[Alkimia]

I had an opportunity to stage at Alkimia restaurant with Chef Jodi Vila in Barcelona last fall. Alkimia, to me, is one of the best in the city, not because I was there and had the opportunity to work alongside Chef Jordi and the crew, but because of Chef Jordi's outlook on Catalan cuisine. Jordi takes traditional dishes from the region keeping the soul of the classics but giving them a modern edge. Alkimia, which opened in August 2002, is a quaint restaurant in the Sagrada Familia neighborhood of Barcelona. Chef Jodi did most of his training in and around the city working with renowned chefs like Jean Luke Figures. Deciding not to further his training in France, he opted to open Alkimia at the age of 28 and within two years of opening he garnered a star from the Michelin guide in 2004.

Chef Jordi

A typical day started around 9am with four cooks, one pastry chef, Chef Jodi, and me, (the stagier). As small as the kitchen was there was an incredible amount of attention to detail in the way we worked and in the food. Alkimia was open for lunch and dinner but the bulk of the work was done in the mornings. We all worked extremely hard in the kitchen and Chef Jordi made sure we all had a great time doing it. He played around with the team and cracked jokes so our mornings went quickly and were seamless. But when it came time for the service, he was all about business. I worked in pastries at Alkimia which was fine for me because my experience with desserts was limited to mainly classic French plus Armando, the pastry chef, needed help.

Pastry Chef Armando

We would make three different kinds of bread in the mornings, Focaccia with olives, Sun-dried tomatoes (also render iberico ham fat…mmm ham fat), Walnut bread, and a super crispy white bread. The bread we made was the only bread served in the restaurant, and it was a labor intensive project tying up Armando for most of the morning, mixing, kneading, proofing, shaping, baking, just a huge project. So I was in charge of a lot of the pastry prep while Armando focused on the bread. When he was finished he would help me complete the prep and we worked right into service. It was a good system and Armando is a very talented pastry chef with great organizational skills. It was very easy to work with him because he spoke some English and he helped with my Spanish.

Bread stick flavored with fried onions and Moritz beer.

One of my favorite dishes was called the Borracho (which translates to drunk) it was a rum Baba that was soaked in a coffee bath just warmed through. For the presentation, served in bowl was a white chocolate puree, passion fruit seeds and coffee beans. We poured fresh orange juice thickened with xanthan gum. (The xanthan gave us the ability to thicken the juice to our desired texture without applying heat, and it also is odorless and flavorless.) The coffee baba was then placed on the top of the puree before being served, a great dish, not to heavy, but very satisfying.

Petit Fours of Alkimia: Almond Madeleines, Raspberry Balsamic Macaroons,

Chocolate Curry Tuiles, Salted Peanut Caramels, Passion Fruit & White Chocolate Lollipops, and Strawberries and Sheep Milk Foam

Chef Jordi is a fanatic about great products, everything from fish, meats to produce, must be the best quality that is in season. A lot of the products we received in the restaurant were from small produces in and around Barcelona. One in particular I remembered was a farmer named Jack. He was a local farmer who only dealt with a few restaurants in the city. He would deliver what he had fresh once or sometimes twice a week. The produce Jack grew was some of the best I have seen in Spain. Unfortunately, I didn’t have a chance to capture pictures of Jack when he was delivering, but you can see some of his work in a lot of the dishes at Alkimia and in the 3 pics below.

Jodi stays true to his Cataluña roots with a lot of dishes on the menu. He takes traditional cooking and gives it a modern edge without going too far, or over the top. But he also has a playful side to his cooking. Take this dish he calls “Dentro de Mar” or inside the ocean. It has various seafood and shellfish such as oysters, clams, sea snails, caviar, Ortega de mar, and gooseneck barnacles. The water part of this interesting dish comes from a langoustine stock that is mixed with purple basil water turning the liquid an ocean blue. When I was there Jordi did not know the chemistry of how or why the colors changed, but I know he was doing the research to find out why. After tasting the whole dish together it is a refreshing transportation right to the deep sea. He also has some classics on the menu such as cannelloni; it’s very simple with a beautiful presentation that has indescribable flavors. The cannelloni was filled with a ground chicken mixture, wrapped in a fresh pasta sheet, draped with a silky béchamel sauce, and served with almonds and crisp frisee lettuce.

Jordi also used a lot of modern techniques and tools, in his cooking, but he always said he never wants to over do it. He will use the spherification technique, but only once on the menu. It is demonstrated in the dish of sous vide baby lamb, with goat cheese spherification. The goat cheese acts more like a sauce or fondue to the dish, with the main focus on the perfectly cook lamb. I believe this also demonstrates Jodi’s philosophy

in keeping things simple but showing a side of his creative mind and ideas.

Overall my experience at Alkimia was one of kind, I could not have found better people to work for or a better young chef to train with. Working with chef Jordi was a great experience, I was able to absorb everything from classic Catalan cuisine to post modern techniques. Jordi’s excellent style of management and outlook and a long restaurant work day got me thinking that maybe in America we should take a siesta in the middle of the afternoon. I hope to return to Barcelona soon to revisit Alkimia and to see what new creations Chef Jodi and his team are working on.

Salt Cod, with a Ragout of White Beans, Tomatoes, Olive Oil, Cod Tripe, and Salmon Roe

[Catalonia Restaurants]

We are planning a foodie trip to Barcelona as well.

We have not been there before so our list is:

Our list is Hisop, Comerc24, Alkamai, Can Fabes, Can Roca (if we can get in but currently they do not have availability), el Bulli and Sauc.

Through in the markets for breakfasts and lunch, as much Iberico we can fit in between and maybe a dessert or two, like at Inopia, and we will be in food comas by the time we get home.

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if you like desserts espai sucre is a must.

try tapac24 instead of comerc i had a better cheaper meal there.

inopia is packed all the time, wall to wall people.

taverna del clinic (new small plates place from a guy that worked with santi santamaria.

a friend recommended quim de la boqueria to me and it was great for

breakfast, try the eggs with squid.

la mifanera is great for all kinds of rice dishes

hope this helps

[El Celler de Can Roca]

We walked back to Girona’s city center. Around the corner of Can Roca we saw a big building site of a house with a big glass front that said Torre de Can Roca. So could this be their new location?

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La Torre de Can Roca has been their banquet facility for quite a while, and it is indeed bound to become their new restaurant location.

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After my lunch last November, I chatted with Josep Roca and he gave me the impression that La Torre will continue to be their banquet facility and the new location for their restaurant is somewhere in the old part of town.

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They switched the banquet operation from la Torre to Mas Marroch, a country house in the outskirts of Girona, a while back. Not quite sure when exactly, but I can find out.

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La Torre is a banquet prep kitchen, Mas Morrach is a banquet hall.

It also has a kitchen but very little prep is done there.

The new building will house the restaurant, private dining, a large tarrace,

and a kinda of waiting room/lounge. Its going to be very impressive!

[Barcelona Restaurant Recommendations]

We'll be in Barcelona in June for 4 nights, staying at the Avenida Palace.  What's not to miss in Barcelona for dining?

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Restaurant Moo in the Hotel Omm.

Moo is is restaurant by Joan Roca,

i had a great experience there.

[Moto Restaurant - Chicago]

I walked into Moto at 9:45pm after trying a mediocre sushi stop for the first time and the staff led by Matt Gundlach  put together a 6 course tasing on the fly (no pics or notes, so this is from memory).

First Course:

Hamachi & orange paired with larmandier bernier, 1ER Cru Blanc De Blancs, vertus brut nv

nice opener...clean and fresh hamachi with a carbonated orange...when I squeezed the orange, it was like drinking a orange crush with the orange bubbling all over the place...I squeezed the orange over the hamachi and then into my mouth

Second Course:

Maple Squash Cake paired with balthazaar ress, Hattenheimer Nussbrunnen, riesling, spatlese, rheingau2002

on one side of the plate was squash cubes with bacon and on the other side of the plate was a frozen delicata squash foam...foam was absolutely outstanding...the texture of the frozen foam and flavor WOW!

Third Course:

BBQ Pork with the fixin's paired with sutton cellars, 50/50, carignane/ grenache, california 2001

on one side of the plate was a pork jowl with bbq sauce - Moto style and on the other side of the plate a cube of bread dipped in squid ink (to look like a piece of charcoal) and then into a liquid nitrogen bath so that it is frozen...we were instructed to eat the pork first which would give the bread cube time to thaw and then use the bread to slop up the sauce...flavor of the sauce and the pork was good (though I may have used pork belly rather than jowl but I am just splitting whiskers )...I do not think the frozen aspect of the cube added to the dish, but that did not stop me from leaving a clean plate

Fourth Course:

2&3 dimensional truffle

this was an edible picture of cotton candy flavored paper and a truffle with a cotton candy liquid filling...successful in flavoring (choice between this and the real thing, put me down for the real thing- though that is not the point of the course)

Fifth Course:

Chili-Cheese nachos paired with elio perrone, Sourgal, moscato d'asti 2005

This course is in the same vein as the Fat Duck beet and blood orange jellies, meaning that it may look like Chili-Cheese nachos but it is not what it looks like. This course was absolute genius this was the "best in class" example of this kind of dish that I have ever eaten. Since I have no notes some of the components will not be exact, but the point will not be lost. The elements of the dish: tortilla chips dipped in simple syrup (think frosted flake tortilla chips), guacamole looking thing was Kiwi ( could be totally wrong), sour cream was a sweet mascarpone exact texture of sour cream, ground beef size little bits of chocolate and as the shredded cheese there was a frozen shredded orange sorbet of some kind. So you grab a chip and scoop up the elements like you would nachos and here is where it gets weird and fantastic at the same time. How many times in your life have you eaten nachos? The look and mouthfeel are dead ringers for the real thing...you know that you are eating a dessert course, but when you put a chip in your mouth your brain is telling you nachos so your taste memory for a split second imagines the savory version and you are thinking weird not good, but then your tastebuds take over and the sweetness comes thru. After one bite, I was unsure what I really just experienced. I also noticed the look on my friend's face and he seemed to be going thru the same thing. I scoop up another bite with some of the ground beef looking chocolate bits...happens again initial mouthfeel tricks me and I am weirded out then the sweetness comes thru then laughter. Pastry Chef Ben Roche hit it out of the park with this dish. To be able to execute this dish successfully on so many different levels is quite an achievement.  BRAVO

Course Six:

Flapjacks prepared tableside paired with meinklang, Trokenbeerenauslese, bouvier, burgenland 2001

A griddle is brought to the table that has been dipped in liquid nitrogen so that when the pancake mix (cooked pancakes pureed into a liquid form) is poured on the griddle, the pancakes are frozen seared. The tiny frozen flapjack is placed on a spoon with a drop of Steve's Blis Bourbon Barrel Maple Syrup on it. Well, after tasting the syrup there is now a bottle of the syrup in my cabinet.

I had not been to Moto in about a year and this quick taste has made me want to plan a GTM as soon as possible.

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I was in moto not to long ago and

I have to agree with molto e

I have tasted both the jellies at the fat duck

and also the melon caviar at el bulli

the nacho course at moto belongs among these dishes

also Matt Gundlach's service and personality made the night

thanks again for everything Matt

[Butter - Chicago]

Stellar post and pics as always, Ronnie.  Can you tell us more about the chicken and lobster dish.  I can't quite make out the how the chicken is done.  It looks like slivers of breast meat?

Also, was this a specially arranged meal, or did you all just order a la carte, with VIP service?

Thanks!

u.e.

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u.e.

it is very important to us at Butter, that when friends or family dine at the restaurant they are offered the same dishes as any of our guest that night.

It would not be fair to our guest to do something special for one table and not offer it to another, that night or even that week.( although it happens ,we try to litmit it as much as possible)

the menu that we served Mr. Suburban was quite special because we were testing dishes that would be on our new fall menu that following week.

we also tested these same dishes to a few other tables that night, who ordered our 7 course menu (the egg set got the most responses.)

Please next time your in chicago, stop by and say hello.

we would love to have you!!

Oh, the chicken is sous vide the lobster is butter poached.

[Butter - Chicago]

? Could the mystery dessert be a malted milk ball ?

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Kouign,

The dessert is called "milk and cereal."

Its a raw milk ice cream with chocolate wheat malt perals & cold chocolate cream.

The raw milk comes to us from farmer George Rasmussen of Swan Creek Farm.

Its produced by a 15 year old organic cow named Fatima.

Kriss Harvey's (the pastry chef of Butter) idea of this pre dessert

was to recreate milk and cereal. Having an unflovored ice cream, to show case the raw milk and to pair with the crisp malt wheat.

I love the simplicity of this dessert.

Ryan Poli