The list of restaurants that I want to eat in is growing shorter and shorter, though my obsession is growing into a near monsterous state, but the most important and most desired (by me and everyone else who knows its name) restaurant on that list is El Bulli in a tiny town outside of Barcelona. A long time ago I wrote about Adria and the obsession is just nearly out of control now. Just look at what he is doing as the NYTimes recently rediscovered! And if you follow the link, definitely check out their video with Adria creating olives from well thin air!
Adria May Be Relaxing, but His Obsessions Are Still Abuzz - New York Times.
Much has changed in the last few years at El Bulli, the trendsetting restaurant on the Costa Brava, about a two-hour drive northeast of Barcelona. Ferran Adria, the head chef, who is celebrated for his astonishing and often baffling technical accomplishments, now has disciples and imitators worldwide. nd the techniques behind at least half the 20 or 30 dishes that guests are currently served, from a repertory of thousands, remain mystifying. I’m talking about trompe l’oeil like an elliptical olive that is actually pure liquid, or golden beads of caviar made from olive oil, or stark white pine cone mousse, or Parmesan snow. But it could be that Mr. Adrià is mellowing. These days the engaging, intense, supremely articulate 44-year-old — who is the personification of what is sometimes described as the typical Catalonian character, comprising (to use the local words) both seny and rauxa, roughly translated as common sense and a kind of wild Dalí-like creativity — appears equally proud of stunning yet dead simple recipes like banana wrapped in piquillo pepper, fresh sea cucumbers sautéed with rhubarb, and tomato salad with ground almonds.
What all these dishes in today’s El Bulli share, whether as elaborate as the olive oil extruded from a $25,000 encapsulating machine used in the pharmaceutical industry or as simple as a fish and vegetable sauté, is that, after one taste, you want to shut up and eat rather than sit around and ask questions about them. he food at El Bulli is no less exciting, but it is more consistently delicious. Take that fake olive: it’s ordinary enough in appearance, but it explodes with juicy flavor in your mouth like no real olive ever could. Since the question is bound to be asked, here’s a nontechnical answer: The olive is made by a process Mr. Adrià calls spherification, a result of three years of steady work with the goal of containing liquids in their own microthin skin. Thus it is olive juice — puréed olive, strained and formed into an olive shape — that holds itself together just until you press it between your tongue and palate. What else is there? The olive in yet another guise: a silvery coiled spring of salted olive oil, looking like a mini-Slinky and as crunchy as a hard candy, which it effectively is. Also, a thin, brittle basket of solidified passion fruit juice, filled with the essence of tangerine, as floral as a basket of lilies; a bed of savory pine nut ice cream topped with the liquid of nascent pine nuts (a result, in part, of the work of 20 or 30 members of the kitchen staff who spend 30 minutes or more in the morning, cleaning freshly gathered local pine cones); the Parmesan snow, served in a stylishly wrapped plastic-foam box — the better to keep it cold — and topped with, of all things, muesli with dried fruits; a frozen sugar eggshell filled with crunchy coconut and ice cream flavored with the wood from barrels used to make bourbon; and about 25 others.
Hey Frank.
Your blog is excellent, though I'm sure you've been told that a million times already.
You're now on my daily MUST-READ!
Thank you for being an inspiration.
Posted by: Diamond Stud | September 17, 2006 at 08:31 AM