@Bruce_Palling
FOR ABOUT 20 YEARS, Catalan cuisine was defined by the surreal genius of the cooks at elBulli, a seaside restaurant on Catalonia’s Costa Brava. With elBulli as their base, brothers Ferran and Albert Adrià became two of the most famous chefs in the world. The closure of elBulli in 2011 was international news. During his years at the restaurant, Ferran Adrià had become a master at using foams and culinary deconstruction to enhance flavor. My last meal at elBulli consisted of 49 plates, including his signature dish of small spheres that appear to be olives but in fact are olive oil encased in edible gum. And there were even more bizarre dishes, such as blackberry risotto with hare sauce, as well as raw and cooked shrimp served with a paste made from its brains.
In the five years since elBulli’s closure, Ferran Adrià appears to have slightly lost his way. Two years ago, the opening of an elBulli Foundation on the original site of the restaurant was talked about, but protesters objected to its location in the middle of a national park. A food lab in Barcelona—in association with Dom Pérignon—is dedicated to “deconstructing the entire process of creativity” or asking philosophical riddles, such as, “What is wine?” And Ferran has a collaboration with Cirque du Soleil in Ibiza, where he is “helping create a restaurant that is not a restaurant.”