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It was Michel Troisgros' outpost in Paris. She spoke in French if I remember correctly.

Keiko Nagai The story of Keiko Nagai, pastry chef at the Hotel Lancaster, is an interesting one. Born and raised in japan she was introduced to fine desserts during a childhood visit to Paris. Enthralled, she learned to make desserts as a hobby and got a law degree back in Japan. Not thrilled with her career choice, she took a couple of years off to find herself by traveling. Initially she traveled to Europe to learn French winding up at the Sorbonne. Once she finished her course, she still had time and obtained a diploma in patisserie from Le Cordon Bleu. Nagae wound up being hired by Laduree and before she new it, she was the opening Pastry Chef at Pierre Gagnaire's Sketch in London. She has been at the Lancaster since 2004. The title of the presentation that she shared with Cristophe Michalak was "Cake-making for Gourmands: Sweet dishes on the menu." The avenue she chose to take was to discuss the wide world of citrus. She prepared a beautiful dessert to reflect that. Nagae brought a tray loaded with a wide variety of citrus fruits that she was able to compile and discussed each one, though she emphasized yuzu in her presentation. Christophe Michalak watches and awaits his turn on stage. Nagae created a citrus fruit jelly using a variety of different citrus elements that she used as a base for her plating. To top the citrus jelly, Nagae made a cheesecake using yuzu juice, Philadelphia cream cheese and kudzu flour. This was placed on a lemon sablé and both were placed atop the Citrus fruit jelly. Cheesecake fondant, citrus fruit jelly

Davide Scabin Scabin, from the Restaurant Combal 0 in Torino, Italy presented "The sensorial perception of food." With the aid of audiovisuals, Scabin discussed his work in creating an organized and individualized palette of tastes geared toward each individual diner's preferences. He proposed that a diner could carry a card that outlines that diner's taste perception preferences from which meals could be crafted towards that diner's preferences. To achieve this end, Scabin has taken five primary taste elements and is attempting to quantify individual taste variations that will be noted on his identity card. The one he appears to have come furthest with is salt, having established the Scabin Salt System in order to quantify specific salinities for recipes that can be varied according to personal preference. I first saw Scabin present some very early work on the Scabin Salt System a year and a half ago in New York at the Starchefs International Chefs Congress. He appears to have honed his ideas quite a bit since that time. Clearly, this work is too early to have any real applicability for the foreseeable future if at all. I commend Scabin, however, for having the confidence to present such a theoretical approach as yet untested in a restaurant situation. On the other hand, if something like this can't be presented at Madrid Fusión, then it is unlikely that it would be presented at any culinary conference.

Never having seen or met the man, I probably should have confirmed that is who it was prior to now, but looking at some on-line photos, I would certainly have to agree with you, Pedro. My bad.

I do not know who the guy above is, but certainly is not Martín Berasategui. ← My apologies. I will take your word for it, Pedro. That is who the auctioneer said he was as the bidding was going on. In any case, he was a spirited bidder! Perhaps he was representing Martín Berasategui?

Daniel Patterson After the previous evening, I had now had dinner at Daniel Patterson's restaurant, Coi and with him. In addition, I try to read whatever he writes in the New York Times as he tends to be provocative and more often than not brilliant. He seems to be much like his food, not overtly fussy or overwrought on the outside, lacking in Baroque presentation and overstatement, but deep on the inside, holding much complexity, while remaining pure of purpose. Patterson does not overuse words. He chooses them carefully and sparingly, much the same way he appears to choose his ingredients. His presentation entitled, "Aromas: cooking with essential oils" provided a window into the man and his work. I learned that the name of Patterson's restaurant, Coi (pronounced Kwa) is a medieval French word meaning "Tranquility." The name fits the restaurant. Patterson talked about his use of essential oils in his cuisine s well as their various roles throughout history. He gave the audience a small vial of essential garlic oil to sample and using video described his technique for creating essential oils. he stressed the potency of these oils and said that they should be used sparingly and with great care as a little goes a long way. He provided video demonstrations with preparations of pink grapefruit, ginger black pepper and tarragon with the dish to be eaten after a spray of the essential oils on the diner's wrist (in the same way as I experienced at his restaurant and as described and shown in my report from that meal linked to above) and another of sauteed sea bream with braised lettuce, pork belly cured orange and spice and litsea cubeba. Primacy of product is essential to Patterson's cooking. He prepared a dish live to reflect that, using a perfect carrot as his principle ingredient. Patterson, the only representative from the United States presenting this year, carried that responsibility well.

The restaurant Morimoto is represented by Baltz & Co.

The menu as written is intriguing and interesting as have been the comments made in this topic. However, a menu is nothing more than a grouping of words. It only becomes significant as it relates to what is presented on the plate and tasted by the diner. If the food works, especially for a restaurant with only ten seats, it won't really matter how the menu reads. Detailed description of each dish like what you provided for the Mediterranean Salad though not necessary for the restaurant menu would be helpful for a meaningful critique. Another useful tool will be photos of the food, though that too is still only a partial indicator of how things will work. Beautiful, appetizingly presented food is a necessary, but not sufficient element for successful fine cuisine. To be more specific, a number of items on the menu are clearly provocative, the "Shellfish Consommé, Lobster, Vacherin, Escarole" dish perhaps being the most obviously so. What is not apparent from the words, although critical to making this a good dish, is a sense of the proportions of the various ingredients, how the ingredients are handled, the actual techniques employed to make the dish and if there is any sense of humor or playfulness present. I like the fact that the menu description is brief, leaving the diner open to a certain element of suspense and surprise, though in itself it is not enough to draw me to the restaurant or to determine whether the menu "works" or doesn't work. One of the biggest reasons this approach works for Alinea is that the results always exceed the expectations created or even what most diners can imagine. If you can do that, you will be successful. The best creative restaurants cast aside preconceptions and use the diner's imagination to their advantage. I will be following your progress with interest. I like the name and the creative way it was arrived at. Good luck!

The press conference, of course, was for Ferran Adria, the main star of the show. Here paraphrased, unless specifically quoted, are a few of the thoughts he expressed during the press conference as he answered questions from the audience: He was asked if his style was similar to Japanese kaiseki. He stated that he admires kaiseki very, very much and has been greatly influenced by it, however, he noted some significant distinctions, such as a lack of humor in kaiseki as well as a very strict structure. He is not sure if one can really be creative within the structure of a traditional kaiseki meal. When asked about the importance of sustainability and the environment, Adria responded that he considers it his obligation to achieve maximal ecological protection in his work and he does his best to reflect that with his cooking. He feels that it is important to teach children to eat better and thinks that the movie, Ratatouille, has done more to achieve that end than anything else so far. He responded to a question about the extent of his culinary interests by stating, "I am concerned about everything culinary." He thinks Jose Andres' Spanish television show is "delightful." Although they may not be bad for cooking, he generally does not enjoy tv "pretend chefs." When asked why Spain 's creative vanguard has flourished, while Italy's has had much difficulty being accepted within its own country, Adria attributed it to timing, saying that in Spain, the culinary vanguard had an 8 year head start and that he expects that Italy will be catching up to Spain soon and that there already is extraordinary creative talent there. Adria was asked about home cooks vs. restaurant cooks. He responded that traditional home cooks are not lacking in skills. he considers it to be technically much more difficult to make a good croqueta than a spherification, although the spherification technique intimidates people as yet unfamiliar with it. He feels that the technique may eventually make its way into the home kitchen. Along similar lines, he said that while in the past techniques and recipes have migrated from home kitchens to professional ones, the likelihood of that happening today or in the future is very small, although the reverse can and does happen. Currently, he finds very little connection between home and professional kitchens other than for committed enthusiasts. As fascinating as Adria's discussion was, I was happy that it finished in time for me to make it to the next presentation, one I very much wanted to get to...

It turned out that I didn't have much time for lunch after all... ... a little Jerez... ...and various nibbles from the Ayuntamiento de Valladolid. Rene Redzepi trying a croqueta. My favorites were the cochinillo and this, my first ever taste of lechazo or very young lamb. The reason my lunch was so short was because I went to attend a special press conference...

After the presentation of Pedro Subijana, I headed off to lunch, but on my way I took some time to check out the first edition of the C3 International Restaurant Desserts Competition organized by Valrhona. An initial group of 30 chefs had been narrowed to 6 finalists, who were present to create two desserts each for a panel of International professionals as well as a panel of international journalists using a palette of ingredients available to all and their own ingenuity, skill and creativity. The finalists included: Alexandre Bonnefoi. France Rémy Pourcharet. France Arnaud Visioni. Switzerland Piere Lingenser. Germany Yannis Jansses. Miami, USA Omer Zernitsky. Israel Frederic Bau of Valrhona was master of Ceremonies as each finalist came out to present his desserts. Ferran Adria was the head judge. Adria had plenty of help. Professionals sat at two tables. Along with Adria at one table was Sebastien Gaudard, Nils Henkel, Susur Lee, Christophe Michalak and Marcelo Tejedor. The panel of international journalists Unfortunately, I did not get all their names. Gerry Dawes from the US and Paul Wootton from Great Britain are on the far right of the photo above. The other table of culinary professional judges included Davide Scabin, Joaquin Felipe, Johnny Iuzzini, and others I am not sure of. A pensive Johnny Iuzzini Finalist Yannis Jansses of Miami with Frederic Bau I went to get some lunch as the competition came to a close, however, I will jump ahead at this point to show the results. Later in the afternoon, the results of the competition were announced in the main auditorium between presentations. Frederic Bau continued his duties as emcee. The six finalists on stage with Ferran Adria There were a number of categories, however, there was only one winner, Piere Lingenser of Germany. The oldest of the bunch, Lingenser joked about how great it was that "an old man" could do so well amongst all the kids. The finalists on stage with their awards. These are all clearly names to keep an eye out for.

Pedro Subijana The second of the three representatives at the Conference of what is now the senior element of the Spanish Vanguard, Pedro Subijana, was next up to the stage, commanding rapt attention from the audience. Subijana, of the restaurant Akelare in San Sebastien, followed the lead of Ferran Adria calling for freedom of chefs to do what they see fit and works for them. He encouraged young chefs to not simply follow the footsteps of others because any given style of cooking may be the cuisine of the moment. He suggested that chefs not follow himself or Adria unless that is something they truly feel compelled to do. Subijana then continued with his demonstration entitled, "Flavor Enhancers: powders, granules and slices." Subijana started preparing a dish of langoustines in powdered shells. He separated the meat from the elements of the crustacean, then used parts that would ordinarily be discarded or perhaps used for a stock. He dried the shells in a non-stick pan, lightly toasting them before pulverizing them in a food processor. The langoustines are then coated in the powder and warmed under a salamander. The idea of using the shells is to deepen the flavor of the langoustine. He prepared this dish with various seaweeds. Langoustine in Powdered Shells Next up was a dish very similar to one that I was extremely taken with this past fall at the Starchefs International Chefs Congress done by Shannon Bennett of the Restaurant Vue de Monde in Melbourne, Australia. I had been under the impression that the technique was Chef Bennett's until I had the opportunity to ask Chef Subijana about it afterwards. Chef Subijana told me that he developed the technique, has been doing this dish for a couple of years and has presented it elsewhere. He had been unaware of Chef Bennett's presentation in New York, however, he was not upset by it either. Subijana placing ingredients in the upper bowl of the Cona pot Heat applied to the bottom container increases pressure forcing the liquid into the top container, where it seeps with the ingredients there. The broth is then allowed to return to the bottom container from which it is served. Subijana serves the broth in a glass as part of a dish containing lobster that had been cooked in the broth, "earth" consisting of various pulverized ingredients, flowers and vegetables. Lobster with "Earth" and "Sea". Subijana prepared another dish using various "sands" that he prepared. These included one made from scallop roe, another from pepper and a few others. The "sands" are prepared by mixing he ingredients with rice and water, creating a paste, spreading it on silpats , oven-drying the preparations , frying in olive oil and finally crushing the product with a knife until the consistency of sand is achieved. The dish was served with a cooked scallop on top. Scallop on colored sand.

Thanks for commenting! I wish I had a chance to taste it. It certainly looks marvelous. It is nice to hear that it does indeed taste as good as it looks. Someday (hopefully in the not-too-distant future) I will get to Mugaritz myself! Right now the four restaurants in the world that I haven't been to, but most wish to get to include Mugaritz, Etxebarri, Noma and Ryugin. There are quite a few right behind them, but they are at the top of my list at the moment.

Immediately following the presentation of Aduriz and León, sveral extremely large and fragrant black and white truffles were brought onstage to be auctioned off on behalf of Fundacion Luis Grinella to support its efforts to find employment for Spanish women. These four black truffles, donated by Alimentos de Soria, were auctioned first. The winning bidder to the tune of 2,000€ was Alejandro Fernández of Bodegas Alejandro Fernández Tinto Pesquera. Next was the white alba truffle sponsored by Restaurante Vittoria Martin Berasategui was a spirited bidder, but... He lost out to Emilio Moro of Bodegas Emilio Moro at a winning bid of 8,400€

I neglected to mention the names of the restaurants of the two chefs, Andoni Luis Aduriz and Ángel León, from the prior presentation. Luis Aduriz, as most people reading this are probably aware, is the chef at Mugaritz in San Sebastien, while León is the chef at Aponiente in Cádiz.

Ciao Ling, not knowing you, I can't say whether you will enjoy a wine more or not by virtue of its Parker score, but there can be no doubt that people like or at least say that they like things that they are "supposed to" like. The power of suggestion is indeed very strong. That is why blind tests are often so revealing as the results are frequently not what one would expect.

I managed to make it back to the auditoreum in time for the presentation of Andoni Luis Aduriz and Angel León on "Ecological Fuels: coal from olive stones, a revolution in roasts." We may think that we like olives in the U.S., but our production and consumption can only pale to that of Spain. Not only does Spain produce a lot of olives, it also by necessity produces a lot of olive pits, a here-to-fore largely neglected byproduct of the industry. According to Aduriz and León, olive pits, abundantly available in Spain, make for a very good, efficient, inexpensive, cleaner-burning and flavorful charcoal, something they proceeded to demonstrate by preparing a grilled lacquered beef. Olive pit charcoal embers aglow. León getting the coals nice and hot Aduriz explained the process as the meat cooked on the grill. Advantages were shown on a background slide while Aduriz spoke The steak sliced open to show its level of doneness. Loin of Beef Grilled and Perfumed The beef loin had been vacuum sealed with ash flavored oil and chilled for 24-48 hours prior to its grilling. It is served with crisp radishes , thyme, natural anthocyanins, ashes and salts. Andoni Luis Aduriz

While I tasted a lot, I tried not to swallow too much wine at the Rioja tasting, but I still needed a nibble or two afterwards. Fortunately, I passed by the Cinco Jotas table as they were setting up for lunch... ...absolutely wonderful stuff! On my way back to the main auditorium to get back to the presentations I passed a couple of chefs being interviewed by various journalists... Mathias Dahlgren Rene Redzepi

There were three more Riojas to come. The Baron de Chirel 2001 was almost familiar having tasted Baron de Chirel the evening before at the dinner sponsored by Vinos de Los Herederos del Marques de Riscal. This 14% alcohol wine was 85% Tempranillo that had spent 20 months in American oak. It too had a fine acid backbone to cut through the oak. Marques de Riscal is the winery with the hotel designed by Frank Gehry. Castillo Igay Gran Reserva 1998 from Bodegas Marqués de Murrieta, the winery that brought the techniques of Bordeaux to the Rioja, was the penultimate wine poured. Only 13% alcohol, this Tempranillo dominated wine, was very high in acid. Though any association with a vinegar is not generally considered a good trait for a wine, this one reminded me of a sherry vinegar - in a good way. It had been aged in American oak for an astounding 41months, yet I did not feel that the oak was overdone. This wine was one of my favorites. The last wine, however, was my favorite of the tasting. It was the 890 Gran Reserva 1995 from La Rioja Alta. At a miniscule 12.5% alcohol, this wine made from 95% Tempranillo spent a whopping 72 months in American oak barrels! It was simply beautiful, the epitome of balance and flavor. I found as I made my way through the tasting that, while I liked all the wines poured, I gravitated towards the wines with lower alcohol much like Gerry Dawes was talking about. They had character and balance. My palate was not in the least bit fatigued, which was especially noteworthy as this event took place in the late morning. I know that I missed some pretty cool demonstrations in the auditorium, but I can't say that I was sorry about attending this marvelous tasting.

Another thought as I am writing up my Madrid Fusion report is that you can head south and spend some time in the Rioja! There is plenty of great food and wine to be had there as well as some stunning architecture.

Certainly some of the whites from Rioja like the Tondinia are special, but Rioja is most well known for its reds. We started with a red from the Rioja Baja area, 2005 Propiedad Herencia Remondo from Bodegas Palacios Remondo. The wine is made by Alvaro Palacios, who made his name in the Priorato and returned to the winery founded by his father in the 1940's. Aged in French and American oak for 13 months, this is a blend of classic Rioja grapes including 45% Tempranillo, 35% Garnacha, 10% Graciano and 10% Mazuelo. This was a very fruit forward wine with nice balance. Roda I 2004 from Bodegas Roda in the Rioja Alta area was next up in the glass. 100% Tempranillo, this wine was aged for 16 months in French oak barrels. The alcohol was 14.5% This was another bright fruit-forward wine, but I started to notice a pattern in the reds of bracing acid that bolstered the wine and provided balance to the fruit and alcohol. This was also the case with the Torre Muga 2004 from Bodegas Muga in the Rioja Alta. That was a mix of Garnacha, Graciano and Tempranillo. John Radford talked repeatedly about the Rioja nose especially with the Tempranillo heavy wines. Though I can't describe it myself, i was starting to get a sense of what he was talking about. The Lan Edición Limitada 2004 from Bodegas Lan in La Rioja, 85% Tempranillo was only 13.5% alcohol. The wine is aged in French and russian barrels for 10 months. Bodegas Ysios with its Calattrava designed winery poured their Ysios Edicion Limitada Reserva 2001. 100% Tempranillo from Alava, this wine was aged for 18 months in French (85%) and American oak barrels. It is 14% alcohol and delicious. The Conde de la Salceda Reserva 2001 from Viña Salceda in Alava had great balance, a long finish and a flowery, fruity nose. Like many of the Rioja Alaves wines it was dominated by Tempranillo (95%) with a touch (5%) of Graciano. It was aged for 18 months in French oak. More to come...

...on to the wines! We started with a couple of whites. The first was the 2005 from Remelluri in Labistida in Alava. This oak aged wine spent 15 months in barrel and has a whopping 14.5% alcohol volume. The principle grape varieties include Garnacha Blanca, Moscatel, Malvasía, Chardonnay, Viognier, Sauvignon Blanc, Rousanne and Marsanne. Gerry Dawes began talking about how modern styles have taken away much of the more drinkable aspects of fine wine. he lamented that wines in the modern style are constructed to be alcoholic behemoths that ultimately fatigue the palate. He prefers to enjoy his wines as accompaniment to food and finds that is more difficult to accomplish with today's high alcohol wines. A brief discussion ensued about the reasons so many high alcohol wines are being made. Aside from the obvious nod to a style favored by a certain American wine critic that has resulted in superior sales, it was also mentioned that it is becoming increasingly difficult to make low alcohol wines as the grapes are by and large being picked with higher concentrations that some think may be a result of global warming. I thought this wine was delicious in the context of a tasting., but understood Dawe's issues with high alcohol wines. A very special white, the Viña Tondonia Reserva 1989 from R. Lopez de Heredia Viña Tondonia from Alfaro in La Rioja was poured next. This wine of only 12.5% alcohol was fermented in oak barrels for 72 months. It was comprised of Viura and Malvasia. The slight maderization of this deeply golden wine was charming. This was a traditional styling of wine, low in alcohol and with a unique character.

As far as "must-visit" vendors, a lot depends on if you are buying or just looking. Either way, Rancho Gordo is a must visit. First of all, Steve is a treasure and a lot of fun to visit with. Secondly, his beans are awesome both in variety and quality. If you are hesitant to buy them and carry them, he will ship for a very reasonable fee. That is what we did. Most of the other vendors, especially the fresh produce sellers, are somewhat impractical to travel with. If you like preserves, Frog Hollow and June Taylor are excellent. There are plenty of good cheeses and yogurts. Taste! The crowds are smaller on Tuesdays, but so are the shopping options. If you can, I suggest going both days, especially as you will be arriving late on Saturday. If it is a sunny day, you must eat al fresco. There are a number of good options. My favorite is to get a dozen or so freshly shucked oysters from Hog Island. If the weatehr is not co-operative, there are plenty of good indoor options. I still like Hog Island oysters at the restaurant inside the market.

The choice I had to make was attend the presentations of the Roca brothers and Quique Dacosta or attend a special Rioja tasting to which I was specifically invited. This was indeed very difficult as I have seen Joan Roca do demos before and they are wonderful and I have been to both restaurants. Well, given my relative familiarity with the Rocas and Dacosta and that I did have a specific invitation for the tasting, I opted for the latter, in which case I apologize to anyone who may have been anticipating a report of their presentations from me. Rioja is certainly the most well known wine region of Spain, though in recent years, it has been arguably wines from other, previously less well known regions and denominations that have led Spain's charge into wine superstardom. Rioja has always been an area that befuddled me as I only had them sporadically and had never been in a situation in which I was particularly thrilled by what I had tasted. As such, I was particularly curious to try them in what would likely be near ideal conditions with some top-flight wines. If I wasn't impressed then, I would never be. In addition, there was a panel well versed in Rioja to offer their insights and opinions. The three critics I was familiar with were John Radford who covers Spanish wines for Decanter, Andrés Proensa, one of Spain's most well known wine critics and author of the Proensa Guide to Spanish wines and Gerry Dawes, perhaps America's foremost critic of Spanish wine. I learned a few interesting facts that if I had been previously aware of , were not exactly at the front of my memory. Though a wine-making region for ages, the Rioja ( a derivation of two words, "Rio" or river and "Oja", a tributary fo the Rio Ebro) was specifically demarcated as a wine region by the area's governing body in 1926. Winemaking was prominant in the area from the time of the Romans, but ceased when under domination by the Moors. After reconquest by El Cid, viticulture resumed under the influence of Benedictine monks who had come down from Cluny in Burgundy. initially the wines made were white. By the 14th century, English traders influenced winemaking to produce red and white blends called Blancos Pardillos to be followed in time by lighter reds. It wasn't until the outbreak of phylloxera in Bordeaux in the second half of the 19th century that the great red wines that the Rioja is currently known for started to be produced in the French tradition. What is known as Rioja is an area that actually covers three related, but distinct sub-regions located within three regions of Spain, La Rioja, The Basque Country and Navarra. The largest is the Rioja Alta located on the southern bank of the Rio Ebro and upstream from Rioja Baja. Rioja Alavesa is, with the exception of an encroachment in non-Basque lands from Rioja Alta, the northernmost section of the wine region. It is that area of Alava that lies within the Basque Country. Throughout all areas the most prominent grape is tempranillo. That grape hugely predominates in the Alavesa and Alta areas. In the more Mediterranean Baja garnacha plays a much greater role than elsewhere in the region. The most common white grape is viura. Pouring wines - whites first.

If it were me I would either head west along the coast to Galicia or south to Navarra and on towards either Valencia or Madrid. The south of France is pretty cool though too.