elBulli: 2008
by Adam Leemon
After six months of
e-mails and phone calls, we finally booked a
reservation at elBulli,
the planet’s most-difficult-to-get-into
restaurant, for a dinner more than six months
away. elBulli
is the premier restaurant in the world for
molecular gastronomy, the temple of modern
cooking. It’s where science meets food, and
chef Ferran Adrià is the most recognized genius
in the field. The restaurant is only open for
six months out of the year and seats less than
5,000 people in that time; the chef spends the
other half of the year in the lab working on
futuristic food preparations for the following
season. For the most part, the locally driven
menu changes with each dining season, though a
few Adrià staples make return appearances. The
restaurant itself is located in a secluded bay
on the Mediterranean near the resort town of
Roses, which is north of and just south of France.
Upon
arrival, we were shown out to the seaside
veranda where we were greeted by the staff and
served four courses, including a sake cocktail and the
classic elBulli explosive “spherical
olive.” Once we
were seated for dinner, the meal started off
with “mint leaf with coconut,” a liquid
nitrogen inspired dish that was to be eaten
rapidly and with the fingers so as to keep it
from melting. It was absolutely refreshing and
clean. The next handful of courses included the
“gorgonzola moshi,” “mandarin flower with
pumpkin oil and mandarin seeds” and the “black
sesame sponge cake with miso.” The texture of
the cake was remarkably spongy and soft.
Course after course came, and with each a new
surprise. One of our favorites was called “the
soup.” This was Ferran Adria’s humorous ode to
the traditional soup course, and it featured a
twist on the traditional “alphabet soup.”
Small, clear, pillow-like letters literally
spelled out the words “the soup.” Each letter
could be eaten separately, and would pop in
your mouth. The feeling was delicate, and the
flavor was bright with hints of floral
notes.
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Starter courses, including the
"spherical olive"
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“the soup”
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Rounding
out the final bunch of courses was the
“suckling pig tail,” which was delicately
crispy and deep with flavor. The “haricot beans
with Joselityo’s Iberian pork fat” were
delicious with a taste of rich bacon and snappy
texture, and the creation “peas 2008” was
delicate and playful. Peas and engineered peas
(the essence of peas in a skin of pea emulsion)
in the same dish, how fun! The unassuming but
always attentive battalion of wait-staff kept a
constant but comfortable watch of the dining
room.
If the dinner itself wasn’t enough, the dessert
was the topper to an already spectacular
evening. The “fresh mozzarella and blueberry
ganacha topped with cypress honey” was light
and fluffy and just sweet enough. One truffle
later and we finished where we had started,
back on the terrace, but this time in the
moonlight sipping sherry and sampling
bite-sized amusements called
“morphings.”
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“peas 2008”
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“fresh mozzarella and blueberry
ganacha topped with cypress
honey”
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The
food was an amazing sensory journey, the wine
was wonderfully selected, and the service and
the setting were world class. After one year of
anticipation, and almost five hours of dining,
we’ve learned something is important with
elBulli, and that is
patience.
Adam
Leemon is an award-winning sommelier based in
Los Angeles. His writing has been featured in
the Los Angeles Times, Wine Enthusiast and
Playboy.
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