Hi... thought I could answer a few questions and comments on here.
First, we have *never* said we were doing future Thai food. Our original 'trailer' announcing Next in 2009 had a number of potential fun menus, one of which was Hong Kong 2036. I am not sure why the press says we are doing Bangkok 2060 or whatever, but we never said that. In fact, the trailer also has menus like "Tokyo Edo Period", "The Veneto", some of which we may do, but in fact we probably won't. They were meant as suggestions of the type of restaurant we were trying to build.
This menu is called "Tour of Thailand" and draws from different regions and traditions in Thailand. It is far from comprehensive -- that would be impossible. It is a composition of dishes that go well together and that Dave and Grant were attracted to for flavor, aesthetics, menu flow, and seasonally available ingredients.
When studying Asian cuisines including Japanese and Thai we found that recipes are well documented going back a very long time. This largely contrasts with the western tradition of constant change and innovation. Ideally, eating a Kaiseki meal in Kyoto in the Spring is very much the same now as it was long ago. Similarly with Thai food, we were drawn to traditions that have a long foundation. Therefore a date seemed inappropriate and I agree with Vitesse98's comment that 50 years from now Bangkok street food will likely be unchanged. Which is great.
As for the cost... we have taken the same approach to creating and sourcing this menu as we do to a meal at Alinea or the Paris 1906 menu at Next. Starting 2 months ago our team began sourcing exceptionally high quality ingredients. I know from the cost of these ingredients that the criticism that you could try 'an incredible number of Thai dishes around the city for the price of a ticket' is simply impossible. Yes, you could buy dishes with the same names... but there is no way the product is the same.
Paris 1906 averaged roundly $ 85 per person for food. Thai will be in a similar spot and the aggregate food cost of the two menus is within a few percentage points of each other. The low end will be $ 65, the high $110 on Friday / Saturday at 7:30 PM.
Beverage pairings will be interesting and fun -- punches, beer (including, soon, a custom brew), wine and other elixirs appropriate for the food and the season.
Happy to answer any further questions....