Last Supper at elBulli

Chef Ferran Adrià discusses elBulli’s legacy on March 23 at New York University’s King Juan Carlos 1 Center in Manhattan.

If ever there was a sincere superlative, it was used to describe Ferran Adrià’s elBulli. The world-renowned restaurant in Catalonia, Spain, held three Michelin stars and the title of “Best Restaurant in the World” by Restaurant Magazine’s S.Pellegrino World’s 50 Best Restaurants a record five times since the list’s debut in 2002—and held its place among the top three every other year. Chef Adrià (and his brother Albert) served the restaurant’s last meal on July 30, after 27 years of service, 24 of them at the helm.

Adrià’s influence on the modern culinary world is immeasurable. His avant-garde style and drive pushed boundaries. His use of foam as a vessel for enhancing delicate ingredients and accenting flavors transformed gourmet cooking. In the second issue of food journal Lucky Peach, Chef David Chang writes, “Foam was a way to make [heavy] sauces—or anything—light, easy, airy. When he created foam, Ferran created a bridge between flavors and ingredients that previously had no way of playing nicely together.”

This isn’t the end for the culinary mecca: the restaurant has plans to reopen in 2014 as the elBulli Foundation, a creativity center to continue growing and redefining the culinary landscape as Adrià has. —Eva Meszaros

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