SP: English Study Group

Three-Star Spanish Chef Ferran Adria Has The Food World Buzzing About His Experimental Cuisine

By Stryker Mcguire | NEWSWEEK

From the magazine issue dated Aug 28, 2000

Restaurants don't get any hotter than this. The chef at El Bulli, Ferran Adria, has been called "the best cook on the planet" by the celebrated French chef Joel Robuchon. In the Los Angeles Times, David Shaw hailed Adria as "the brightest star in the gastronomic firmament." Accolades like "best restaurant in the world" flutter down on El Bulli like so many shaved truffle flakes. Few three-star restaurants are more out of the way than El Bulli, which sits at the end of a narrow mountain road 100 miles north of Barcelona along Spain's beautifully rugged Costa Brava. The fact that the road, not long ago a rubbled dirt track, has now been paved is proof enough that God exists for those who spend $100 or more per person to eat here. El Bulli is the epitome of "worth the detour" restaurants.

Adria's restaurant is probably the world's leading laboratory for what can best be described as techno cuisine, where art meets science. The results--smoky foams, gelatins turned into "pasta"--can sound off-putting, but they are accomplished with an artistry that attracts chefs from around the world. Some come to work for a while in the kitchen, like Jeffrey Cerciello of Bouchon in California's Napa Valley and Kenneth Oringer of Clio in Boston. Others stop by to see what all the fuss is about. Tom Lander of a new London "gastro-pub," the Abingdon, says he was moved to tears by his "experience and a half" at El Bulli. "He's doing the most exciting things in our profession," enthuses the renowned chef Paul Bocuse.

But you don't have to have a Cordon Bleu palate to appreciate Adria's cuisine. El Bulli ("bulldog" in Catalan) is not only out of the way; the nearest town with lodging, Rosas, is a half hour away. It's open only six months a year (from April 1) and it's small; it can handle only about 50 diners per meal. Still, adventurous foodies from around the world make reservations a year in advance to partake of the experience. On any given day, there are nearly as many people cooking--40 or so--at El Bulli as there are eating. Adria says he tries to balance experimentation with the need to please the customer. "You never know the effort this person has made to get into the car or plane to come here, or who has waited for two months to eat here," he says. "So you need to give your all to these people, because if you don't, if it doesn't work, this is a just a food factory."

Adria is aware that he challenges the average diner with dishes like a dessert wafer of white chocolate and black-olive paste, or ravioli of hot, thinly sliced cuttlefish stuffed with coconut-and-ginger butter. "People say, 'Oh, there is all this chemistry at El Bulli!' But there is chemistry and physics in every kitchen, in all cooking," he says. "I can explain everything to you--except the magic, which is what really matters. The rest is rational, technique, professionalism. The magic moment, when you find that gelatin can be [transformed into] tagliatelle, I cannot explain."

Much of the cooking at El Bulli is deceptively simple. Take pea soup with mint, a dish that seems to be on every menu this summer across Europe. Adria's version is a glass flute filled with liquid that is hot on top, cold on the bottom. Drunk in one long sip--in accordance with instructions from the waiter--the effect is utterly charming.

Not every Adria creation is an unalloyed success. The sheer variety of the tasting menu--over 30 dishes--lets you know you're in for a wild ride that is bound to include some bumps. Barnacles with tea foam are not for everybody, but for some people they're to die for. Parmesan ice cream (served as a small sandwich between crispy parmesan wafers) and icy polenta with olive oil, on the other hand, will appeal to all but the least imaginative eaters. There are a few conventional items--a civette of rabbit with warm apple gelatin, a sorbet of young almonds--but even some of the more exotic items are less eccentric than they sound, like monkfish liver with tomato seeds and citrus or yeast soup with cinnamon and lemon ice cream.

Adria is no mad scientist. He was working as a teenage dishwasher in Barcelona when he was given a copy of Escoffier's classic cookbook, which he committed to memory. He trained in kitchens in France and Spain until he and his business partner, Juli Soler, bought El Bulli in 1983. The restaurant closes for half the year so that Adria has time to test-run new dishes with his brother, Alberto, at their Barcelona "workshop" and to travel abroad; this year he and his longtime girlfriend will be touring Asia. Adria has not forgotten his dishwashing roots. El Bulli is now open for lunch and dinner, but Adria and Soler say they may well eliminate lunch next year to make it easier on the staff. As it now stands, everybody works from 9:30 a.m. until at least 1:00 a.m. the next day.

This year Adria and Soler began to build on the success of El Bulli. The first El Bulli hotel--Hacienda Benazuza, which began as a 10th-century Moorish estate in Sanlucar la Mayor, close to Seville--opened in May ($142 to $284 per night). The kitchen is run by Rafa Morales, an Adria protege. A second hotel is planned, in Morocco. "I don't think so-called luxury hotels are very luxurious," says Adria . "A $1,000-a-night hotel is pretty much the same as a $200-a-night hotel--the same breakfast, the same orange juice. People want something different. Here [at El Bulli] I made the restaurant I would like to visit, and now I'm going to make the hotel I would like to stay in."

Adria insists that he is not as doctrinal as he sometimes sounds. "My ego is all taken care of," he says. "We are happy doing this, but we never, never want to create a dogma. This is just one kind of cooking. There are many others. You must assess the relative importance of a kitchen. Some kitchens are important because they guard history or create cultures--like a Japanese or Mexican restaurant. Some are pure sentiment: they restore memories of childhood." At El Bulli, Adria is doing what he calls "a cooking of the imagination--but that doesn't mean it is the best." Perhaps, but anybody who has been to El Bulli would probably endure another detour in order to try what Adria describes as "my next challenge." And that is? "To make a hot ice cream."

Q1. Do you have experience about cooking? Please share the experience or explain why you don't cook.

Q2. Please choose one of the food that you think is delicious.