El Bulli: Culinary Creativity

El Bulli is known as the best restaurant in the world. But more importantly, it’s the most famous, for not only its impeccably designed, incredible food, but the awe and mystery shrouding the kitchen from the rest of the world. Located in Catalonia, Spain, the restaurant only accommodates 8,000 diners a season but receives millions of requests, and employs 42 of the best cooks.

Yet despite its international acclaim, the restaurant is a financial failure. For the past eleven years the restaurant has operated as a loss, only bolstered by revenue from El Bulli related products and appearances by Chef Ferran Adrià. He announced last year that because of this, El Bulli will close permanently at the end of this month, and become a culinary creativity center in 2014. According to Adrià, “cuisine is entering a new phase.  There will be cooking at Harvard.” I’m sure, though, the best chefs will be vying desperately to attend his classes.

Although the restaurant is almost no longer, New Yorkers have an unprecedented opportunity to view El Bulli from within, thanks to a new documentary by Gereon Wetzel. “El Bulli: Cooking in Progress” will screen at New York’s Film Forum July 27th – August 9th. A detailed interview with the director about his experience during filming can be found here, but I feel this quote in particular perfectly sums up the experience of both making the film and working in such an extraordinary kitchen:

“It was important to show how hard it is to be creative. Ideas don’t fall from the sky; you have to work very, very hard and there’s a lot of pressure to invent something.”

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