Word: elbulli
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Dates: during 2000-2009
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Asked about the difficulties of dining at elBulli, Adria looked sad. The nature of his cooking, he explained, and the quality of both the dishes and the dining experience, meant that only about 40 guests a night could be accommodated during the six months the restaurant was open each year...
Still, he explained in response to another question, elBulli's exclusiveness does not mean it is a profitable enterprise. Isabel sighed as she told me that lectures such the one he gave at Harvard were required to help them support the venture. Expanding the elBulli product line and promoting the brand are "part of what we do with the rest of the six months of the year," she explained. Besides pricey books, revenue streams include kitchen equipment and other enterprises. But it all serves the purpose of maintaining the restaurant and its all-important taller or laboratory workshop in Barcelona...
After the lecture, I joined the Adrias and the scientist-organizers of their visit at a sumptuous 30-course dinner scheduled at Clio, an elegant restaurant in Boston's Back Bay. Its chef, Kenneth Oringer, spent some time in the elBulli kitchen. Adria was happily relaxed but still peppering the scientists at the table with questions about the qualities of certain foods. Why, he asked, did red beets emulsify so much more easily than anything else he's used in the kitchen. None of the scientists had an answer but someone suggested putting the root crop through a molecular spectroscope...
...while, food kept arriving on the table in beautiful and manageable individual portions, some inspired by dishes and techniques from elBulli. But the number of plates was adding up. Even though elBulli is known to serve 40 courses per person each night, the Adrias were jet-lagged and facing another two days at Harvard. Dinner the next night was going to be substantial too. (The locale: Chinatown.) But how do you tell a kitchen to stop being generous? Jose Andres, the chef and star of a TV show on Spanish food - and another disciple of Adria's well loved...
...said too much. And before I knew it, the dinner was over and everyone was kissing each other farewell on both cheeks - before I had an opportunity to ask if Ferran could put in a word for me when I next e-mail for a reservation at elBulli...