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We ate at Rafa's the night before el Bulli. We had our hotel in Madrid call and make our reservation for us (about a week in advance). The day we arrived in Roses we had our hotel call over to make sure they were planning on being open that night and to confirm our reservation. Hope that helps!

I would agree that there were hits and misses on the menu I was served, but I think a meal like this needs to be considered as a whole. I guess my view comes down to the belief that the whole of my meal was greater than the sum of its parts. I also think that individual reactions to individual dishes can vary widely with this type of cuisine since there are so many flavors, flavor combinations, textures, etc that we just aren't used to experiencing on a regular basis. Also, I had absolutely zero issues with service. I actually thought our service was right on par with what we've experienced everytime we've been to Alinea (which is what I consider to be the benchmark).

Great reports. We also just did a trip through Madrid and Barcelona and ate at a lot of the same places you did. I have to say, I thought the risotto with foie and egg was one of the best things we ate on our trip.

I was just at el Bulli a couple of weeks ago and one of the things we ate was parmesan frozen air. Here's a picture of the air with dried muesli sprinkled on top: Very different than foam. Whereas I think of foam as really just a sauce with a lot of air in it, the "air" at el Bulli was much different. It was very cold a dissipated in my mouth as soon as I put it in, leaving really only the flavor of the parmesan. That's probably not the best description, but probably the best I can do.

Sure, shrimp scampi is (I guess) redundant, but hasn't it been around for like 60 years? Not sure it's going anywhere anytime soon.

We ate at Dos Palillos on our first night in Barcelona. The restaurant is intended to showcase Spanish/Asian fusion tapas (the name translates to two sticks, referring to both chopsticks and the toothpicks that some tapas are eaten with). I think fusion might be exaggerating what's going on at Dos Palillos as I found most of the food to be pretty firmly in the Asian camp. Without notes or pictures I can't really give a terribly detailed account of our meal, but I will say it was fun. Some of the courses were pretty pedestrian if you're used to eating in Asian restaurants, like a plate of stir fried vegetables. Granted, the vegetables were really really good, but it was still just a plate of veggies. Other more interesting courses included monkfish liver, razor clams with seaweed salad, slow cooked egg in dashi, and a make-your-own toro handroll (absolutely fantastic toro, quickly torched to really bring out the oils in the fish). We also enjoyed a plate of fried sea anemone, not realizing it would be the first of two anemone encounters on our trip. A fun meal at what appears to be a Barcelona hot spot (numerous diners were turned away at the door for lack of reservations, almost all of them tried dropping names of people at or associated with the restaurant in order to get a table). Not sure if I would go back since there are so many more restaurants to explore in Barcelona, but overall an enjoyable experience.

When people write about the seafood palace Rias de Galicia, the word that comes up most often is "referential". In other words, if you eat a clam at Rias de Galicia, that's what a clam is supposed to taste like. Of course, that sort of experience comes with a price. This restaurant is the home of the 72 euro plate of barnacles (about $100 at the current exchange rate). While I can't argue with the "referential" nature of the food, the atmosphere and the service left me cold, and not terribly thrilled about spending 200 euros on dinner in a town where a better overall experience can be found for less money. Not sure if it was the economy or not, but the restaurant was almost completely empty from the time we arrived for our 9:30 reservation until we left at around 11 or 11:30. Clam amuse - Not sure what type of clams these were, but they were barely cooked with some olive oil and chili flakes. Probably one of the highlights of the meal. Tuna and seabass tartar with miso (half portion) - Bright and fresh tasting, the textures of both types of fish really added to this dish. Probably the least "traditional" dish we had at Rias. Fried baby squid (half portion) - Good, but no better than anywhere else where we had the same dish. More clams - The clams themselves weren't as good as the first clams we had, but the sauce was unbelievable. Grilled shrimp - The wife's dinner. She said they were good, but I didn't have any because I was more than occupied with... Mixed grilled seafood - Multiple types of clams, scallops, shrimp, crab, small lobster...who even knows. All grilled simply with olive oil and sea salt, and all unbelievably delicious. Finished off with a simple dessert of pastries filled with fresh cream and chocolate sauce. So, again, I can't really argue with the quality of the seafood. I just felt like something was lacking here (soul, heart?). Our dinner at Rafa's the next night was probably at about the same level in terms of quality, but left me much more satisfied overall (and at about half the price). I'm glad that we went to Rias, but I probably wouldn't go back. Rias de Galicia http://www.riasdegalicia.com C/ Lleida 7 +34 934 234 570

Cal Pep is one of those love it or hate it places. It's filled with tourists, but plenty of locals eat there too. Some people think it's overpriced, others think it's well worth it. We tried going one day (arriving the requisite 30 minutes before opening time to guarantee ourselves seats at the bar) but they were closed for a holiday. We went back later in our trip and were rewarded. We took our seats at the end of the bar, and let our waiter Paco do the ordering for us... Paco working the bar Assorted fried seafood - Served fresh from the fryer, lightly salted One fried fishie Clams and ham - How can you not love this country? Monkfish - Paco decided that we needed a whole fish Veal - not quite full, Paco brought us this for dessert Put me in the camp that loves Cal Pep. I don't remember exactly how much this meal was (I think around 70 euros), but it was certainly more than our other lunches...and well worth it. Cal Pep Placa de les Olles 8 http://www.calpep.com

On our trip to Spain, we spent 5 nights in Barcelona. Our lunches (with a couple of exceptions) were mainly eaten on the go, but I planned our dinners carefully. Probably my favorite dinner was at Paco Meralgo. Paco Meralgo is an upscale tapas restaurant, and one of the few restaurants in town open for dinner on Sundays. The atmosphere is sort of diner-esque, with waiters yelling at the kitchen and each other. The food, though, rises well above diner level (the restaurant actually reminded me a lot of Avec here in Chicago). We started our dinner with a couple of steak tartars served on toast. The tartar was outstanding and a great way to start the meal. The rest of the meal I snapped pictures of... Cod salad with tomato and olive oil - The cod, I believe, was raw which emphasized just how fresh and high quality the fish was. The tomatoes, olives, and olive oil all worked to bring the fish together. Very light, very refreshing. Jamon - Ah, the obligatory plate of jamon. I believe this was bellota, but we at so much ham while in Spain I can't be sure. This jamon was as good as any we had. With a better camera, I could have gotten some absolutely filthy ham-porn shots. The fat literally melted in my mouth. Razor clams - We at almost as many razor clams as jamon. These were fine specimens, plump and briny. Like much of the seafood at Paco Meralgo, a very simple prep (grilled with olive oil, lemon, and some salt). Squid with white beans - I had no idea how good the squid was going to be over there. Everyplace we got squid it was tender and delicious. This dish was no exception. I'm not really fond of beans, but the beans in this dish were quite good. Oysters - Not sure what kind of oysters these were but they were delicious. Not sure if the picture shows it well, but the amount of liquor in the oyster was most impressive. Foie on toast - Big hunk of seared foie gras on toast. Rich, fatty, wonderful. "French toast" - I can't remember exactly how this was listed on the menu, but it is Paco Meralgo's version of french toast. A good, not overly sweet dessert (even my wife liked it and she's no dessert fan). Fresh cherries - It takes an enormous amount of confidence in the quality of your products to serve this as a dessert. These cherries tasted like they could have come of the tree minutes ago. They were plump, sweet, just a bit tart, and like no cherries I've ever tasted in the US. Along with a nice bottle of Spanish white this meal came to all of 87 Euros. The current exchange rate makes the price a little less reasonable, but given the quality of everything we ate, this was probably the biggest bargain of all of the dinners that we had. Of all of the restaurants we went to for dinner (more posts coming), Paco Meralgo is probably the only one that I would consider going back to. Paco Meralgo http://www.pacomeralgo.com Carrer de Muntaner 171 08036 Barcelona, Spain +34 934 309 027

Part II Razor clam with seaweed – One of the most interesting things about this meal was that while there were certainly plenty of “molecular gastronomy” touches, there were also several courses which focused almost exclusively on the ingredient and not the technique. This was one of those courses. Two plump razor clams (fresh as could be) served alongside a seaweed salad made from three different types of seaweed. Delicious. Asparagus with miso – Freakishly large asparagus from Navarra that was the sweetest asparagus I’ve ever tasted. The miso provided a nice, salty note to the dish. Asparagus with miso (reverse angle) Abalone – The abalone had been sliced down to cubes, and were alternated with similar-sized cubes of ham fat. Both were served on a bed on mushrooms. Probably one of the richer dishes of the night, but very satisfying (and chock full of umami). Sea cucumber with mentaiko and rhubarb – This was one of my favorite dishes of the night. I’ve never had sea cucumber before, but the taste and texture of this preparation really blew me away. The cucumber was both meaty and tasted of the sea (in a good way). The rhubarb provided the perfect amount of sweet balance to the dish. Sea anemone 2008 – Without a doubt, the most “challenging” dish of the night. The anemone was served with rabbit brains and an oyster sauce. Eating this dish was like swimming out into the middle of the ocean, going under water, and opening your mouth. Not my favorite, but I’m glad we ate it. Gnocchis of polenta with coffee and saffron yuba - Similar to the spherical olives, the outside of the "gnocchis" didn't serve much or a purpose other then to hold all of the polenta inside together. Nice and clean tasting after the sea anemone. Suckling pig tail - Another one of my favorite dishes. The pig tails were crispy, and served alongside a ham consume. What could be bad here? Water lily - A transition course as we headed towards dessert. Very floral and a nice way to start to clean the palate. Omelette surprise 2003 - The surprise was a skim milk/yogurt mixture, which honestly isn't the best surprise in the world. But still, it was nice to have another transition course heading into dessert. Omelette surprise 2003 (interior) Coco - A big, hollow sphere made from white chocolate. After being placed on the table, it was sprinkled with curry powder and then broken up. I'm not a huge curry fan, and I found this borderline inedible. Coco (cracked open) Amber - Another dish similar to the spherical olives, but this time made from honey. Ices - Under the layer of ice show above was a mixture of mainly watermelon and fruit-flavored yogurt. Sweet and cold, this was a very satisfying dessert. Tea service, el Bulli style - My wife, needing something to settle her stomach innocently ordered tea. What came out was the table of plants shown above. One of the staff came out to clip individual leafs off of each plant and place them in a French press along with honey and spices. Needless to say, after witnessing this, I had to order a tea of my own. Morphings... - Our waiter came out and placed a huge box of chocolates on our table. The box contained 19 individual types of chocolate (I believe that most, or all, were meant to recall previous course). Our waiter told me that they make over 500 individual pieces of chocolate each day to keep the boxes stocked. Morphings II Morphings III el Bulli is considered by many to be the #1 restaurant in the world. It is likely the hardest reservation to get. Did the restaurant live up to all of the hype? In a word...yes. I would say this was probably the greatest high-end meal of my life. The flavors were bold, the ingredients were of unbelievable high quality, the plating and serving pieces were gorgeous, and the service was friendly and refined (I would actually rate the service as comparable to Alinea). Not every dish blew me away, and some were clear misses, but this is one of those meals that should be viewed as a whole. As a whole, I can't think of any high-end meal that I've had that could approach this one in terms of overall taste, presentation, and just the general ability to make the diner really think about what they're eating. This was a great experience, and I'm glad I decided to send that email back in October.

Last October, purely on a whim, I decided to send an email to el Bulli to see if I could get a reservation in 2009. I requested a table for two, any day in June, July or August. After sending the email, I forgot about the whole thing. About six weeks later, an email arrived in my inbox stating the following: What?!?! Are you freaking kidding me?!?! I sent an obligatory email to my wife to make sure the date was ok (her reply...OMG!). We then started planning a 10 day trip to Spain built around this dinner. Not wanting to take any chances, we decided to arrive in Roses the day before our reservation. We took a train from Barcelona to Figueres, and then a taxi to our hotel in Roses (about 20 minutes from the train). This gave us a chance to just relax on the beach before dinner and make sure we were in peak condition for our meal. A taxi picked us up about 30 minutes before our reservation and took us up and down the long, winding mountain road that leads to el Bulli. Upon arriving at the restaurant and checking in, all guests are taken into the kitchen for a tour (here begin the pictures, which aren't great since my camera doesn't take very good pictures with the flash turned off): After being shown the kitchen (and getting to take a picture with Ferran Adria) we were shown to our table. The meal started off with two sugar canes that we were instructed to suck on (not pictured). One tasted like a mojito and the other like a caipirinha. We then moved on to a series of snacks which included the famous spherical olives: We also had (not pictured) crispy rabbit ears, tomato biscuits, and mimetics peanuts (shaped like peanuts, these had a very delicate shell that broke easily in the mouth and oozed peanut butter). After the snacks, we started to move through the rest of the meal… Rose frost – passion fruit ice carved into the shape of a rose. This had a great tartness to it that really captured the essence of passion fruit Pinenut shabu-shabu – The little packets of pinenut flavored liquid were picked up and “cooked” in the pine flavored broth in the bowl to the side Oyster leaf with dew of vinegar – After placing this dish down, our waiter wanted us to eat it and then guess what it tasted like. After a few seconds, the answer was abundantly clear…it tasted like eating an oyster on the half shell with some red wine vinaigrette. Our waiter told us that the leaf naturally tastes like an oyster; the kitchen just adds the vinegar to enhance the experience Grilled strawberry – These were served hot along with some gorgonzola moshi (served cold) that had to be eaten right away so they aren’t pictured. They were an excellent follow up to the moshi, in that the sweetness complemented the moshi and heat of the strawberry contrasted the coolness of the moshi. Cuttlefish with pesto ravioli – In my opinion, one of the few misses of the night. The cuttlefish had a very strong taste, and I just didn’t “get” the combination with the pesto ravioli Parmesan frozen-air with muesli – Following one of the night’s misses, this dish was a hit. The box was opened to reveal the “frozen air”. We were instructed to sprinkle on a bit of the dried fruit and nut muesli a little bit at a time. Frozen-air with muesli added Lulo – Lulo is a very tart tropical fruit. Here, gelee of lulo was topped with shavings of foie gras fat. Basically, this was a super amped up version of the traditional fruit/foie pairing. Pumpkin and almond sandwich – The “baguette” for the sandwich was light and crispy and I believe made from pumpkin. The meat in the sandwich was pretty healthy quantity of shaved truffles (which actually didn’t add as much flavor as I thought they would). Interior of pumpkin and almond sandwich Tomato-basil – Absolutely delicious, sweet tomatoes coated in something (maybe a black olive sauce? I know black olives figured in this dish somewhere). Served along with the tomatoes were crispy basil leafs that had been dusted with mango. Continued in next post...

Absolutely incredible dinner at el Bulli last night. We´re in Barcelona now and I won´t be able to post pics until we´re home on Saturday, but here was our menu: cane: mojito - caipirinha coniferous spherical olives tomato biscuit ¨averantos¨ rabbit ear crunchy mimetics peanuts rose frost black sesame sponge cake with miso pinenut shabu-shabu oyster leaf with dew of vinegar gorgonzola moshi grilled strawberry haricot bean with Joelito´s iberian pork fat cuttlefish with pesto ravioli parmesan frozen-air with muesli lulo pumpkin and almond sandwich tomato-basil razor clam with seaweed asparagus with miso abalone sea cucumber with mentaiko and rhubarb sea anemone 2008 gnocchis of polenta with coffee and saffron yuba suckling pig tail water lily omlette surprise 2003 coco amber ices Morphings... The price was a bit higher than what I´ve read from prior years. Our menu was 230 Euros per person, not including drinks, tax, or tip.

I´ll be there on Wednesday. I´ll be sure to report back.

We were just in Madrid for a couple of days and had dinner one night at La Barraca. The paella was just fine. While the rice was outstanding, the seafood in the paella was terribly overcooked (with the exception of some very tasty red prawns).

We're going to be in Barcelona for a few days and will be eating dinner at the following restaurants: Dos Palillos Paco Meralgo Rias de Galicia Hisop Comerc24 Can anyone give me an idea of what sort of attire would be appropriate for men and women at these restaurants? We're just trying to figure out what to pack. Thanks!

Same deal with Burt's in Chicago (not on the list, but featured on "No Reservations" and also on the cover of Saveur).

I wouldn't consider her a chef either, but on the About Alice Waters page on the Chez Panisse website she is listed as "Executive Chef and Owner". She also won the Beard award for Best Chef in 1992. Also, hasn't Bourdain described himself as a cook and not a chef?

Burt's does not have a website (at least not an official one).

Consider this situation... My wife and I recently went to a fairly new restaurant here in Chicago for the first time. We had a perfectly fine, but not spectacular meal. For whatever reason we were comped 2 glasses of dessert wine and 2 scoops of gelato. Maybe we were just engaging with our waiter, maybe they just wanted to finish the bottle of moscato. I'm certainly not "known" as a food board poster, blogger, or anything. Under your standards am I now ethically forbidden to post about my meal on eGullet? How does that make any sense? Doesn't it seem a lot more sensible for me to post about my meal, disclose the comp, and let the reader judge how much stock they want to put in my opinion?

As a "random reader" I couldn't care less if a blog I chose to read has decided to sign on to a "code" or not. A blog becomes credible to me over a period of time. If I like it, I continue reading it. If I sense that the blogger is a shill or is acting in some other unethical way, I'll stop reading it. I guess I treat blogs the same was as I treat posters here. If a poster has a large number of posts and if I've gained a respect for that poster's opinion through their posts then that means a lot. Far more than signing onto a code. I mean, I put a lot more stock into oakapple's posts than I would someone with 10 posts but who has decided to sign the eG code. Only time will tell how much of an impact this will really have.

Man, I am dying to go Masa...one day! Anyway, we can go 'round and 'round on this all day. Obviously I like L2O better than you guys. But I do agree that there is room for improvement.

My focus here is on the raw ingredients (meaning the actual quality of the fish, not what is done to the fish after it arrives at the restaurant) that the restaurant is using. Based on the uncooked preparations that L2O puts out, I would contend that they are using higher quality raw ingredients than many other places. The raw fish I've had there has really only been rivaled by Sushi Yasuda in NYC. I know L2O isn't a sushi restaurant. But, if you're going to evaluate a seafood focused restaurant you have to start with the raw ingredients, and eating those ingredients uncooked is a pretty good way to evaluate what they're using.

My only point is that writers like to make these intellectually lazy comparisons. Before I went to L2O I thought I would be able to easily compare it to Le Bernadain. After I went I realized that the comparison can't be made any further than "two restaurants that specialize in seafood". While L2O is expensive, I'm not so sure that it's overpriced given the quality of many of the ingredients that they're using. If you're going to serve top quality seafood (taking out of the equation whether you like the cooking or not), you're going to have to pay top dollar (especially in the middle of the country). I mean, when was the last time you ate at a cheap sushi place in Chicago (or, really most cities for that matter) that was any good?

I thought Bruni raised some valid points (as much as I enjoy the food, the service does still need work). I'm also more partial to the appetizers than the main courses (although I still enjoy both). I've now eaten there three times, and still enjoy the place immensely. Their raw preparations are some of the best I've had anywhere (especially the lamb/ebi tartare which is a stunning dish to both look at and eat). I think if the main dishes can be elevated just ever so slightly (along with the service), L2O would be a solid 4-star restaurant. As it stands right now, I would agree with this statement from Bruni: As for comparing it to other restaurants, it's inevitable given what they're serving. It doesn't make it right though. It's like all the nonsense with lumping Achatz, Bowles, and Cantu together. Maybe it makes sense superficially, but if you really understand how all 3 cook it makes less and less sense.

Thank you Rogelio. With the exception of Txirimiri, do any of the places mentioned take reservations (or are they even necessary)?