How come Mas Pau is off the radar?

[AlexForbes]

I did a search on e-gullet on Mas Pau which yielded close to nothing, which I found odd....

Specially since the chef-owner, Xavier Sacristà, cooked for more than 10 yrs. at El Bulli.

The restaurant's director, Toni Gerez, also worked at El Bulli for a whole decade.

They both left in 93 to take over Mas Pau.

As a Food & Wine article published long ago said, "Twenty miles from El Bulli, just outside Figueres, sits Mas Pau, an estate where the wiry and disheveled Xavier Sagristà heads the kitchen. Adriá is a co-owner of Mas Pau, and Sagristà is at pains not to appear to be a clone. "

So I'm left wondering:

- is Ferran still part-owner?

- how many (if any) Michelin stars does this place have?

- is it worth the detour/ drive from Barcelona?

- are there any reports on dinners there that somehow I've missed?

[aprilmei]

I ate there last year - we stayed at the hotel for one night (it's a lovely setting). At the time it had one star, I don't know if that has changed. Funnily enough, I don't remember my food; i remember what my boyfriend's daughter ate (a plate of fabulous jamon and some "ravioli" of tuna and tomato - but it didn't have pasta, instead, the "skin" was made of thin slices of tuna and the inside was the tomato - or was it the other way around?). They served us lots of extras at the beginning which I recall we liked very much. Oh, i just remembered my starter - it was monkfish liver with monkfish - it was a sort of terrine. Good, but very rich. I don't remember my main course or desserts.

[Chris Amirault]

Moderator's Note: There are a few mentions of Mas Pau in eG Forums (largely here but also here and here), but no topic devoted to the restaurant itself -- until now!

[AlexForbes]

Hi Chris, thanks very much for this, although... the mentions, like I had said before, are few and far between, and date back, mostly, to 2004. How come? Has the place fallen out of favour despite the high pedigree of its chef and director with over 20 yrs of combined El BUlli time?

And another question: what does Mas Pau mean? Carme Ruscalleda's place is called Sant Pau, so assuming it means Saint Paul.... Mas Pau could be... I have no idea, but it sure is a strange name.

[docsconz]

Hi Chris, thanks very much for this, although... the mentions, like I had said before, are few and far between, and date back, mostly, to 2004. How come? Has the place fallen out of favour despite the high pedigree of its chef and director with over 20 yrs of combined El BUlli time?

And another question: what does Mas Pau mean? Carme Ruscalleda's place is called Sant Pau, so assuming it means Saint Paul.... Mas Pau could be... I have no idea, but it sure is a strange name.

←

Mas Pau, I believe, mean's Paul's Farmhouse in Catalan. I think what you see is that there is a lot of competition in Catalunya for the traveling dining dollar with very few places that are worthy getting mentioned. I can think of a few places off the top of my head that rarely get mentioned besides Mas Pau - one being Nando Jubany's Can Jubany in Vic and another, Aligue in Manresa.

[pedro]

......

So I'm left wondering:

- is Ferran still part-owner?

- how many (if any) Michelin stars does this place have?

- is it worth the detour/ drive from Barcelona?

- are there any reports on dinners there that somehow I've missed?

←

AFAIK:

- Ferran and Juli sold their share to Sagristá and Gerez for a symbolic price.

- One.

- Tough one. Probably not to visit just this restaurant, but there are a few restaurants there worth the visit besides Can Roca and El Bulli. Mirarmar in Llança is one of them, and in this context, it would be wise to pay a visit to Mas Pau.

Sagristá probably is cooking in the way Adrià did in the late eighties/early nineties, style documented in his book 'El Bulli: Los sabores del Mediterráneo.'

Our own Silly Disciple staged there a couple of years or so ago, so maybe he could chime in with more info.