Ronnybrook Milk Bar: The newest addition to Chelsea Market, this place should not be missed!
Austin Eats: No trip to Austin, TX, would be complete without a visit to The Salt Lick. Now THAT is what I call barbecue.
Publishing my El Bulli post felt like turning in a thesis. I vowed to step away from the computer and give myself a break.
As most of you know, I've put off this post for awhile. 47 days to be exact.
Call me crazy, but I think he's kinda cute.
After our tour, we were led to a terrace that overlooks the beach. When a swarm of servers surrounded us, some mixed welcome cocktails while others set out a selection of snacks.
This was, without a doubt, my favorite part of the entire evening. The sun was setting, I could hear the ocean in the distance, I had just wrapped my arm around Ferran Adria's back and it was still the beginning, the very first few moments of a night I never wanted to end.
Our cocktails -- cold blackberry cosmos poured on top of tangy, lime-flavored foam -- were served in silver bowls and we each got a big spoon for easier sipping.
The snacks, a mix of hand-held nibbles, were all unusual, but the faux olives were one of my favorites.
Made with a thin, yellowish green casing, they were delicate and wobbly. We ate each one whole and they popped like balloons to reveal an olive oil filled center. There must have been a good teaspoon or so in there, and it was intense, fruity and the type you'd want to drink directly from the bottle.
These are beet and yogurt meringues that I could have eaten by the dozen. They were delicate and slightly sweet and I loved how one bite turned them to dust.
We sampled eight different snacks, although we forgot to take photos of them all. I remember thinking that this one -- a rice and parmesan cookie topped with edible flowers -- was so cute and frilly.
And that these freeze-dried pineapples that had a styrofoam-like consistency were the most bland of the bunch.
There were also cocoa-dusted chocolates that melted with one bite, golden rice balls and something with pistachio and gorgonzola, but it's hard to remember everything.
After we polished off the snacks and cocktails, we were led into the restaurant, an eclectic space that felt like an artist's home.
Bulldog paintings lined the wall (El Bulli means bulldog in Catalan) and there were all sorts of unusual trinkets, and a vase with one long stem rose topped our table.
The almost 5-hour meal was just as smooth and relaxing as our time on the terrace and the unbelievably attentive staff made us feel like we were the only people in the place. Many of the dishes came with eating instructions -- "Have one bite of this, a sip of this, eat the whole thing at once! Immediately! It will melt!"-- and you really feel like you're on a rollercoaster ride of textures and flavors from the very beginning. Below is the list of our other 22 courses, in the order they arrived.
Sesame sponge cake with miso and pistachio sponge cake with acid milk mousse: When eaten in one bite as our servers instructed, the pistachio sponge cake (on the right) was a sweet, melt-in-your-mouth creation. When my Mom Mom insisted on biting into hers, the whole thing crumbled onto her lap.
Tiger nut milk flowers: Tiger nuts are a type of plant that's used in Spain to make horchata, a refreshing summer drink. At El Bulli, the tiger nuts were frozen and served as a palate cleanser.
They melted quickly and had a slightly sour flavor. Oh and Daniel believes they have a similar pee-altering effect as asparagus.
Tangerine bon bons with peanut and curry: At El Bulli, sweet and salty flavors seemed to always overlap as they did with this chewy peanut curry caramel which we were instructed to eat first, followed by a tangerine-flavored candy.
Raspberries fondant with wasabi and raspberry vinegar: A definite favorite. A frozen, sugar-coated raspberry topped with wasabi, followed by a sip of sweet, ice-cold raspberry vinegar. We were told to alternate between the two which helped enhance the flavors.
Spherical mussels: Mussels encased in seawater. They were a strange, squishy texture and each spoonful tasted like a sip of the ocean.
Haricot bean with Joselito's iberian pork fat: Certainly not the prettiest dish but definitely one of the most memorable. The big blob in the center is a super smooth white bean puree encased in some of Spain's most delicious ham and the whole thing is floating in a rich, delicious broth. Pure heaven.
Fever-Tree tonic merinque with strawberries and lemon: A refreshing, puckery palate cleanser served with freeze-dried strawberries. I liked the flashy gold plate.
Tomato cous-cous with oil-olives, basil and parmesan cheese water: I absolutely loved this dish. The presentation was striking and although we were told to taste each thing separately, I liked mixing the highly concentrated tomato cous cous with the chilly basil sorbet.
And to wash it all down? A glass of parmesan water!
Anchovy with ham and yogurt yuba: Call me a baby, but I thought this was too fishy. The yuba, a thin casing filled with sour yogurt helped a bit. And yes, a waiter really did pluck teensy flowers (using tweezers) onto our plates.
Gnocchi of polenta with coffee: Dishes at El Bulli aren't really craveable. Except for this one. Dusted with coffee and nestled next to capers and some lightly cooked egg, the gnocchi was soft, not doughy, and eating them whole revealed a silky center.
Asparagus in different cooking times: This is one of the few dishes we forgot to photograph. There were a group of asparagus tips, all of which had been cooked at different temperatures for various times. One steamed till it was almost mushy, another only partially cooked so it remained almost crunchy, and one that was was practically raw. Draped on top were frozen egg yolks that had been injected with liquid nitrogen. They looked like those bizarre Dippin' Dots. Very cool.
Razor clams "escabeche": An impressive dish and quite a hefty serving, don't you think? Each clam was draped over a cloud of coconut foam and that's a streak of sesame paste on the side.
Liquid won-ton of mushrooms: Another favorite. Won-tons plump with mushroom-flavored water and seaweed sprigs on the side.
Snails "A La Lluana": What you see below are snail eggs, and in my opinion, I would have gotten the gist with just a small scoop of them. They had a blister-like consistency and were way too salty for my taste. Fun to try, but I could live without them.
Marinated mackerel belly: There wasn't anything unusual about this dish, and I would have been fine with just one piece. After all, this was our 25th course!
Hare juice: This was one of just two meat dishes the entire meal, and the funny thing is that there wasn't even a piece of meat, but rather "hare juice", a very rich rabbit stock. That thing in the middle is a red jelly and it tasted as weird as it looks. If I had to pick, this would be my least favorite dish.
Noisette butter with rabbit brains: Yes, bunny brains for our last course (before dessert). They tasted like a cross between sweetbreads and foie gras. Good, but not worth the guilt.
For someone who loves dessert as much as I do, I'm embarrassed to admit that the end of my El Bulli meal is kind of a blur. In my defense, we were in the place for almost five hours and the wine just kept coming! And to think I was complaining on the ride home that there weren't enough sweets. As I sit here typing, I see that there was plenty.
The Wool 2007: This snow white cotton candy, piled on top of caramel sauce, was so good and very fun to eat.
Sweet frost fruits: This dessert is a bit more fuzzy. According to Daniel, these are blackberries encased in foam and syringes filled with a blackberry liquid. I'm sure I enjoyed it immensely!
Mango with black olive and smoking tea: Let's face it. By this point, I was long gone, so I'm not even going to try and act like I remember this one. Sorry!
So there you have it, 47 days after the fact, my experience at El Bulli. A part of me wishes I had taken notes throughout the entire meal. It would have made it much easier to write this post, that's for sure. But to be honest, I'm glad I didn't. Who cares if I can't perfectly explain exactly how every dish tasted or how I felt the minute they touched my lips.
What I can say is that I will remember my dinner at El Bulli and all the fun Daniel and I had traveling in France before our big meal, forever. The setting was magical, the service impeccable and even though El Bulli's been called the best restaurant in the world many times, it was refreshingly laid-back and not overly fussy. At what other top-notch restaurant do you eat with just a fork, spoon or your hands? Daniel thinks I'm crazy, but I would definitely consider going back. Anyone care to join me?
But now, before I catch my plane, I have to tell you about Collioure, a sweet seaside town in southeastern France. Just a few miles from the Spanish border, it was the perfect place to spend some time before making our way to Spain.
Truth be told, Collioure didn't have the best food. What it did have, however, were pretty pebbly beaches and color. Lots and lots of color.
Magenta houses next to soft sage ones, stone homes dressed up with indigo windowsills, and the loveliest pastel shutters. Even the pipes outside these places were lavender, teal, peach, you name it. I'd heard that artists such as Matisse and Derain were inspired by Collioure (in fact, it's said that the Fauvist movement began after the two of them spent the summer of 1905 here), and walking through the tiny winding streets, it's easy to see why.
Many reproductions of their work are hung throughout the town, precisely where the paintings were originally done. It's a real treat to see exactly what inspired them.
Even I felt inclined to capture Collioure's charm -- in the form of over 200 photos.
Our routine in Collioure? Walk and eat, then repeat.
The town is known for its sardines, so we sampled some at a little cafe on our first afternoon and while they were good, I was more enchanted with the pan com tomate, a Spanish-style bruschetta made with olive-oil soaked pieces of bread and a sweet and silky tomato sauce. After that came a big salad, grilled dorade, plus some wine and beer.
Somehow, less than an hour later, we were in a sea-blue shop handing over a couple euros for an anchovy tasting.
Anchovies really aren't my thing, especially when eaten all alone with toothpicks, their strong, briny flavor that much more intense.
I had a few nibbles and let Daniel eat the rest.
It was interesting, but I prefer regular baguette.
See you next week when I'm back with my post on El Bulli. Happy 4th of July!
