Travelblog: Foodies Gone Wild Spring Break '07

[Lochina]

Bryan,

As a student currently studying abroad in Barcelona, I thoroughly enjoyed living vicariously through your meal choices. My parents are coming to visit for 10 days starting on the 9th and you can bet we'll be hitting up some of these restaurants, on my parents' tab . I was wondering, which tapas stall did you choose at the Boqueria? I didn't see any name in that post. Thanks!

[Silly Disciple]

Bryan,

As a student currently studying abroad in Barcelona, I thoroughly enjoyed living vicariously through your meal choices. My parents are coming to visit for 10 days starting on the 9th and you can bet we'll be hitting up some of these restaurants, on my parents' tab  . I was wondering, which tapas stall did you choose at the Boqueria? I didn't see any name in that post. Thanks!

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As a participant of that meal, I can tell you that we went to Bar Central, towards the back of the market.

[BryanZ]

Finally, I would just like to take a little bit of time reflect on some of the differences surrounding food, and particularly fine dining, between the US and Europe. After this one trip I am by no means an expert, but I do think I've had sufficient experiences to get an idea of what "matters" on both sides of the pond.

The level of meals I enjoyed in Europe was unquestionably excellent. We did not have a single meal that was less than "good" and that spans all three countries. Then again, this doesn't mean that the quality of experience is necessarily explicitly better than what one can get in New York. I would venture to say that the highs are probably higher in Paris, but with the price discrepancy between Paris and New York I would've been disappointed otherwise. Barcelona actually represents a pretty good "value," even with the exchange rate, but does not really have the same big city feel, as London, Paris, and New York. I would also suggest that the "average" restaurant is better in Paris and Barcelona than in the New York, but this is more likely a result of the more prominent role food plays in France and Spain's respective cultures. I've said the same about Japan in comparison to the United States and might even find Japan's "average" eating to be even better than Europe's. That debate, however, warrants a thread all its own. To make just one blanket statement, the Japanese are among the most obsessive people in the world, and despite their ethnic homogeneity they eagerly latch onto foreign cultural imports; food clearly falls under this category. Although I did not get the opportunity to sample much, non-Western European cuisines, save for Eastern Mediterranean, seemed underrepresented in Paris and Barelona. Tokyo, on the other hand, has absolutely excellent restaurants across arguably more major cuisines.

The most striking thing about the French three-star restaurants was their ability to blend nearly perfect technical execution with a distinct soul or vision. One of my favorite NY fine-dining restaurants is Eleven Madison Park, and while its cuisine is filled with soul, it does not fit the space and lacks consistent execution. Per Se, on the other hand, is a beautifully conceived restaurant with excellent service whose food is expertly prepared but could easily be served anywhere in any "fancy" setting (and is at The French Laundry). Pierre Gagnaire and l'Astrance just seem to fit through and through. Gagnaire's room is sparsely modern yet luxuriously refined and acts as a perfect introduction to his food. Astrance, the menuless three-star upstart, feels exactly that way. The food was undeniably excellent and filled just enough character to make it distinctive, but the restaurant also defies what most people think of when they think of three-star dining.

The same idea can be extended to Abac and Can Roca, if only to a somewhat lesser degree. The overarching theme in Spain was clearly that of a country with a vibrant culinary scene unafraid to branch out into the new but with less formality than in France. I can't say if one is superior to the other; I suppose it's a matter of preference.

With all this said, based on the European restaurants I visited there was less of the extreme creativity I find very appealing. By extreme creativity I'm not talking about recycling the brilliant ideas of other chefs and using them as one's own. I'm also not talking about gimmicky uses of modern techniques. I felt like Les Magnolias did this from time to time but was saved by the fact that majority of each dish was in fact tasty. At some "modern" restaurants in the US, this is unfotunately not the case. Nevertheless, there was no work as thought provoking as Wylie's, Goldfarb's, or Jordan Kahn's. There was also not a dining concept that challenged my notions of fine-dining as Alinea does. In this way, America is less bound to tradition and stands to benefit. Unfortunately, the general eating populace is less open to this type of experimentation, I think. It's kind of a conundrum of sorts.

Obviously if I was able to eat at El Bulli, that meal alone could have nullified the entire above paragraph.

I really wish I knew French and Spanish better so that I could've conversed more with the servers, something I usually do in restaurants in the States. Generally service was very good and pacing was very even. Everyone we met in hotels, restaurants, and in shops was very friendly and helpful. If I had to pick a "worst," it actually would've been London, but that's really splitting hairs. There were only a couple times when servers seemed impatient or impolite.

All in all, a fantastic trip. Although Europe did not have the mystique I thought it would have, the food lived up to expectations. I can't wait until I can go back. The south of France and northern Italy are beckoning.

Thank you everyone who read along and added your questions and comments. Please let me know if you have any others. If you've got any questions about the restaurants in particular, feel free to PM, too.

[Pan]

Very interesting thoughts, Bryan. Maybe if there's no thread on food that "fits the space," we should have one. I'm sure architect "foodies" like Henry Lo (hhlodesign) would have plenty of thoughts on the topic, one which not all of us think about a great deal.

[Lenski]

Great post and great pics.

I am a huge fan of Can Roca and 5Sentits. However, what really makes me drool is the bocata de jamon serrano....To me that is perfection in a sandwich.

[hathor]

Bryan, you did a very thoughtful writeup and you come to some interesting conclusions.

I think it would be an intriguing project to save a copy of that post, and look at 3 or 4 years from now. To see how dining in the US has changed, or to see if London, Paris, Barcelona have stepped up to the intellectual and creative plate of the US restaurants. Or, after you have traveled more in Europe, how your perspective will have changed.

It is exciting to see how your cooking is influenced by this trip.

To have 'fresh eyes' and a 'fresh tongue' is such a gift, and you have used it well. Congratulations!

[Brian]

Any chance that you will post the recipe for your variation on the Cinc Sentits maple syrup shot?

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Thus far I've taken the maldon salt, a raspberry syrup, chai custard and cooked it almost like a creme caramel. Then topped with a dollop frozen mango mousse. Not exactly the same, but an inspiration.

I'm interested in that maple cava dish.  Is the salt added to maple syrup ?  It reads like something that would be great on a little cheese plate with a tangy blue like Valdeon.  And that pea soup is a cute idea, one I haven't thought of and will now want to riff on.

The salt lies at the bottom of the glass in big flakes that Maldon is known for. The salt adds texture but in my opinion didn't do enough to counter the sweetness of the syrup. It would work better at the end of a meal, with cheese or as I served my version before cheese.

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The top layer of the Cinq Sentits shot is a Cava sabayon.

I had a variation on this theme served as an amuse in Patrick Guilbaud in Dublin a few years ago. The layers, from the bottom, were: maple syrup / raw egg yolk / whipped cream. The top was seasoned with sea salt and pepper. I recall this version as being better balanced flavour wise than the Cinq Sentits one.

[Gavin Convery]

Bryan,

Not having experienced the restaurants you mention in the US which you see as being more creative or thought-provoking than the ones in Europe, I would be interested to know in what way they are different. I may need to plan a trip to the US....!

Certainly in Europe food in most countries is steeped in a long tradition (I exclude the UK to some extent, although we are rediscovering some of our history, slowly) and when something like El Bulli comes along it is maybe a jolt to those traditions, but especially I think in France, creativity is not necessarily done for its own sake but rather with one eye on the past. Their attitude to wine is similar...but they still produce the best wine in the world.....

[docsconz]

With all this said, based on the European restaurants I visited there was less of the extreme creativity I find very appealing.  By extreme creativity I'm not talking about recycling the brilliant ideas of other chefs and using them as one's own.  I'm also not talking about gimmicky uses of modern techniques.  I felt like Les Magnolias did this from time to time but was saved by the fact that majority of each dish was in fact tasty.  At some "modern" restaurants in the US, this is unfotunately not the case.  Nevertheless, there was no work as thought provoking as Wylie's, Goldfarb's, or Jordan Kahn's.  There was also not a dining concept that challenged my notions of fine-dining as Alinea does.  In this way, America is less bound to tradition and stands to benefit.  Unfortunately, the general eating populace is less open to this type of experimentation, I think.  It's kind of a conundrum of sorts.

Obviously if I was able to eat at El Bulli, that meal alone could have nullified the entire above paragraph.

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I can't really agree with your conclusion Brian as I feel that your sample size of European restaurants that you visited as per your own qualified statement. Not to take anything away from the creativity of American chefs like Achatz, Dufresne, Stupak, Cantu, Goldfarb, Kahn, Mason, Talbott/Kamizawa, Andres (and crew) et al., but you barely scratched the surface of European and in particular Spanish creativity. While I am surprised that you did not consider the Rocas more highly in this regard, not having experienced the cuisine of the Adrias is to not have experienced the height of what you are describing (as you admitted). In addition though you did not experience the Basques (e.g. Aduriz), Valencians (e.g. Dacosta or Aleixandre) or the Spanish pastry wizards such as Balaguer or Torreblanca. Then there are also some pretty creative Italians like Davide Scabin as well as others from various parts of Europe. Another aspect to consider is that many of the creative techniques currently in use around the globe such as ones you yourself employ were developed by the Europeans. Seeing them in use in their restaurants now may appear to not be creative, but these people were the forerunners of these techniques. People like Gagnaire, Bras or Passard remain creative, but their creativity is built upon the foundation of their earlier much emulated work and so current creativity may not seem so evident. The European names I mentioned above are only a fraction of those cooking creatively, whereas there are only a handful of Americans who can reasonably be added to those I mentioned above as creative cooking is much more in the mainstream in Europe than it is in the US. Just to be clear, when I talk about "creative" cooking, I am talking about new concepts in cooking as well as development of new techniques and styles as opposed to new dishes well within a particular tradition.

[BryanZ]

I definitely see your points Doc, and I pretty much agree with you. The best way for me to respond would simply be to eat more broadly and get back to you. Give me some time and I'll do my best to get on that.

I guess what I was speaking about was the amount of intellectual engagement that each chef/restaurant warrants. It was unfair of me to make such a blanket statement based on such a limited sample size, but while much of the food in Europe perhaps tasted "better" it just seemed to demand less thought (than that of the chefs I previously mentioned). I would rather not get into the qualifications for "paradigm breaking" chefs and restaurants (as was debated at length in the NY forum), but it seemed to me, again based on my limited experiences, that there is more boundary pushing by the handful of American chefs than those European ones whose cuisine I was recently able to sample. Often times this doesn't always meet with stellar results--a meal at Can Roca would seem to be more consistently delicious than at meal at wd~50--but it still remains the general trend I noticed.

El Bulli and Michel Bras are, perhaps naturally, among an elite crowd that I want to visit most on my next trip to Europe.

[docsconz]

Bryan i guess I'm not really sure what boundaries you are talking about. i am quite familiar with and a big fan of the American chefs that you mentioned and adore most of their work. True they continue to push "boundaries" and with generally excellent results, but it is not my experience that they are pushing boundaries any harder than their European peers, which in my opinion vastly outnumber the Americans. i am certainly not looking to debate the individual merits of specific chefs in this regard as I think the best of the Americans are certainly up there with the Europeans. i am just quite surprised by your assessment and fail to share it. I can certainly concur with your desire for more research into your thesis though.

I will give you an example though. Much has been made by Steve Cuozzo of the new York Post (albeit in a denigrating fashion) about Jordan Kahn's use of tonka beans as an ingredient in one of his desserts. The first time I ever heard of a tonka bean was in 2004 when the group I was with had dinner at Can Roca and each person was given a tonka bean as a souvenir. Tonka beans had been used in a dessert there that evening and probably for some time before that. Unfortunately I was ill and had to miss that dinner - a situation I hope to rectify in the very near future. In addition, if Joan Roca's distillation of earth is not pushing a boundary, I don't know what is.

[tan319]

My Gawd, man! ( and woman!)

You guys indeed went wild!

I loved the detail in this, pix are fabulous of course.

You did great in France, it looks like you had some of Gagnaires greatest hits.

If you don't have it already, get a copy of his ' 'Reflections on Culinary Artistry"The "BOOK"

The cherry, white chocolate cup ( with a red current jelly in it?) and a few others are in there, Food Porn at it's best.

Also think you're right on about the influence Gagnaire has had on Chefs that have worked with him like Paul Liebrandt during the GILT days and in the chuck eats blog he mentions Ludo Lefebvre, formerly of Bastide in L.A. and another Gagnaire alum. Hell, even the Ducasse SPOON cookbook ( the BIG one) looks Gagnaire influence in the photo layouts.

Les Magnolias looked like a blast!

I wasn't aware that it was fooling around with the "forward thinking" stuff.

And then you up the ante with L'Astrance.

In the Spanish part of the blog Abac seemed like a GREAT find!

Every single dished looked and sounded amazing.

Of course Can Roca looked amazing too!

I've written about the 'Art Culinaire' # 82 issue that features the "5 days In Barcelona" article, complete with the recipes for many Can Roca dishes including the 'cigar/ mojito' dish.

I highly recommend it.

Call 1-800- SO- TASTY TO ORDER. ( pick up the Liebrandt one too, issue # 81)

Did your G/F get a parchtment type of roll with a list of the components for Anarchy?

They used to plate it slightly differently and the "decree" was given to the consumer of it according to a poster on eG quite awhile back.

Anyways, looked SOOOO good!

Did you pick up their cookbook too?

The Can Roca Cookbook

Even in Castalan it could be worthwhile.

Thanks again for such an amazing report and what a gal you must have to not have you drugged and shipped back after half of the eating you both did!

Tremendous.

[Shalmanese]

Wow, I can't believe I missed this thread until now. Congratulations on making me totally behind on the deadlines for my assignments! That was some pretty freaking amazing eating, I'm insanely jealous.

How do you think your experiences in Europe will influence your approach to food and what you'll serve at Z Kitchen?

[BryanZ]

Glad you enjoyed it, Shal. As I mentioned, the holistic approach to a great dish was made very clear to me in a few resonating instances. It was also interesting to see how each chef used his country's terroir uniquely to create a different experience and perspective on a given cuisine. This was magnified by eating across international boundaries in countries known for their pride in their respective cuisines. I feel like this kind of influence is lacking in American fine-dining.

Regarding Z Kitchen, there are some ideas I'll take back. Unfortunately, my favorite dishes were those that were executed at a level I won't easily be able recreate or relied on local produce and ingredients that I can't procure. In that way, I'm able to use ideas from eating out in NYC much more easily.

[hhlodesign]

Damn! (to paraphrase from someone else here on eG )

"That's a pretty baller trip!"

[luizhorta]

Bryan, happened to talk with people that work with wine recipes for and with the Roca's. The curious thing about this oyster in cava sauce (yes, it's xantana) is that xantana is added to the cava while still in bottle, at the degourgement moment. This helps keep perlage and all characteristics of the wine in the final sauce.

3/17/07 part 3

The last significant meal of the trip would be Cinc Sentits, a highly approachable restaurant serving modern yet relatively simple Spanish food.  Cinc Sentits provided an enjoyable meal with very polished service but, as others have noted, operates on a different level that the starred establishments we had been eating at.  Cinc Sentits is a very well-run restaurant if not necessarily a great one.  I mean that as no slight but as a reflection of the experience and complexity of the cuisine.

Although we ordered the seasonal tasting menu, a slight miscommunication led us to be served what was effectively the chef's tasting menu of "signature dishes."  At the end of the meal we noted the discrepancy and were more than willing to pay the €15 difference (€50 vs. €65 per person) but they graciously offered to change the bill to reflect what we were expecting.  A very nice service recovery that embodies the smooth hospitality the restaurant embodies.

Amuse 1: Maldon salt, maple syrup, cava sabayon, something else foamy on top

By now a relatively famous dish in Barcelona that appears in a lot food blog and the like.  I thought it was a bit sweet but a nice idea.  You bet I'm going to riff off this dish.

Amuse 2: Romesco sauce, fried vegetable stick for dipping

The romesco was really good.  They tried to clear it away, twice, but we held onto it to dip bread into.

Pea soup, squid

A nice light start to the meal.  A chicken broth held fresh peas, herbs, and lightly caramelized onions.  The g/f remarked that it tasted like something I would make.  Light and clean but not necessarily all that life-changing; it's chicken stock, peas, and squid.  The squid bit was nice, but seriously, how the hell do you eat this with just a spoon?  The squid was too large to eat in one bite, and who would want to anyway.  Squid is also not known for being the easiest thing to bite through easily or cut with a spoon.

Foie gras tart, sherry vinegar syrup, chives

An excellent dish, probably my favorite of the night.  Nice combination of pastry, foie, astringent herbs and syrup.  One of the few, if only, hot foie dishes we had all trip.

For the next dish, one of us opted for the fresh prawns, a €9 supplement.

The prawns were prepared simply

While the meat was sweet and tender, it was the head juices that made the dish, acting as a sauce of sorts.  The heads were duly decimated and bread was used for wiping the plate clean.  The €9 supplement for just two prawns seemed a bit high overall but I realize they are very expensive wholesale.  After seeing them flapping around at the Boqueria in the morning I couldn't leave Barcelona without trying some

The normal dish at this point in the meal was seared scallops, crispy ham, and a sweet onion syrup

The onion syrup really made this dish, so thick and flavorful.  I would've liked a slightly deeper crust on the scallop from an execution standpoint.  If you're going to cook a scallop it better have a good crust.

Sea bass, cuttlefish noodles

A creative fish dish, but again slightly lacking in technical execution.  I judge a dish's technical expertise against the quality of food I serve people.  If I can regularly execute a fish like snapper or sea bass with crisp skin, I expect the same from a good restaurant.  The edges of the skin were crisp but the center was not.  The noodles were cool and tasted good in a sort of caramelized ragout but were perhaps slightly more chewy than I expected them to be.

Roasted Iberico pork, jus, apple

A good dish but it did not nearly reach the heights of the Abc pork dish.  The skin, again, was crisp in some places but not all over; at Abac the skin was literally so crisp you could hit it with a knife and it would break with an audible crack.

Catalan cheeses

A surprisingly nice cheese course that featured rather clever accompaniments.  These played well with the cheeses, though I must admit the offerings were tame compared to the full cart at Abac.

Four textures of lemon

So how funny is this?  After the dozens of plated dishes consumed over the week, this was the ONE that we forgot to take a picture of.  There was like lemon sorbet, foam, granita, and something else.  It was nice if somewhat simple; another flavor would've been appreciated.

Peanut butter ice cream, milk chocolate ganache, cookie/cake thing

Like a Resee's peanut butter cup.  While the flavors of the dish were nice, the plate was too sparse, even for my tastes.  There was no garnish at all.

If I sound like I am being overly critical of this restaurant please do not take it that way.  The meal was enjoyable, but I found myself more able to critique this meal than any other because it fit right in with my abilities and the style of food I serve.  While the foie dish was superior to what I can pull off, I could probably execute aspects of a couple other courses better myself.  Nevertheless, I would still recommend Cinc Sentits to someone looking for a simple modern meal in a chic but totally unintimidating atmosphere.  Again, service was great throughout and pacing was spot on.

ETA:  So in the few minutes since I made the original post, I've come to a realization of sorts.  As I wrote this report and even now I still think of this as a "simple meal"  Not counting the two small amuses to start the meal it was still eight courses.  I'm pretty jaded.

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[joesan]

Bryan I enjoyed, vicariously, your little European mini tour. Nice pictures and intelligent criticism.

But I feel moved to have to take issue with one comment of yours that I feel is very wrong, viz -

With all this said, based on the European restaurants I visited there was less of the extreme creativity I find very appealing. By extreme creativity I'm not talking about recycling the brilliant ideas of other chefs and using them as one's own. I'm also not talking about gimmicky uses of modern techniques. I felt like Les Magnolias did this from time to time but was saved by the fact that majority of each dish was in fact tasty. At some "modern" restaurants in the US, this is unfotunately not the case. Nevertheless, there was no work as thought provoking as Wylie's, Goldfarb's, or Jordan Kahn's. There was also not a dining concept that challenged my notions of fine-dining as Alinea does. In this way, America is less bound to tradition and stands to benefit. Unfortunately, the general eating populace is less open to this type of experimentation, I think. It's kind of a conundrum of sorts.

Obviously if I was able to eat at El Bulli, that meal alone could have nullified the entire above paragraph.

I think that there are many restuarants you could have eaten at in the UK that would have nullified your above paragraph - you just didn't eat at any of them!

Your sample size is a bit small to come out with this. I mean there are about 3 or 4 places in London alone that are doing more avant garde stuff than you had in this thread. And what about the Fat Duck? They surely are doing some interesting things?

I realise that your sample size was necessarily small but I think if you are looking for this kind of cooking you were really looking in the wrong place with the London venues you chose. You ate at more traditional venues or mainstream ones with no pretensions to even gourmet cooking let alone experimental cuisine. I mean the roasted meat (shwarma) place you really enjoyed at the start of your London trip would probably be universally avoided by any foodie based here. It would be a bit like me looking for some techno-gel and airs at White Castle. It ain't gonna happen.

I can't agree on the service challenging notions either - there are loads of people doing this in the UK. I think the problem is that you just didn't make it to any of the right restaurants.

Just wanted to put the record straight that there really is plenty of innovation in dining here in the UK.

[CheGuevara]

With all this said, based on the European restaurants I visited there was less of the extreme creativity I find very appealing.  By extreme creativity I'm not talking about recycling the brilliant ideas of other chefs and using them as one's own.  I'm also not talking about gimmicky uses of modern techniques.  I felt like Les Magnolias did this from time to time but was saved by the fact that majority of each dish was in fact tasty.  At some "modern" restaurants in the US, this is unfotunately not the case.  Nevertheless, there was no work as thought provoking as Wylie's, Goldfarb's, or Jordan Kahn's.  There was also not a dining concept that challenged my notions of fine-dining as Alinea does.  In this way, America is less bound to tradition and stands to benefit.  Unfortunately, the general eating populace is less open to this type of experimentation, I think.  It's kind of a conundrum of sorts.

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Bryan - i'd have to say that i agree with Doc's comments a few posts back. aside from the small sample of restaurants being slightly limiting to your views (bulli comment aside!) i'd add that culture is terribly important.

Without a doubt the evolution of cooking we've experienced over more than a decade is a product of European chefs and European palates. The reason these "thought provoking" ideas worked so well was because they were founded on tradition, on centuries of culture. Food and language are two of the most differing characteristics of European cultures; both are as much a part of its people as their bones. You'll have noticed in Barcelona how the Catalans still retain their language, or travel through Italy and see how everyone with a little space grows their own produce - this is certainly not the case in the US. It is this culture and centuries of history which enables arts to evolve, because they are gournded in something real. One's appreciation of a certain work of art grows the deeper your knowledge of its environment, it's that cultural backdrop that gives perspective to a work. The more you read, the more beautiful Hemingway becomes.

Certainly talented chefs exist in the US, I for one have not been to Alinea and some of the newer restaurants doing "modern" cuisine; however in your post you say you extol the extreme creativity of US restaurants while later you mention taste comes second in some US restaurants. Even before culture plays its part in influencing the chef and his customers, it plays in the raw materials that are grown and produced.

France, Italy and Spain - primarily around their meditteranean coasts grow and produce the vast majority of the food we use in western cuisine - the best fruits and vegetables, the best cheeses and charcuterie, the delicacies like truffles and foie gras...this didn't happen by chance. I firmly disagree that lack of culture is a benefit to innovation; especially in a art as ancient as cooking.

the effort you put into this marathon is quite remarkable however....thanks for sharing it.

-che