"el bulli" news and stories

Ferran Adrià is possibly the most famous chef in the world. His restaurant El Bulli, in Spain's Catalonia, accepts six thousand lucky diners a year. A million are turned away annually, and there is a six-year waiting list. The list is going to get a little longer because Adrià announced that he plans to close El Bulli for two years at the end of the 2011 season, and is turning the restaurant into a kitchen laboratory. He's been called the father of foam, and of deconstructive cooking. Oh, and a genius. He's also been labeled a mad scientist who concocts food from chemicals and air. Adrià was recently in New York, and Slashfood sat down for a talk with the Catalan master.

What does deconstructionism mean?
FA: It's one of the styles we've done in the past 25 years. But in the past few years we've hardly done any deconstruction. We started it in '94, we started a new discourse, a new language which people didn't understand, to try and establish some kind of umbilical cord with people in a very unconscious way. The deconstruction style was born, for example, when I created savory ice cream. In '94 it was quite strange, quite unusual to have curry ice cream. So I was creating a dish that had no references; people had nothing they could relate it to. When I made chicken curry I would bring a dish which had curry ice cream, chicken stock, coconut milk. They looked at it and didn't recognize it, and when I told them it was chicken curry they thought I was mad. But when you ate it you would establish the references. I like to make an analogy to Japanese food. If you've never been to Japan and then you go to the most authentic Japanese restaurant, it's a new language -- you will not understand most of the things you will eat, and it seems quite strange. This is what happens at El Bulli, deconstruction helped to establish these links and references.

At El Bulli, Spanish chef Ferran Adrià became known for his chemistry-aided feats of culinary daring, creating dishes such as frozen foie-gras noodles, Parmesan "snow" and meat foam.

But lately, Adrià has undertaken his most challenging project to date: creating a Spanish beer that actually tastes good.

While Spain may excel at soccer, it lags behind in brewing: The lion's share of Spanish beers are light, easy-drinking lagers, the sort of hot-day brews that we buy in a 30-pack and bring to a backyard BBQ. Thirst-quenching quantity, not quality. In other words, beers that didn't do justice to Adrià's jaw-dropping foods.

To rectify the situation, Adrià and El Bulli sommeliers, along with Spanish brewers Damm, devised Inedit as an ideal dinner-table drink. Brewed with a blend of malt and wheat, Inedit is flavored with licorice, orange peel and coriander, which is the normal ingredient bill for a Belgian witbier. Furthermore, Inedit's profile -- faint fruit flavor, yeasty bouquet, subtle sweetness -- is surprisingly standard fare. Is it as paradigm-shifting as Adrià's eats? Not even close. It's drinkable, sure, but not worth a double-digit price tag -- or a seat at dinner.

Frankly, Adrià, after creating frozen chocolate air, I expect a bit more innovation. For that, I guess I must rely on American brewers like Dogfish Head.

At the annual James Beard Foundation awards, held May 3 in Manhattan, many important awards were handed out to many famous chefs. But one of the most interesting tidbits of food-world news was shared backstage after the ceremony at Lincoln Center's Avery Fischer Hall.

Tom Colicchio (the "Top Chef" judge) won the most prestigious award, for Outstanding Chef in America. One chef who was beaten by Colicchio is the Spaniard José Andrés, but he's nevertheless having a fantastic year. Andrés, a disciple of Ferran Adrià, was profiled recently on "60 Minutes," and his Los Angeles restaurant Bazaar is the hottest table in the city.

On the red carpet, Andrés deflected a question about whether the "60 Minutes" piece had led to a flood of reservations.

Now that Spain's famed El Bulli is closing, Ferran Adrià might have a little free time on his hands. If he's planning a vacation, however, he'd do well to steer clear of Italy. The country that founded the Slow Food Movement has banned the ingredients necessary to make the foams, fusions and textures found in molecular gastronomy. Commonly called "powders," the chemicals are largely thought to be harmless, and Adrià himself manufactures a line of them, called "Texturas."

But Italian Ministry of Health secretary Francesca Martini explained the legislation as a move to protect consumers from additives, though it all sounds a little bit odd. For starters, the ban is only in effect for a year (it expires at the end of December). Italian food blog Caput Mundi Cibus, which reported the news, thinks the whole thing reeks of a publicity stunt, pointing out that the government is also trying to ban liquid nitrogen by legislating against the "storage and use of any gaseous substance." (Liquid nitrogen isn't a gas, it's a liquid.) From a tourism perspective, it makes sense to publicize your commitment to carefully prepared, additive-free food in a country where it's prized above all else.

While Catalan chef Ferran Adria will be shuttering his world-famous El Bulli restaurant for the 2012 and 2013 seasons, the father of avant garde cooking denied reports the restaurant was closing for good, the Associated Press reported.

Adria denies a report in the New York Times that he was closing El Bulli permanently and replacing it with an academy for advanced culinary study.

El Bulli, about two hours north of Barcelona, is considered by many to be the world's best restaurant. However, even for the best, the restaurant business can be tough.

The Times reported the restaurant, known for its creative approach to molecular gastronomy with creations like Parmesan ice cream sandwiches, was losing half a million Euros a year.