Dinner at Cafe Atlantico/the minibar.</span><br><br>I've been looking forward to this one for a month now and there was zero disappointment with this experience. I arrived at around 7:45 for the 8:30 reservation at the minibar and sat down at the bar and had a glass of riesling at the suggestion of the bartender when I asked him for something to complement my dinner at the minibar. We talked about the food, the ideas and how he used some of those approaches in his drink designs.<br><br>Finally 8:30 rolled around and Pablo, the server for the minibar gathered the 6 people who had minibar reservations that night (only two seating at the minibar every night and only six people can eat there per seating. That's right. Only twelve people eat there a night.) and we all headed upstairs.<br><br>Two chefs were on the other side of the minibar (Melanie and Mike I think...) and after talking briefly about how we were going to be there for two and a half hours and eat about 35 different things, they got to work.<br><br>I'll let the photos tell the rest with some captions.<br><br><img src="http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v684/Chinorlz/mb1.jpg"><br>Outside. It was raining. A lot.<br><br><img src="http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v684/Chinorlz/mb2.jpg"><br>My side of the minibar. A layout of many of the ingredients we were going to eat in the next 2.5 hours.<br><br><img src="http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v684/Chinorlz/mb3.jpg"><br>The silverware. Lovely stuff!<br><br><img src="http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v684/Chinorlz/mb4.jpg"><br>Preparation by Mike of the fizzy mojitos.<br><br><img src="http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v684/Chinorlz/mb5.jpg"><br>The beet tumbleweeds being topped with microgreens.<br><br><img src="http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v684/Chinorlz/mb6.jpg"><br>Passion fruit whiskey sours being finished.<br><br><img src="http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v684/Chinorlz/mb7.jpg"><br>The salmon roe cone (minibar interpretation of the lox & cream cheese combo) being finished.<br><br><img src="http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v684/Chinorlz/mb8.jpg"><br>In media res constructing the deconstructed glass of wine.<br><br><img src="http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v684/Chinorlz/mb9.jpg"><br>Foam. I think this one was passion fruit foam.<br><br><img src="http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v684/Chinorlz/mb10.jpg"><br>Construction of the Ajo Blanco. This dish was definitely one of the highlights.<br><br><img src="http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v684/Chinorlz/mb11.jpg"><br>Preparation of the caviar with quail egg cooked via "in-shell sous vide"<br><br><img src="http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v684/Chinorlz/mb12.jpg"><br>The tomato sorbet being put on the avocado for "guacamole"<br><br><img src="http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v684/Chinorlz/mb13.jpg"><br>Prep of the new new england clam chowder. On the left are freshly shucked clams.<br><br><img src="http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v684/Chinorlz/mb14.jpg"><br>Blowtorching kobe beef and mushrooms for the "philly cheese steak"<br><br>____________________________________________________________<br><br>OK! Now onto the dishes themselves.... there are a lot.<br><br><img src="http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v684/Chinorlz/dish1.jpg"><br>Olive Oil bon bon. A sugar encased liquid olive oil drop. Placed into your mouth, you cracked it and the most luscious olive oil flows over your tongue. The sugar isn't overwhelming (likely tempered by the coating of your tongue with the oil) and adds a subtle dimension to the pure flavor of the olive oil. I liked this start not only because it showed you what was to come, but because it let you actually enjoy the purity of olive oil. A flavor we almost take for granted now.<br><br><img src="http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v684/Chinorlz/dish2.jpg"><br>The fizzy margarita. Done of course with the alginate/calcium chloride gelation method. In your mouth it popped and fizzed lightly. A nice contrast to the olive oil. I saw it almost as the extremes of flavors you would taste over the evening. Note the El Bulli silverware. <br><br><img src="http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v684/Chinorlz/dish3.jpg"><br>Saffron yogurt merengue. A nice little bite. Very very light and subtle.<br><br><img src="http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v684/Chinorlz/dish4.jpg"><br>Next up were the beet tumbleweeds. Extremely fragile and sweetly delicious. They reminded me of a softer and more texturally interesting version of beet Terra Chips.<br><br><img src="http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v684/Chinorlz/dish5.jpg"><br>The passion fruit whiskey sour. Not really a shot in the liquor sense. Very flavorful. The way the menu was organized, each dish varied enough from the one before to keep the palate awake and interested.<br><br><img src="http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v684/Chinorlz/dish6.jpg"><br>Maple Syrup Pork Rinds. These were given at the same time as the whiskey sour. Definitely a play on bar food. These were perfect. Not oily, but those really nice thick pork rinds that the mass-produced bagged versions can't even touch. The salty-sweet combo and the crunchiness...mmmmm.....<br><br><img src="http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v684/Chinorlz/dish7.jpg"><br>Fried whole fish. This was pretty much the only dish that I found to be disappointing. These were like dried fish slivers that I can get in the Chinese market. Not bad, but not interesting either.<br><br><img src="http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v684/Chinorlz/dish8.jpg"><br>Lox with Cream Cheese. Salmon roe and light 'n airy cream cheese served in a crispy cone. One bite.<br><br><img src="http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v684/Chinorlz/dish9.jpg"><br>Cotton candy foie gras. A cube of foie gras terrine whisked quickly in a cotton candy machine. The classic pairing of something sweet with foie worked very nicely here. The foie was creamy and cool and the cotton candy was still slighty warm from being spun. <br><br><img src="http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v684/Chinorlz/dish10.jpg"><br>Minibar Olives. Definitely an interpretation of the El Bulli olives. Olive flavors encapsulated in the alginate/CaCl2 method. With an olive puree and bits of orange for a sweet addition to the salty olive flavor. Very nice! Although they were difficult to get off the plate without popping them.<br><br><img src="http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v684/Chinorlz/dish11.jpg"><br>Boneless chicken wing with bbq sauce and bleu cheese. Cute and a tasty morsel.<br><br><img src="http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v684/Chinorlz/dish12.jpg"><br>Conch fritter. Frozen conch chowder is battered and fried. I could eat a lot of these!<br><br><img src="http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v684/Chinorlz/dish13.jpg"><br>Salmon with pineapple, avocado, quinoa. Overall a nice dish, but the salmon itself was underwhelming. The razor thin slice of pineapple provided much more flavor than I would have anticipated.<br><br><img src="http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v684/Chinorlz/dish14.jpg"><br><img src="http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v684/Chinorlz/dish14b.jpg"><br>The deconstructed glass of wine. The guy who sat to my right worked as a wine rep and was a big fan of this one. White grape juice gelee was topped with various flavors you'd get in a glass of wine and then it was spritzed with actual white wine to complete the presentation. Right to left (I could be rememering some incorrectly...) lemon zest, orange zest, lime zest, coconut, mint, pineapple, passion fruit, cantaloupe, apple, pomegranate, fig, vanilla. A really cool dish that I looked forward to trying out after reading about it.<br><br><img src="http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v684/Chinorlz/dish15.jpg"><br>Ajo Blanco. The minibar version of a classic spanish dish. This was the only dish that used a pacojet. Flavor-wise it started off very basic but as you dug deeper, became incredibly complex. Some garlic, almond (I think this was the pacojetted ice), intensely flavored tomato powder, top notch balsamic vinegar and olive oil. One of my favorites of the night.<br><br><img src="http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v684/Chinorlz/dish16.jpg"><br>Zucchini in textures. This was sitting in a warmer in the back of the minibar until this point. It was subtle. Topped with a gelee, you dug through the nicely cooked seeds into a puree underneath. I like zucchini so this was nice, but didn't seem to fit well into the overall scheme. Some would consider it a dull dish, but I can understand it as Andres' exploration into the potential of a single ingredient.<br><br><img src="http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v684/Chinorlz/dish17.jpg"><br>Lobster Americaine. A pristine lobster tail was sliced, quickly warmed in a pan and then affixed to the pipet. The pipet was filled with a strained puree of tomalley (the tasty stuff you find in the head). The instructions were to put the lobster/pipet in your mouth and as you pulled the lobster off of the pipet, you squeezed the sauce in. <br><br>For those that are allergic to raw crustaceans, the lobster is 90% cooked (as it should be) but I know I had a very mild reaction to it (prickly mouth, itchy back of throat). I get this from sous vide cooked shrimp (at WD-50) too. Not a huge deal, but just so you're aware.<br><br><img src="http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v684/Chinorlz/dish18.jpg"><br>Feta Linguine. Feta "water" (probably a consomme) was gelled into noodles and served with small chunks of actual feta, tomato puree and a light feta sauce. Not overpowering or boring, but with the minibar fork, it was hard to eat.<br><br><img src="http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v684/Chinorlz/dish19.jpg"><br>Organized Caesar Salad. This one took Mike a while to make. The skins were gossamer thin and you can see there needs to be a lot done for correct and clean presentation. A fun dish to eat with the hands.<br><br><img src="http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v684/Chinorlz/dish20.jpg"><br>Egg 147 and caviar. A quail egg is cooked slowly at 147 degrees and served with caviar. The bottom of the dish had a bit of passion fruit and banana puree too to offset the salinity of the caviar. Very nice, but the egg flavor was a bit too subtle. In the end it just added a creaminess to the dish.<br><br><img src="http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v684/Chinorlz/dish21.jpg"><br>Sea urchin with pomegranate foam. Really nice dish. Nothing like fresh sea urchin. They seem to love the salty/sweet combo at minibar.<br><br><img src="http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v684/Chinorlz/dish22.jpg"><br>Roasted corn on the cob. Definitely a fun dish. A little baby corn was seared and served with chopped corn nuts and a roasted corn puree. The roasted corn flavor came almost exclusively from the corn nuts. This is one that you could easily do at home.<br><br><img src="http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v684/Chinorlz/dish23.jpg"><br>Guacamole. Thin layered slices of avocado were rolled around silky tomato sorbet and garnished with chopped fritos, tomato and bits of lime. I liked the unconventional usage of snack foods (fritos, corn nuts) by Andres'. They fit perfectly for these dishes. Beautiful presentation and another one that isn't impossible to replicate at home.<br><br><img src="http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v684/Chinorlz/dish24.jpg"><br>Smoked oyster with apple. A fresh oyster (maybe lightly poached) served with a smoky lightly apple flavored sauce and smoke foam. A miniature cube of apple provided a sharper apple taste and nice contrast in texture.<br><br><img src="http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v684/Chinorlz/dish25.jpg"><br>New new england clam chowder. My god. This dish was amazing. Freshly shucked clams that tasted like the ocean. I did not know that raw clam could have such strong flavor. A potato puree, cream foams, bits of bacon and other ingredients came together. I could definitely have had much more of this dish.<br><br><img src="http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v684/Chinorlz/dish26.jpg"><br>Breaded cigala. A crayfish looking crustacean that was fully cooked and the a sliver of some crust added to one side. Served with a sauce that tasted like it was made from the shell and head. Very nice. Flavorful without being overpowering.<br><br><img src="http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v684/Chinorlz/dish27.jpg"><br>Philly cheese steak. Slices of kobe beef were torched along with mushrooms (I think they were the canned variety) laid on top of a crust tube that was filled with very airy cream cheese. It was finished with a few drops of truffle oil before being served. The cream cheese inside the tube melted a little and added to the mouthfeel and texture of this dish. Another nice interpretation of an american classic.<br><br><img src="http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v684/Chinorlz/dish28.jpg"><br>Young Japanese peaches served with light cream and foam. Droplets of balsamic vinegar added to the flavor of these interesting fruits. <br><br><img src="http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v684/Chinorlz/dish29.jpg"><br>Berries and pistachio. This was probably the closest thing to a "normal" dish all evening. A mixed berry sorbet, pistachio cream and some raspberries/blackberries. The red foam were solid foam chunks of berry essence that melted in your mouth. Nice and clean.<br><br><img src="http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v684/Chinorlz/dish30.jpg"><br><img src="http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v684/Chinorlz/dish30b.jpg"><br>Coconut and Peanut "brittle". Not sure what their name for this dish was but it was definitely a difficult one execution wise. The peanut sheets were extremely fragile. Melanie had to go through 10-12 sheets before 6 good ones could be had. A light coconut sorbet was topped with the sheet and this was topped with a thick peanut sauce (essentially smoother peanut butter imo). The droplets on the sides are intense bits of tamarind syrup.<br><br><img src="http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v684/Chinorlz/dish31-34.jpg"><br>The final plate. A pipet of coconut cream with sweet cantaloupe and ginger (such a perfect combo!) skewered on it. Cocoa coated corn nuts, passion fruit syrup filled marshmallow, saffron gumdrop in an edible wrapper (rice paper?). All were really really nice. I was preoccupied with the pairing of cantaloupe and ginger throughout.<br><br><img src="http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v684/Chinorlz/dish35.jpg"><br>The Halls lollipops. Not overpowering, but very strong and a nice way to cleanse the palate. <br><br><img src="http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v684/Chinorlz/mb15.jpg"><br>Final "dish" of the night. Six servers come and each stands behind one person and announce that this is the final dish. They set an egg in front of you and they all smash them at the same time revealing..... your bill.<br><br>All in all, exactly what I hoped for in my minibar experience. In the sense that I both knew and did not know what to expect from it. After my meal at WD-50 a couple of months ago, this was a great next step in my foray into experimental/molecular gastronomy. Aside from the fried fish dish, I have essentially no qualms about the meal at all. For $95, it's quite possibly the best meal you can have at that price. A dinner, show, and absolutely memorable experience all in one. The two and a half hours went by so quickly.<br><br>Minibar and WD-50 have provided me with absolutely the two BEST dinners I've had all year. Hopefully my brother and I will be able to go to Chicago for a weekend to eat at Moto and Alinea in the next several months. With El Bulli soon opening lines for reservations in 2007, I hope that I can score one. Minibar has been both a great meal in it of itself, and also a primer for this almost uncategorizable style of cooking.<br>
