Arzak - 2003

[tony h]

Pre starters

Spoon with cube of potato & sesame seed – I didn’t “get” this one – the only miss of the evening.

Figs & bacon – astonishing depth & length of flavour – good balance between sweet & savoury

Leeks 2 ways – one a thick slice – OK; veloute – excellent – rounded and refreshing

Spoon with mussel sitting on top of cube of cheese with crispy celeriac – excellent, cheese came through at the end

Starter 1: foie gras & cereal (?)

2 generous slabs of foie gras accompanied with a cereal/granola-like substance – not quite sure what it was (pulverised nuts?) but it worked well as did the deep reduction (red wine & port, I think)

Starter 2: tuna & blue potatoes

I was sold on the blue potatoes – beautifully arranged rectangle of sliced blue potatoes with slithers of confit of tuna layered on top. Great bonsai-like arrangement of herb salad sat on top. Dramatic dash of red pepper reduction across the plate. It tasted soooo good.

Dish 3 – roast monkfish on a cube of garlic

V large piece of monkfish roasted to perfection sitting, angled on top a cube of pressed garlic. This came with a seriously good consommé. Quite amazing.

My partner had the “squid trees”. This was 3 squid sitting upright on the plat with a mass of foam perched on top & rolling down the sides – they looked like little trees. Apart from the wow from the look I don’t think I can quite describe how succulent and juicy the squid were – they really were melt-in-your-mouth wonderful. Quite envious at this stage.

Dish 4 – pigeon

This was very good – I have no details because I was kind of in awe at my partners choice: lamb with coffee.

This was a sizeable piece of lamb around which was the thinnest lightest gossamer of reduced coffee essence which sat upright like a chef hat – then the waiter poured the reduction over the coffee which collapsed & coated the lamb. A superb piece of theatre. The lamb and coffee worked so well together (sweet & bitter). Seriously good.

At this point Elena Arzak appeared & took me on a tour of the kitchen (my partner asked but didn’t come). A quick tour of the kitchen – hot/cold starters & so forth & even pointed out the grill which was situated outside in the street! “We bring it in during winter” she informed me. And this is when I really started falling in love with the place – it was so unassuming. A family run restaurant for over 100 years & although obviously proud of the 3 stars I got the impression they couldn’t give a fig if they disappeared – they cook for the love & passion of it & to ensure you had a good time when you were there. Extremely generous with her time she then took me to “research lab” where the dishes are created. Volumes of photographs successes & failures were bought down to thumb through - the failures just as important so they don’t get repeated. She explained the process of how they come up the dishes – there has to be a base, a start & their hails mainly from Basque, Catalan & French & they the dishes for a walk. When the various incarnations result in something they think is worthy (there are 4 in the lab – her, her dad and 2 others) they figure out how to create the dishes on the scale needed in the restaurant. I was shown the ingredients store room – organised, labelled & group by nation (a woman’s touch I guess – apparently it was mess until recently). One fun piece of exotica was green Vietnamese rice – they’re working out how to work that into a dish.

By they time I got back to my table my pattern had scribbled in my notebook

“22:20 Then I fell in love with Elena and her kitchen”. How true.

Relaying my tales of the tour the table next to us got very interested & joined in. During the debriefing (where I talk a bit too fast) a small birthday tart arrived for their table – the candle was the kind that you can’t blow out. (Can you see Ramsay doing that?) Nice touch.

Anyway our deserts arrived leaving us punch drunk – there were what we ordered plus house additions. My notes stopped at this point – the next I recalled:

Pineapple, anise with tuile

Tigernut cream

Chocolate & nut bread

Raspberry ice cream

Raspberry & fig – two upside down cones with herb syrup

& quite a few more

I don’t remember too many details expect that is was quite an astonishing array.

I haven’t had this much fun (in a restaurant) since Pierre Gagnaire & that was a riot. Genuinely in the same league which is about a notch above the third star.

Arzak

Alto de Miracruz 21

E-20015 San Sebastián

Spain

Tel. (34) 943 28 55 93

Fax (34) 943 27 27 53

Edited September 24, 2003 by Bux (log)

[marcus]

My one and only meal at Arzak was 10+ years ago, it was alread 3 stars, and it was one of my all-time greatest dining experiences. Elena was not yet on the scene, nor were the very prominent tracks of Ferran Adria. I no longer remember any of the details, but I would describe the style of the food as haute Basque. Despite the extraordinarily positive reviews by blind lemmon Higgens and robert brown, if I were to go back it would be with trepidations and I'm not sure that I want to go back at all.

[Bux]

It's taking me seven years to go back and I'm thrilled at the chance. I mentioned elsewhere that I didn't expect three star food in Spain to come near three star food in France back then. It was the start of great change in our travel plans. Along with that change came the realization that return visits would now be even further apart and that I'd be aware of more places I wanted to visit as Spain entered out sights as well as France.

I think Elena had just returned from stages in France and Italy with some of her father's close friends and aquaintences then. Juan Maria, her father was sort of the father of the new Basque cuisine and it was a cuisine heavily influenced by French haute cuisine. Today, Elena appears to be a driving force in the kitchen. I've seen many restaurants fade upon the retirement of a chef and rarely will Michelin allow a restaurant to keep three stars under a neww chef. It's kind of thrilling to see the baton being handed off here. The food blh describes is a generation beyond the wonderful food we ate seven years ago. I hope I am impressed by this food as I was back then. It will be a touching experience for us if we are excited.

[tony h]

Elena is very much in charge & quite capable from our brief conversation.

Don't be afraid to go back.

[pedro]

Today, Elena appears to be a driving force in the kitchen. I've seen many restaurants fade upon the retirement of a chef and rarely will Michelin allow a restaurant to keep three stars under a neww chef.

Please note that Juan Mari has not retired, at least officially. I don't think his retirement will provoke a major blow in the kitchen, since Elena's involvement in the direction appears to have grown during the last years, and now she seems to have taken charge. What I'm not sure about is that his official retirement won't have an impact on the Michelin ranking.

[Steve Klc]

blh--do you recall anything of the nature of the foam in the squid tree cavities? Warm? What was its flavor? Were the squid bodies small enough to eat in one bite?

Any presentation notes about the desserts which you can remember and care to share?

[Bux]

Please note that Juan Mari has not retired, at least officially. I don't think his retirement will provoke a major blow in the kitchen, since Elena's involvement in the direction appears to have grown during the last years, and now she seems to have taken charge. What I'm not sure about is that his official retirement won't have an impact on the Michelin ranking.

My impression is that the transition is being made very smoothly. It's a completely second hand impression however. Still I feel he's easing out in a way that Michelin themselves will have a hard time knowing when he's gone and I suspect he will have a titular presence for a long time. My impression, and maybe it's just an optimistic hope, is that this is one restaurant that can make the generation gap jump in style precisely because their are two Arzaks of different generations in the kitchen. This may just be a romantic illusion I choose to cherish.

[pedro]

My impression is that the transition is being made very smoothly. It's a completely second hand impression however. Still I feel he's easing out in a way that Michelin themselves will have a hard time knowing when he's gone and I suspect he will have a titular presence for a long time. My impression, and maybe it's just an optimistic hope, is that this is one restaurant that can make the generation gap jump in style precisely because their are two Arzaks of different generations in the kitchen. This may just be a romantic illusion I choose to cherish.

I don't think this is a romantic illusion of yours, Bux. Only insiders can really have an exact view on how much responsibility Elena has and the degree of involvement from Juan Mari, but from every source available, it looks like the transition has already started (in fact, it started some years ago). Being that the case, I would judge the results as excellent.

[tony h]

blh--do you recall anything of the nature of the foam in the squid tree cavities?  Warm?  What was its flavor?  Were the squid bodies small enough to eat in one bite?

Any presentation notes about the desserts which you can remember and care to share?

Sorry Steve - I didn't take notes on the desserts - my eyes had glazed over in love by then.

The squid were too big to fit into your mouth in one go - although I would gladly have tried. The foam was light, airy & lots of it - opposite of shaving foam if that helps. I don't recall flavour although I'm sure it had a fairly good fish stock & cream base.

[Gerry Dawes]

"My impression is that the transition is being made very smoothly. It's a completely second hand impression however. Still I feel he's easing out in a way that Michelin themselves will have a hard time knowing when he's gone and I suspect he will have a titular presence for a long time. My impression, and maybe it's just an optimistic hope, is that this is one restaurant that can make the generation gap jump in style precisely because their are two Arzaks of different generations in the kitchen. This may just be a romantic illusion I choose to cherish."

It is no illusion, so cherish to your heart's content.