From its opening in spring 2011 through the end of its third season in late 2013, Next was the wunderkind of Chicago restaurants, selling out all its seats well in advance, whipping out a radically different menu theme every four months, and pioneering a new model for how you get into hot restaurants. It replaced the old methods—i.e. knowing a guy or palming a $20 to the maitre d'—with a sternly technological, you're-in-or-you're-out ticket system.…
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