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Everyone must stop saying Hypermodern cuisine... i cant take it anymore... if that word spreads ill be very upset with the world. I dont mean to be mean but it sounds so hokey. Please someone suggest and alternative. As for alex and aki.... they rock. Visit the TestKitchen ← There have been many alternatives suggested. One that has been outright rejected by most of the people who are doing this style of cooking including Ferran Adria, Jose Andres, Joan Roca, Andoni Aduriz and others is "Molecular Gastronomy". I haven't heard a better one than hypermodern yet. If you have one let us all knoe. Until the time that something better comes along, I, for one will still use that term. Sorry. BTW, awesome report, Eliot. The photos and commentary are superb. I thought my appetite for experiencing their food was already at a fever pitch. It is even moreso now! ← Im sorry I didnt mean to be offensive to anyone, I just think it sounds so goony to say Hypermodern. And I suppose your right if i dont have a better name I should just accept whats out there. But I greatly prefer saying molecular gastronomy to Hypermodern. And given the choice im sure all of those people would choose the MG over the other choice. Oh but We are getting away from the focus of this thread. Excellent photos and commentary Molto! Visit the TestKitchen ← You are right about keeping the focus on Keyah grande here. In fact most of the chefs I am acquainted with including Alex and Aki (albeit only through their blog and eGullet Society participation), prefer to not be labeled at all. That being said, Ferran Adria and Jose Andres specifically rejected the "Molecular Gastronomy" label this past weekend at the World of Flavors Conference on Spain and the World Table at CIA/Greystone. I think that classification and labeling is useful for discussion purposes, though I can understand the desire to resist labeling.

Everyone must stop saying Hypermodern cuisine... i cant take it anymore... if that word spreads ill be very upset with the world. I dont mean to be mean but it sounds so hokey. Please someone suggest and alternative. As for alex and aki.... they rock. Visit the TestKitchen ← There have been many alternatives suggested. One that has been outright rejected by most of the people who are doing this style of cooking including Ferran Adria, Jose Andres, Joan Roca, Andoni Aduriz and others is "Molecular Gastronomy". I haven't heard a better one than hypermodern yet. If you have one let us all knoe. Until the time that something better comes along, I, for one will still use that term. Sorry. BTW, awesome report, Eliot. The photos and commentary are superb. I thought my appetite for experiencing their food was already at a fever pitch. It is even moreso now!

The probable reason that Monastrell was closed was because the chef, Maria Jose San Roman was participating at the CIA's World of Flavors "Spain and the World Table" program in St. Helena, California around the time you were in Alicante.

Greg Drescher, Jose Andres and Roser Torras (behind the scenes) did an incredible job. The moment at the final general session when Thomas Keller introduced Ferran will go down as one of the greatest moments in modern Spanish culinary history. ← ...and perhaps American! The electricity in the air rivaled anything that I have ever experienced, at least in person. I never fully realized just how much personal charisma Ferran Adria has. By the way, you didn't do such a bad job yourself!

We should all have such primitive palates, Victor! I appreciate your comments on the dish and your perception. Nevertheless, I would still be curious to try it for myself. I hope that I someday get the chance.

There was so much great food there that somehow I missed those. The Market Place environment was in fact like a busy local market. It was crowded with people (politely) jostling for position at various booths. The quantity and the quality of the food was such that I was already getting full about a quarter of the way through the market. As such we went in different directions the different times we entered. Unfortunately, it was easy to miss specific things.

I have returned from California to a very busy schedule. I do have a lot to report and wish to do the subject justice as best I can, so it will take some time to put together the details.

While the details and photos will have to wait until I have more time (and I do have lots of photos), a few quick highlights before I get ready for today's ultimate session. Ferran Adria's presence was everywhere despite the fact that he hasn't officially appeared in the program. My personal highlight was meeting him again,chatting with him and having him sign my copy of the El Bulli 2003/2004 book. Two break-out demos with Andoni Aduriz of Mugaritz. He is a brilliant and intense young man. The American chef who most remindds me of him and vice versa in terms of approach, intensity and sensibilities is Grant Achatz. I will have to get to Mugaritz. Joan Roca's demo particularly rocked. He is an extremely friendly and brilliant man. He and his staff actually distilled the essence of "earth" and serves it as part of a dish with oysters at his restaurant. He showed a video of the process and the dish. In other hands the concept would not sound so appealing, but from him I would gladly try it. Lunch was extraordinary with an array of tapas, calcots prepared by Llorenc Petras (messy but delicious) and the best paella I have ever had. Wines from all over Spain have been flowing like water. I have particularly enjoyed various sherries amongst other samplings. Some other presentations that come immediately to mind included Enric Canut's recent history of cheese in Spain and Joaquin Felipe's virtual dissection and use of the complete tuna including skin and organs. Though I am not mentioning more presentations at the moment, that is not a slight to them as they were uniformly fascinating, salivating and excellent. The Market Basket dinner last evening was also extraordinary and less crowded. I will wait for more time to give some more detail here. Today promises to be another extraordinary day, though it will end earlier and without a Market Basket grazing dinner.

Wow! The conference got off to a rolicking start tonight with Conference Chairman Jose Andres leading a star-studded group of Spanish and American Culinary luminaries including Nancy Harmon Jenkins, Harold McGee, Carles, Gaig, Nando Jubany, Dani Garcia, Juan Arzak and Pedro Subijana (the last two via satellite connection), Enric Canut, Llorenc Petras, Gerry Dawes, Karen McNeill and others in an entertaining and informative introduction to the cooking and ingredients of Spain. This was followed by the opening of the World Marketplace with its cornucopia of foods with a Spanish pedigree. Some such as an authentic paella valenciana and fried anchovies were prepared by masters from Spain here for their expertise and others prepared by American chefs with inspirations (and ingredients) from Spain like the sea urchin prepared by the folks from minibar. Some personal highlights included chatting with Ferran Adria himself, Llorenc Petras (who I had dinner with at minibar last spring), taking chocolates directly from Oriol Balaguer and commiserating over the fate of this years FC Barcelona squad with Carlos Abellan. In addition the very first person my wife and I ran into on our arrival was Jose Andres himself. All I can say is that man has incredible energy and charisma with a crowd. Tomorrow the conference starts in earnest. Pictures and more detailed reports will follow, but probably not until I return home.

Bingo!

This is not the topic for it, but IMO there is at least one restaurant on that list that does not belong there. I have eaten at 5 of the 7. To keep this OT, Alinea is not that restaurant

It starts on Thursday.

For a great read on Shola by Shola including some background on SK, see Ideas in Food, the blog of Alex Talbot and Aki Kamozawa. While it might not quite assuage your SK Jones, it may be the next best thing.

Thanks for the photos. Will you be there the entire time?

Please see here for the interview I did with Paul as well as follow-up discussion. In addition to that interview, our own Bond Girl, Ya-Roo Yang did a nice one on Chow.com that fills in a few more elements. Photos there are by eGullet member Harlan Turk.

I glazed some cubed carrots with butter and cinnamon then added cubed kohlrabi towards the end cooking them lightly, tossed with cilantro and served. The carrots were cooked through, but the kohlrabi were still crunchy (though warm) adding a nice textural contrast. I just ate one raw. I peeled it and cut it up. I used it to dip into hummus. It was a nice light lunch.

It appears that the situation has escalated. This can not be good news for the restauranteurs and others associated with the tourist trade let alone Oaxacans in general. How many more of these people will be forced to uproot and leave. Hopefully this situation will be resolved soon and not leave too deep a scar on this city that is special not only in the world of Mexican Cuisine.

I am not familiar with it. Can you tell us anything about it?

Another place to consider would be Ricardo Munoz Zurita's Oro y Azul on the UNAM Campus.

If you like food markets, el Merced is a must. I did not feel uncomfortable there during the middle of a Saturday. I was with a group, but we were split up all over the place. As with anyplace, one needs to use common sense and be aware of on'e surroundings. I only ate at a few of the places you mentioned (or didn't). One place that I would strongly recommend and it is on your list, is Pujol. There is some very exciting and delicious cooking going on there.

Actually what would be true is the perception of bad treatment. It does not necessarily follow that the treatment would, in fact, have been bad.

I read the other day that the political situation remains at an impasse. This is such an unfortunate situation for everyone. I hope for the sake of the people of Oaxaca it gets resolved and soon.

What an incredible view and wonderful sounding meals, Megan! Did you have the Ayala with the ravioli too? Ifso, I am curious about how it paired with that dish? I was surprised about your reaction to the initial pairing. Champagne is one of the great food wines and a pairing with lobster is fairly classic. I have never had the Ayala (so far as I can remember anyway ) nor obviously that amuse, so I have no idea from experience how they may have worked. I suspect the issue ofthe metallic aftertaste was more a function of the amuse than the Champagne as you didn't have that response with the langoustines. While that may have been a little disappointing, it is nice to see that it did not affect your overall joie de vivre either diring that meal or afterwards. Megan, this really is a wonderful report. Between this and daddy-A's, I think the tourism rate to France will increase significantly in the near future!

Thanks, Sneakeater for digging up that topic for Ling. The full name of the restaurant is Mas (Farmhouse). The three letter word "Mas" alone will not turn up anything with the eGullet search. Galen Zamarra is a very talented chef, who for very good reasons is particularly popular amongst the Slow Food cognoscenti.

Thanks also go to Richard Kilgore, Dave Scantland (Dave the Cook), Sam Kinsey (slkinsey) and Ron Kaplan (ronnie_sunurban) for helping me organize this. Paul has told me that he will be back to this thread to get to some more questions and continue discussion.