I already had planned a pair of 3-star dinners in New York when tickets for Next went on sale, so the purchase became an easy decision when the Friday following those NYC meals showed as available. The stage was set for a great week. I carried high hopes for the el Bulli dinner at Next. I loved the Paris 1906 meal a year prior, enjoyed Ferran's biography, saw him speak a few months earlier, and was intrigued by the chronological perspective of the meal. I read as little as possible about the menu and individual dishes so as to take in surprises as they came. We were rushed to get to the meal on time, which guaranteed that minimal time was spent discussing, speculating, or anticipating--we sat down excited & happily uninformed.
A waiter explained a few finer points to us, outlined the available beverage options (I took all wine, she took the wine/beer/tea route..we both preferred the latter), and told us to get ready. Our reservation was a bit on the early side, so only a few other tables were occupied. Our spot was in a corner, where we had limited view of other tables' dishes--a good thing, in my mind, to preserve the element of surprise. Small bites started showing up in waves. The iconic spherical olives lived up to their fame; the iberico sandwich & golden egg were both delicious presentations of familiar flavors; and the carrot air with coconut milk was a blend of liquid & air in which the combination of flavors exceeded either individual component--a great dish. My favorite of these early courses was the black sesame sponge cake. It made me question: why aren't savory cakes used more often? Least appealing to me was the smoke foam. I typically enjoy smoke in all dishes, but a dish of only smoke flavor was overpowering & uninteresting.
The next 9 dishes came from earlier years (1987-2001) and began to showcase the interesting evolution of el Bulli's food. A cauliflower dish & red mullet dish each showed explorations in creative plating; hot crab aspic & tomato ice were early signs of pushing the boundaries of texture. While I didn't enjoy the tomato ice, it and the dishes around it carried a similarity: flavors true to their source. The trumpet carpaccio showcased earthy mushroom flavors. The nasturtium dish with eel & marrow was mind-bending in a challenging way that stayed with me for days. A suquet of prawns was fantastic--my favorite dish of the night--and tasted more like prawns than anything I've tasted before or since. A rabbit dish from 2000, included to feature the first ever hot jelly, perfectly balanced hearty rabbit & tart apple flavors. By this point in the meal I was more than impressed.
Several of the following dishes featured interactive elements: cracking the ice of a mint pond, breaking apart a gorgonzola ball, guessing at ingredients on a plate of spices, and digging for marshmallows under waving inflated hands. Some earlier dishes utilized interactive elements, and many bites throughout the night were taken without utensils, but these later ones stepped up the involvement. The hands-on nature of these dishes was purposeful and--my impression--created to be fun for the diner (successfully).
The Saturday prior we visited the Guggenheim museum and saw 3 Picasso works in one room, all from distinctly different periods of his career. This meal was that exact experience, displayed on plates instead of canvas. I came out feeling like I had learned something about Ferran Adria & culinary history. All told, this was the most enjoyable meal of the week and among the best of my life. Each dish was thoughtful, the interaction was enjoyable, and the sum of the dishes was cerebral. It provided benchmarks that I'll compare against future meals. I'm glad I had the chance to enjoy Next's el Bulli; it was both a culinary education and memorable dining experience.
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