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Two new volumes packed together coming from elBulli have appeared: elBulli 2003 and elBulli 2004. It seems that Adrià and his team are going to continue the exposition of their work and releasing periodically the books which describe it. Right now, just the Spanish version is available, but I assume there must be plans to translate it to English and French. More info at elBulli's site.

Before I address nimzo's comments comparing Can Roca and Cinc Sentits, I'd like to welcome malacitana to eGullet and this forum. Nice opening thread, covering a restaurant, Sant Pau, which doesn't get the attention that probably deserves. If we isolate ambience, something I can't judge since the only time I visited Cinc Sentits was on a working day for lunch and the place was nearly empty, I'd say that Can Roca is several steps above Cinc Sentits in terms of the food and the wine list / pairings. I'm tempted to say that also in service, but again I don't consider the service I got that day relevant, not because it was bad, which it wasn't, but because of the low number of guests in the dining room. Does that mean that Cinc Sentits is a bad restaurant? Of course not, but right now I can't think of any restaurant in Spain I've visited in the last year that could offer a better experience than Can Roca. To me, at least.

No way! Personally, I find the lightning at Can Roca quite pleasant and I can't stand this trend consisting of places where you hardly see your food. Was the lightning uncomfortable for you?

Your comment about l'Isidre's price point surprises me, given the other two restaurants you mention. Gaig is more expensive than l'Isidre, perhaps not that much but noticeable more, but Can Fabes is way more expensive than l'Isidre, I'd say. In fact, I consider that Can Fabes is one of the most, if not the most, expensive restaurant in the country.

The criteria used by the Michelin guide will remain an inscrutable mystery to me. There's nothing wrong with your point of view, oakapple, were it not that it's not what the Michelin does in other countries. Luger and Cru a Michelin star. Well, I suppose that a guide which just would warrant a handful of stars would be a complete sales failure.

Let me know if they want to add a touch of internationality. Location is a very important variable, some would say the most important. Ambience is another variable that for some people is more important than food itself. The sensation that you're eating in the right place it's not always correlated with the food quality. I'm equally puzzled by how some restaurants get so few customers with good (in cases very good) food and service and how some other restaurants get the crowds they get with so little value in the plates.

Vinobiondo, I don't think Can Fabes is a sacred cow here in eGullet. Furthermore, I'd say that it's more the other way around. I, for one, would like to hear your experiences there in the appropriate thread.

If you casually read this forum, you could get the (wrong) impression that in Barcelona there's nothing much than cool and hypermodern restaurants trying to follow, with better or worse luck, the Adrià way of cooking. Well, fortunately, that's not the case. In my last visit to the city, I made a point of avoiding the avant-garde type of restaurants and visiting some of the restaurants which for many years have been part of the gastronomic backbone of the city, serving food well rooted in Catalonian and Barcelona traditions. Ok, Quimet i Quimet isn't exactly in this category, not because it lacks longevity but because of what Quimet offers from the other side of his counter. An impressive selection of canned food of the best quality and a not less impressive selection of wine and beers, the imagination of Quimet and you get some of the best tapas made instantly in front of you. Carles Gaig, from his new location at the Hotel Cram, is as good as it ever was. Which is to say, one of the places where you can truly enjoy gastronomy and fine dining. We ordered an ample array of starters and desserts plus some cheeses and we had a feast to remember. There was some issue with the pace of the first two dishes but once we get to the second dish, everything was smooth. Oysters with a sauce of champagne with those deep flavors that any oyster that aspires to that name should have, the canelons in the old way, the amanita cesárea made in the oven, . . . An uncomplicated meal which didn't require much effort from the brain but fulfilled your senses. Uncomplicated, of course, from the point of view from the dinner, since the techniques that Carles Gaig uses are elaborated. My first visit to l'Isidre, where I went with some prejudices about the service, was also very rewarding. Rovellons (lactarius deliciousus) with butifarra blanca, some amanita cesárea, cap i pota (tripe in the Catalonian way), baby kid. A good meal indeed. Perhaps the baby kid was finished in the kitchen in a hasty mood, but it was the only flaw I could think of. Casa Leopoldo, on the other side, offered the simplest cuisine of our visit, Quimet i Quimet excluded. Good products from the Boquería cooked in the most simple way along with traditional recipes like bull's tail or tripe. So, yes. There's life without air and foams in Barcelona.

As with any other seafood, if it's really good, the less you do with it the better. So, short cooking times, simple ingredients and they'll shine. Plancha, a hint of garlic, parsley and some white wine and you're done. Enjoy with Manzanilla or Fino.

I agree with Rogelio. Vino + Gastronomía is excellent. Apicius, on a more for pro note, is also worth.

Restaurants tend to be quite dry. Since we're having the driest year in the last 125 years, with serious drought problems all over the country, we're happy to get as much rain (gentle; no floods, thanks) as we possibly could.

It looks to me that ties were once the passport to access to the temples of fine dining. Now that correlation has loosen and ties mostly grant you access to places where a certain class meet, being food a secondary issue. But let's not drift too far from Can Roca.

I agree with Corinna. I for one also prefer places where I can feel at ease and not care too much about what I should wear while enjoying great food. Regarding the service at Can Roca, I can't point out a single issue with it. In fact, I believe most of the people in the front were the same that were serving the previous year.

I can be wrong, but my perception was that the States isn't an easy market for the practitioners of avant-garde cooking (I like very much Steingarten's denomination: hypermodern cooking). Wylie Dufresne comes to my mind as someone who should be receiving much more credit and attention. Given the dynamism of a city like NY, I would had imagine that it could be the ideal place for this movement to start gaining momentum in the States, but it seems I'm wrong. Under those circumstances, the risk of hypermodern cooking being wiped out of the country because a few bad moves seem to be plausible.

Well, if this americanization of the restaurant industry in Europe, or at least in Spain, becomes the trend, then we'll see a few changes taking place: more tables turning, restaurant operating more hours per day and more days per week. And of course, less light in the dining room and less space for diners in their tables. Concepts and techniques travel well these days. The internet can only improve that even more. I hope that traditions and dishes are received with an open but also clever mind: certainly, I wouldn't want restaurants all over the world to become a new version of what still exist in many hotels under the name of "international cuisine."

The Panelists Clark Wolf has more than 25 years of experience in the food industry and is founder and President of New York food and restaurant consulting firm Clark Wolf Company. His clients include major hotel companies, such as Loews, institutions like The Guggenheim Museum, legendary restaurants such as The Russian Tea Room and food companies and marketing boards including The Walnut Marketing Board. Wolf is a Contributing Authority to Food Arts magazine and has written a regular cuisine and culture commentary column for Forbes Magazine. He is currently working on a book about America’s cheeses for Simon & Schuster. Current and recent collaborations have included restaurants with well known Chefs Hubert Keller (Fleur de Lys at Mandalay Bay in Las Vegas), Bradley Ogden (Bradley Ogden at Caesar’s Palace in Las Vegas), Rick Moonen (RM Las Vegas at Mandalay Bay) and Richard Sandoval (Zengo in Denver). Click here to read: Recognizing Magic, A conversation with Clark Wolf by Ya-Roo Yang. Michael Ruhlman is an author, journalist and broadcaster. His books The Making of a Chef (1997) and The Soul of a Chef (2000) are the definitive works on the modern American professional cook. Ruhlman has collaborated on two books with America's top chef Thomas Keller: The French Laundry Cookbook (2000) and Bouchon (2004). A Return to Cooking written with Eric Ripert, chef-owner of Le Bernardin, the Manhattan four-star restaurant, appeared in 2002. His book, with Brian Polcyn, on charcuterie for the home cook will be published in November, and he is currently finishing work on a third volume on the work of the professional chef. In addition to his books, Ruhlman has also spent time as a line cook, was a food columnist for the Los Angeles Times for two years and recently presented the PBS show Cooking Under Fire. Click here to read: The Interviewing of a Writer, Andy Lynes talks to Michael Ruhlman. Steven A. Shaw a.k.a. "Fat Guy," is the executive director and co-founder of the eGullet Society for Culinary Arts & Letters, a James Beard Award-winning food critic, and a contributor to Elle, Saveur, and many other magazines and journals. His book, Turning the Tables: Restaurants from the Inside Out, is the definitive guide for novices and pros alike to getting the best a restaurant has to offer, starting with those all-important, impossible-to-get reservations. Named by Food & Wine magazine as one of the thirty-five most fearsome young talents in food, he is insightful, irreverent, and often controversial. The Moderator Robert Buxbaum (Bux) is a member of the eGullet Society's kitchen cabinet and the host of its, France, Spain & Portugal, and Food Media & News forums. Robert started cooking in college. A trip to Europe as a student sparked a deeper interest in food. Some years later, still on a student budget, a belated honeymoon in Europe with Mrs. B lasted for six months, focused on food, and established the parameters for their next 40-odd years of travel (though happily not always on a student budget). Travel and food became important parts of life leading to the establishment of WorldTable, Inc., a travel consulting service. When their daughter embarked on a career in food and later married a French chef they found themselves with a greater connection to professional cooking. Although unabashed Francophiles, they've recently been returning to Spain because of its new gastronomy and their new appreciation for its traditional regional cuisines.

The first white truffles of the season are starting to arrive to some restaurants in Spain. Not big, neither specially aromatic, but they're the first.

To bad because my meal at Martin last month was better then Arzak or Akalare or El Bulli, also just wondering why does almost everyone who goes to San Sebastian skip Martin. ← Not me, I can assure you. I've always believed that Martín is the best restaurant in the area and one of the best in the country.

I think Ferrán is intelligent enough not to engage himself or elBulli's brand in an activity which could damage those. Not to mention his partner, Juli Soler. However, we tend to interpret every move of geniuses looking for genius behaviour, when sometimes even geniuses make normal moves. So, if in this case it simply looks like they're trying to get some revenue, let's don't discard that option just because it's too simple.

I haven't been to Tristan since it was closed for lunch last time I tried. I went to Tristan bistrot, which is located next door. Let's say I don't plan to come back any time soon. For upscale dining, Ses Rotges with a French chef in its kitchen, seems to be a good choice.

IMHO, in this case he's leveraging his brand and making money from it. Nothing wrong about it.

Isn't way too early for truffles?

We need to get new knives badly. Which brands do you recommend from that page, SD?

Guys, this path leads nowhere and has nothing to do with churros. So, leave it before you start sending each other to the porra.

As far as I'm able to ascertain, menus at elBulli don't only depend on the season, they also take you into account. That is, variables like which was the last time you dined there. PS: I, for one, wouldn't mind to see your menu scanned and uploaded.