I read a great post on the Diners Journal Blog of the NYTimes by Grant Achatz of Alinea regarding Ferran Adria’s impact on the culinary world with respect to whether what he has achieved is a fad a trend or will it have a lasting impact. (http://dinersjournal.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/02/16/what-grant-achatz-saw-at-el-bulli/#more-12167)  It got me thinking.

 

My biggest piece with Adria, and by piece I mean issue, is that who really cares.  There are a bunch of people, myself included, who became obsessed with all things Adria and El Bulli and anything that emanated from there as early as the mid nineties. We searched out every morsel of information from anyone who may have staged at El Bulli or even had a conversation with someone who had been there. Before the books came out in Spanish, never mind English, all we could hope for is some morsel of knowledge from someone who brought word from the master.  Ferreting out some cook who had a friend that works for a sous chef that actually spent the whole season at El Bulli that will be at some god forsaken place on the lower east side after service that showed up already drunk and not in the mood to talk again.

 

His techniques started to infiltrate NYC around ‘97. By ‘98 the City was filthy with foams.  Cooks running around looking for CO2 cartridges and whipped cream canisters as if they had to be standard equipment in their tool bags along with a sharp knife and steel or else they’d never get anywhere.  I remember the first time someone tried to pull a foam on me it was around ‘99. This kid could hardly make a decent soup and there he was threatening me with potato foam.  Alright kid, go ahead.  He takes a good 45 min. to put together probably no more than 6 to 8 ounces of potato preparation. As he is slowly beginning to piss me off, he begins to tell me that in the near future this is how everyone in the City is going to be doing potato puree/foam/whatever.  All I’m thinking is how is this going to taste and will it always take this long to prepare because on that piece alone this is going nowhere. I don’t care how cool it is nobody in New York is waiting for potatoes that are that finicky. The Spanish countryside maybe, New York City, no way.

 

Finally, he’s ready.  Everybody in the kitchen had given this lug nut an easy pass on his preparation and picked up his mis en place so he can tool around with this latest greatest newest thing that is going to supplant the last latest greatest newest thing in the kitchen along with that supermodel, you know the one who is now a question in Trivial Pursuit.  Anyway, we gather around to watch this kid spray potato into a bowl with no control.  We all got assaulted with potato particles including the chef de cuisine.  We managed to get some foam out but largely it was bullshit and the chef de cuisine was merciless in his explanation of why the lug nut will never do anything even close to wasting everyone’s time like that again or he and his cousins will have to find the door.

 

After the mess was cleaned, temperatures cooled and everyone was en place at their stations, the machine running steady everyone anticipating the first big push, there were a few minutes extra.  I ask the kid who had been demoralized in front of the whole crew what was the point?  He said texture.  Something light and airy  that makes people stand in awe.  I said what about the flavor.  That too, he said.  I said OK.

 

As I took the mashed potatoes I went back in time to a point in my life where a perfect pomme puree was my only way to salvation, the only way I could survive in the kitchen one more day,  as if my life depended on it, just as everything else I had to do in the kitchen…and just keep the chef from starting to lace me brutally and endlessly again for just a few minutes longer today so I can finally learn how to cook something of worth...whoa, OK, I’m back. That was scary.

 

When I was done, the potatoes were light, airy flavorful and still had body but when in your mouth just melts away and leaves nothing but the flavor of the best mashed potatoes you’ve ever had in your life.  I fed them to the kid.  He looked at me kind of like he wanted to cry and/or fight me but he didn’t do either because he still needed to know the secret.  In his head I’m sure he kicked the shit out of me everyday after that moment.

 

 So, I guess what I mean by who really cares is that when you create a cuisine with so much promise that is full of so many caveats of execution, who really cares because as a cook, it breaks your heart. Imagine you’re a new cook still in school and the first thing you need to do is learn how to dehydrate cherry gelatin to make a crispy chip that melts in your mouth that takes 24 hours to produce with equipment you’ll be lucky to ever see again in your life in a quantity that would actually make the endeavor even worth wild to start.

 

 There are elements of Adria’s creativity that have altered the trajectory of cuisine forever.  Those elements are found in his basic premise, the refusal of all preset conjugations.  We’ve seen this concept applied to all the arts.  Adria extended it to the culinary arts. So now we have pop corn that can be snow. Cheese that can be air. Nothing has to be in a form that is familiar, but when executed perfectly it will elicit the flavor memory of something familiar. All chefs are always seeking new flavor combinations that ring true. What Adria has put forth is finding flavor combinations along with form combinations that ring true.

 

A large part of the most interesting, technical aspects of what Adria has started can never be transcendent over time because they are just too costly or time consuming to have an impact on the everyday organization of 99% of anyone who steps into the kitchen as a serious endeavor where making a living is important. Some aspects will endure along with his basic philosophy but not until everyone is convinced that starting your day includes knowing the chemical composition of the water on hand;  mind you, not so that anything will ever taste any better than what Creation has already bestowed but just to make it into a different texture or form; and when a tool comes out that is inexpensive that can tell an every day cook with certainty what is the chemical composition of the water they’re using  so that they can make adjustments to the recipes that they’ll be using so they will actually be successful with those recipes, that will be the day Adria’s cuisine will have finally begun to make a lasting impact.

 

This brings me to Avatar. Just track with me for a moment… Adria’s cuisine suggests a completely different experiential path that is expensive and time consuming apart from all that is relevant in the rest of the world. This is why I think it’s appropriate to contrast El Bulli with Avatar.  James Cameron is a great director that has created and amazing piece of work. When seen in 3D IMAX the impact of the technological advances is apparent.  I believe there are patents pending on a large number of the technologies that were created to make that film.  The human_ortalon told me that Cameron actually invited Lucas and Spielberg to see what he’s created probably with the hope that they’ll embrace his advances in movie making and pay to play with all his new toys. In contrast, The Hurt Locker, which is an amazing film, is a great story that doesn’t need technological advances to make its point.  My point is that there are kids out there right now with cell phone cameras putting together a film for Sundance that will end up getting distribution and at least a 50 million dollar box office from their first endeavor, along with a three picture deal.  Yeah, Avatar has changed what is possible but it is not going to change the way people who are compelled to tell a story will tell a story. Cooks who are compelled to cook will cook.  All Cameron and Adria have done is to show what can be achieved when your resources are virtually limitless. The difference is that on the one hand the basic work product creates a film for a lot of people to enjoy  and young  film makers to aspire to and on the other hand the basic task has nothing to do with the realities of running a restaurant nor does it create a blueprint for success for anyone except to dream.

 

 Riddle me this Joker, where can you find 50 skilled cooks who come from around the world and work for free and have all the toys to play with where anything is possible except making money as a restaurant. If you answer is El Bulli you’re correct Batman. If Adria’s cuisine and organization is ever going to have a lasting impact or reach its full potential in the world he’ll have to show that he can create a restaurant that is viable in reality where losing 600k a year is not an option for a 175 seat restaurant. Let’s get serious. He has never been in the business of creating food for people.

 

Now El Bulli closes to reopen as a foundation that will only train chefs at the top of their game who they believe will have an impact on the world… maybe. Really? No. His foundation will create products to be hawked by emissaries they deem worthy.  Some of those products will be concepts to be compiled in books.  Listen, if his work was inaccessible to the regular everyday cooks at home or even to an everyday professional cook in a serious setting, it will be off the charts once he removes his restaurant from the public… in order to create a business model that more resembles Willy Wonka’s Chocolate Factory.  So for now, wait for the products and books to buy or maybe a Golden Ticket to find but don’t think you won’t find Adria as the answer to a question in a coming edition of Trivial Pursuit someday, as I see it, I’m just sayin…

Our Tasting Dinners have been a real hit over the last few months. So when we were asked to participate in Maplewood Restaurant week, we immediately thought of doing another. Or three. So, Tuesday March 2nd, Wednesday March 3rd and Thursday March 4th we will be holding tastings at 7PM. The format is a lot of fun as we set the restaurant as one long communal table. So come and join us for a great meal and make some new friends.

Reservations are required. Please call 973-763-4005. Seating is limited.