongrass. Kaffir Lime leaves are usually available frozen, and sometimes fresh. I have a small Kaffir tree and a few stalks of lemongrass in the garden, so if you don't need a lot I can just harvest some for the dinner. It's a small tree so I don't want to defoliate it. A few kaffir lime leaves would be great - wish I had a tree - given how hot it is here right now it would probably be one of the only things thriving. Lemon grass is usually easy to find frozen (and so nice and easy to use that way) in an asian market. With an asian market available then we will be good for a little bottle of fish sauce and palm sugar so I won't bother to bring them along. After my last little incident at the border I'm not going to bring any plant material with me. I'm leaving the citric acid in it's container - just hope a scale and a white bottle of chemical type powder doesn't draw undo attention! About how many lime leaves would you need? As I said, the tree is pretty small, so I can't bring a huge amount. My lemongrass is still on the small side, but I can bring that as well. I have some other herbs and some peppers (but not Thai peppers - didn't grow those this year).

I would add Market Garden Brewery as another option. Andy Tveekrem, the former brewmaster at Dogfish Head, has moved back to Cleveland. MGB is next door to the West Side Market.

I would say that the Thursday Crawl destinations are business casual rather than completely casual. Especially Dante. (Though I suspect we'll be in the back room, so maybe it doesn't matter so much).

There are several Asian markets in the area. They almost always have lemongrass. Kaffir Lime leaves are usually available frozen, and sometimes fresh. I have a small Kaffir tree and a few stalks of lemongrass in the garden, so if you don't need a lot I can just harvest some for the dinner. It's a small tree so I don't want to defoliate it.

I'm happy to help out with any course. Would those be Rice Stick Noodles? I was thinking of doing the Mac and Cheese recipe from Modernist Cuisine as a side dish. We've got great local ingredients for it, including some fantastic local cheeses. But maybe two pasta dishes would be overkill (though David's dish is quite different from mac 'n' Cheese!) Janet, gimlets will be most appreciated!

Leela from the SheSimmers blog provided translations of the menu headings. Pretty much what I would have guessed, but it's nice to know.

Tickets for the Thai menu close to going live. Here's a Tweet from Chef Achatz: Wish I had a better sense of what "soon" means...

The stuffing looks good. It's fairly similar to the one in the Ken Hom cookbook I learned the technique from. Hom does essentially the same steps as shown in the Pepin video, except that he doesn't split the skin down the backbone. He just works his way from the neck cavity, gradually turning the bird inside-out. It's easier to do with a larger bird. I've done it many times with turkey. (With a smaller bird it's hard to do without tearing the skin.) It's great fun to serve a turkey that looks fairly normal but is completely boneless.

Has anyone been to Next now that it's officially open? I was expecting to see some posts here from folks who've dined there. I booked the Kitchen Table for the last Sunday in June (near the end of the run for Paris 1906). My friends and I are quite excited about our trip. Will definitely report back about our experience.

I bought a similar gizmo from Amazon. The one I have is spring-loaded. It appears that the Matfer one uses a weight to impact the cutting head. I've had mixed results with the one from Paderno World Cuisine, but it's usually because the membrane tears. I need to try using an Exacto knife to cut the membrane.

Agreed! This is a great idea. I'll be trying it tomorrow.

I have one of those too. But my cheap shelves are starting to sag under the weight. Time to invest in better shelving!

Small town Ohio here. (Outside of Cleveland) I ordered mine on August 9 and received it March 4. At least one friend in Cleveland has received hers, and another is probably going to have to wait for the next batch to arrive.

Doubly sad for those of us who never made it there. I found eGullet about eight years ago doing a Google search for "el bulli". I always dreamed of going there, but now I'll have to dream of something else in its place... This has been a bittersweet "trip" for me, enjoying the dinner vicariously. I'm looking forward to seeing more photos and comments from you and from Johnny, who promised to upload pics to his blog. Thanks for sharing the experience!

Yikes! I'm keeping my books a safe distance from all beverages and food. I'm skipping around in the book, using the index PDF as a means of finding areas of interest. I'll sit down and read through most of it at length, but right now I'm just getting a feel for it. I like the terse, compact format for the recipes. (shades of Le Guide Culinaire...) But when I try to cook from them I wind up puzzling over some of the instructions, and I hit snags in the execution. There's such a staggering amount of information in these books that it will take me , quite literally, years to begin to absorb it all.

One of these things is not like the others. Really enjoying your posts. I can hardly wait to hear about the "big event".

Using the reservation system has been quite the wild ride. The tables are being released in waves, so dates pop up in the reservation grid sporadically. Clicking on one usually takes you to a blank slate of times (table already snapped up by someone with a faster mouse.) This was posted on their Facebook page today: I managed to grab the Chef's Table in late June. So looking forward to it!

Yes, it was clear that Mark Prince appreciates who the chapter was written for. Very insiteful review.