Molecular Gastronomy style in Israel

[zabar816]

Hi,

I am going to be in Jerusalem and Tel Aviv in August for 2 weeks. What are the best restaurants to try? I like restaurants that are a experimental like minibar in Wash DC. What chefs are up and coming?

Also what are some casual places for breakfast and lunch.

I am going to be dining alone and price is not an issue.

Thanks in advance.

[Daniel Rogov]

Zabar, Hi.....

First, with regard to restaurants worth visiting you might enjoy seeing my list of recommended restaurants that appears weekly in the English edition of HaAretz or can be found online at http://stratsplace.zeroforum.com/zerothread?id=14325

Second - with regard to Molectular Gastronomy, you will find two restaurants offering various dishes and even degustation menus based on this principle. My review of those follows. As will be seen, like the good Queen, I was not amused (and yes, I have dined at El Bulli and The Fat Duck, neither of which amused me either).

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From the Spain's Costa Brava to London and New York, the latest craze in dining out is searching out those chefs who have chosen to go the route of molecular gastronomy - the manipulation of foodstuffs in places that resemble laboratories more than they do kitchens and in which the goal is to reduce ingredients to their most vital and basic molecular ingredients before recombining them in forms that we are told is edible

Brillat-Savarin, the philosopher of French food said, that "the discovery of a new dish does more for human happiness than the discovery of a star." After sampling some of the new dishes devised by this new wave of chefs one cannot wonder if Brillat-Savarin would be tossing and turning rather uncomfortably in his grave. It is not so much that these dishes are created using naturally derived ingredients such as benzyl trans-2-methylbutenate and xanthorands. Nor is it especially offensive that these dishes rely on patented tinned products named algin, calcin, citros, gluco and kappa. What is most offensive is that these dishes are so far in texture and flavor from the original ingredients that went into them that one wonders not only what one is eating but more logically, why.

Because we Israelis never lag too far behind Europe and the United States, molecular gastronomy is now making its inroads locally and I recently sampled this fare at two restaurants. Before I begin to deconstruct my meals as the chefs in these restaurants did the dishes that made there way to my stomach, let me say that when chefs Noam Dekkers and Omer Zarnitsky of Kfar Saba's Barcarola and Moshe Aviv of Tel Aviv's Messa do their own often creative cuisine, they do just fine. When it comes to what they do with molecular cuisine, however, I have some very serious questions.

Barcarola

The degustation meal to which I was invited at Barcarola opened with a vodka martini served with what was said to be and surely looked like a "Syrian olive". The vodka, which I saw poured directly from the bottle was fine but the olive turned out to be one that had been molecularly manipulated, encapsulated in a condom like enclosure and, when pierced in the mouth tasted like a mushy, half-cooked egg yolk. From here it was on a first course of a single oyster that had been treated to a beet jelly, the bright red color of the beet being the only sign that this concoction had once come from nature, the jelly itself tasting neither like jelly nor beets but having the distinct aroma of rose petals and flavor of Scotch whiskey. The oyster was then topped with a foam of sea water, that so light in texture that as it dissolved on the tongue it left nothing but the flavor of what felt like magically sweetened salt.

The next course I sampled was of a seafood salad in which I was at first relieved to note that the shrimps and calamari on my dish looked like, smelled like and even tasted like real shrimps and calamari. What harmed the dish beyond repair in my estimation was a molecularly modified bright purple herb vinaigrette whose bitter flavors lingered far too long on the palate. It seemed in part that chefs involved in this new style of cookery have forgotten the age-old rule known by all chefs "Don't serve purple food". That rule has good logic, the color purple in food tending to make most observers just a bit nauseous.

The seared scallop in my next sampling was really and truly a scallop and the crab butter served with that was fine. I could not help but sigh though in realizing that neither the accompanying jelly of bacon nor the fire-engine red "beet air" foam on my plate had no discernible flavors whatever. The final course offered was of several slices of beef flank steak (sheitel), those topped with another condom-like sphere filled with what was said to be a red wine sauce but had a taste far more akin to chicken liver than any wine I have ever sampled. The beef was also served with a puree and no matter how I tried, I could not figure out whether that had been made from some alchemical blend of potatoes, beef marrow, parsley root or some odd combination of all three.

Messa

At Messa I also accepted an invitation to taste the chef's venture into molecular gastronomy and here as well my degustation meal opened with a mini-cocktail, this one called "Naughty Chocolate" for the good reason that the major ingredients in the drink were chocolate in a liquid form that tasted like a pear and a fresh fruit salad topped by a foam of hot gin. I did not mind that the foam was hot. I did mind that it had the consistency of curdled milk. From here it was on to a single molecular olive, another condom-like enclosed concoction that at least this time had the good grace to taste like an olive albeit in a semi-liquid form, that set on a tasty herbed crouton.

I continued with a trio of creations based on goose liver. The first of these was an airy concoction served with molecularly manipulated bits of berries in which the liver tasted like an olive and the berries seemed to have taken on a distinct kinship to dried peas. The second was of "goose liver candies", those that tasted nothing at all like liver but had a relationship to dried apricots; and the third of two pralines of goose liver that tasted more like chocolate chip cookies than anything else that came to mind. By this time I was quite glad that my companion and I had been sipping generously of the good 2005 Merlot of the Bravdo winery.

Turning to the sea, a platter appeared with three more offerings – the first of shrimps (real shrimps, I must say) those coated with yojo. That would have been fine but the shrimps were set on a concoction called "sea sand", and indeed this laboratory created concoction did grate in the teeth as might sand on the beach. The second offering was of a smoked salmon ravioli with one gel of wassabi and, powdered nuri seaweed and another a gel of cucumbers. Put all together I could not help but make the comparison to a sandwich made with soggy bread and a collection of ingredients with colors that ran from sky blue to sea green and flavors from too salty to even more salty than that. The third sea offering was a sashimi of tuna, that with a puree of pears and wassabi and something called "soya caviar", all topped with a foam of ginger, that having no flavor whatsoever.

There were three more courses yet to come, the first a small medallion of fillet steak that stood on its own on the plate and proved delicious. Surrounding the beef was two more molecular creations – in this case a sorbet of corn that was unusual in that it was not frozen and a slice of onion filled with a beef-based airy foam. To give credit where credit is due, the onion tasted like an onion. My next venture was into shrimps coated with kadaif pastry and those were fine but again, alongside that a caramelized tomato on a stick, the caramel crust so thick, firm and sticky that it clung uncomfortably to the teeth and the roof of the mouth. The final offering was of a baby lamb chop, that inserted into a cocktail glass containing what I was told was a lemon fondu, and those accompanied by a whole egg shell filled with what proved the highlight of the meal – a liquid brulee of truffles that was truly magnificent. Three small espresso coffees, not at all molecularly manipulated closed out the meal.

One of the questions that the critics must ask themselves when evaluating molecular gastronomy is whether they are being too bound by tradition and thus automatically rejecting what is "new". In my own case, I have no objections at all to new flavors, new textures or new combinations, no matter how they challenge the senses so long as they are tasty and satisfying. I do however, wonder why I have to dine on creations that are far from gastronomical treats. That such methods may eventually play a role in the future prevention of starvation on the planet seems clear. It is equally obvious, however, that this is not what great chefs or devoted gourmands have envisioned over the millennia.

Several of these dishes will make their way into the regular menus of both Barcarola and Messa. Should one want to dine entirely as I did on the molecular degustation dinner, reservations must be made at least two weeks in advance and one should count on spending about NIS 300 per person for the privilege.

There remains one final question. Is it worth trying? My answer – yes but once and once only, for although the phenomenon is interesting it may be nothing more than a chemical show to cater to the wealthy among us and to those whose palates are so jaded that what is new must, by definition, be good. Molecular gastronomy may be the post-modern joke par excellence of the still young 21st century. My palate, my stomach and I will wait for surely this too shall pass.

Barcarola: Rehov Atir Yeda 13, in the new Industrial Area of Kfar Saba. Open daily 12:00-01:00. Tel 09 7669606.

Messa: Rehov HaArba'a 19, Tel Aviv. Open daily 12:30-15:30 and 19:00-23:30. Tel (03) 6856859