So, like Dark Lord, Grant Achatz’s Next Restaurant is tickets-only. This translates into a grey-market on Craigslist where we’re seeing tickets go for around $1200 a pair. Considering a face value of $900 for opening night, this may not actually be a bad deal.However it does generate quite a circus around the event which I guess is the point.

With most other restaurants this would be kind aufblasbare rutsche of ridiculous. I won’t even wait for most places but when the “Event” is the point it is more allowable in my opinion. It’s kind of like getting tickets to El Bulli or French Laundry but for a much lower price you get the same volume of hype… it also stands to mention that it’s a different sort of hype.

I’m very curious to see how the crowds pan out. I’d guess that tickets will end up being accessible. I remember someone offering me $350 a ticket for opening night of the Producers on Valentine’s Day. I turned it down. I also see that the mark up on Dark Lord is way higher considering the face on that ticket was $12 bucks.

There is plenty of bitching online but it seems like their system is well intended. Time will tell.

If anyone has a spare, let me know I’m itching to go and like many folks, have not yet gotten any “invite” :).

From the Next website:

We will soon have an automated system in place to authenticate and transfer ticket ownership. In the meantime if you transfer, gift or sell your tickets you must email us at

tickets@nextrestaurant.com, provide the name and email address for the recipient, and we will generate a new confirmation number for them. We will not honor any ticket holders without proper authentication.

Please note as well that we will be releasing new tickets daily over the next month… so your best bet is simply to check back on this site from time to time and buy them directly from Next.