"elbulli" news and stories

Another day, another list. This time, it's Anthony Bourdain's "13 Places to Eat Before You Die," which appears in the June issue of Men's Health. Bourdain's article shouts out restaurants and stores across the globe, from New York's smoked fish shrine Russ & Daughters to Spain's gourmand ground zero, elBulli.

Bourdain acknowledges that as "any seasoned traveler can tell you, the 'best' meals on the planet are the result of an ephemeral confluence of circumstances," and makes convincing arguments for each of his picks, which also include Kansas City, Kan.'s Oklahoma Joe's Barbecue, Tokyo's Sukiyabashi Jiro and London's St. John.

But even with the disclaimer and rationale behind Bourdain's choices, plenty are as likely to find fault with his logic (and apparently abundant frequent flier miles) as they are with a list proclaiming, say, the best pizza places in the U.S.

We have the text of the article so you can weigh in on Bourdain's hits -- and misses -- after the jump.

.000001%* of the population will be paid actual cash money to step foot into the on deck circle at Yankee Stadium. Still, that doesn't stop hordes of fans from TiVoing Inside Baseball, poring over box scores and suiting up in team regalia on game day. For some of us, food holds an equally compelling balance of gut-level devotion and wonkish stat-based compulsion. A reservation at elBulli is akin to scoring home team dugout seats for the seventh game of the World Series. Food fans -- here's your program.

It's said that 2,000,000 requests a year come in for just 8000 seats at Ferran Adrià's Spanish temple of molecular gastronomy. The closest many of us will come is grazing through this brand new 528 page play-by-play, A Day at elBulli An insight into the the ideas, methods and creativity of Ferran Adrià. It's not so much the common parlance's "food porn" as it is a post-millennial culinary junkie's process orgy, documenting each staff motion and motivation, every microgram of alginate and liquid nitrogen, and fetishistically breaking down quantity and custom and customer/server semiotics.

The proverbial sausage has never been so obsessively, graphically made for public consumption, and rarely has it been so deliciously presented. There are pleasing pictures and recipes, to be sure (Hazelnut praline air, anyone? Perhaps some Garrapi-nitro pine nuts?), but sans easy access to an Isomalt-R-Us, it's a fever-dream cookbook. It is, however, a deeply heartening food-ifesto.

Is it bad that I haven't visited any of the top 50 restaurants in the world? Not even once?

I guess it's not surprising, considering only 8 of the top 50 are here in the United States and none are near me. Thomas Keller's The French Laundry in Yountville, CA is the top U.S. restaurant at #4. Other U.S. spots include Per Se, Jean Georges, Le Bernardin, Charie Trotter's, Daniel, Alinea, and Chez Panisse. The top restaurant is El Bulli in Spain (the site also lists restaurants 51 to 100).

I really have to get out more.

[via Gastronomic Fight Club]

Black sesame seeds, long a staple of Chinese and Japanese cuisine, have become the darlings of top pastry chefs around the globe, ranging from New York and Los Angeles to Barcelona.

I've had the privilege of tasting them atop such dim sum items as chicken pies in New York City. To be honest, I didn't detect any peppery, smoky flavors. Maybe my palate wasn't sophisticated enough at the time.

All I know is I'm going to have to bring my big wallet if I want to taste these shiny, black nuggets of flavor as deployed by the world's best pastry chefs. In my hometown, Johnny Iuzzini, pastry chef at Jean Georges blends, them into the ganache for his chocolates.

At temple of molecular gastronomy El Bulli in Barcelona, Chef Ferran Adrià's brother, Albert, has found a use for them, too. He's concocted a spiral of black sesame brittle, dehydrated raspberries and lime gelatin, capped with coconut ice cream. Back in the States, Ron Mendoza, pastry chef at Sona in West Hollywood, uses black sesame for a brittle and an ice cream.

Here's what I'd like to know: Have you tasted them, and can I borrow your credit card? Seriously can anyone who's tasted black sesame in a high-end restaurant chime in? Even better, can anyone tell me how to use these little gems at home?

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Getting a reservation at El Bulli, rated as the best restaurant in the world, can be very difficult. The restaurant not only has limited seating, but is open for only 6 months out of the year. Most diners have to plan at least 6-12 months in advance just to try to get a reservation - and once you have it, you're going at whatever time it's for.

Oh, you didn't know that Aunt Bessie was going to be ill when you made your resevation last July? You can't make it to dinner?

Just sell the reservation on eBay.

Evidently, one member of a party of four diners could not make the trip, so the remaining three are auctioning off the final seat at their table on eBay. The winner of the auction must find their own travel to Barcelona and accomodation while there, but they get to have dinner at El Bulli  - which normally costs €170/$215, without wine - on June 17th at 8pm. Bids start at $1,000 and the auction ends on June 14th.

You can view a photo set of a recent meal at the restaurant here to get an idea of what you're in for.

[via eGullet]

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