FOOD SITE OF THE DAY
RECOGNIZES
INTERNATIONAL FOOD SITE OF THE YEAR

Ferran Adria

By Marty Martindale

 
Tomato Cookies to Snail Porridge … Parsnip Cereal to Boneless Chicken Feet wrapped in Sea Lettuce – it’s zaney, whacky, fun and we all share  thanks to culinary freedom, wider travel and the world wide web.

Once again this year we get to look at the latest The S.Pellegrino World's 50 Best Restaurants list. This worldwide project involved 3,410 votes cast by 23 prominent food writers, critics, publishers and commentators. First published by Restaurant magazine in 2002 and now in its seventh year, the list is hailed around the world as the most credible indicator of the best places to eat on earth. The list also includes the second 50 best worlewide restaurants.   

Food Site of the Day has been saluting food sites since 2001 and now singles out its first recipient of its International Food Site of the Year award a culmination of the world’s food education, food science, food merchandising, food travels, food schools, food advocacy, food writing, food styling -- every facet of the food industry.

FIRST PLACE EL BULLI RESTAURANT, SPAIN:
Chef Ferran Adrià is owner of El Bulli, on the Catalonian coast of Spain, an hour or so from Barcelona. He has 42 chefs working in his kitchen, and he’s the originator of Alchemy Dining. Gourmet Magazine terms him, “the Salvador Dali of the kitchen – the most creative chef in the world, father of modern Spanish cooking.”

With Adria one expects the unexpected, besides tomato cookies, maybe he’ll come up with English peas turned into a hot jelly or a warm foam. In this type of dining, chefs enjoy taking liberties with foods, re-assigning flavors, playing with temperatures, scrambling textures merely to amuse and entertain. Food is theatre with him. In 2003 Adria was the subject of a 14-page New York Times supplement feature. Part of his success and probably a basis for his intricate ideas, is he closes El Bulli for six months each year to travel abroad researching and searching for inspiration.  

SECOND PLACE FAT DUCK, UK:
His Snail Porridge and Egg and Bacon Ice Cream made him special in the early 2000s – they acclaimed him a magician, scientist, artist, culinary alchemist and a gastronomic messiah! Chef Heston Blumenthal earned three Michelin stars for the Fat Duck Restaurant and an Honorary Doctorate. He, too, delves into multisensory dining, playing on diners’ senses. He plans new dishes which include Chocolate Wine, a velvety-frothy drink that dates back to 1710, made by whisking a strong wine like claret or port with sugar and chocolate. There’s talk, too of Flaming Sorbet; ice cold sorbet served on a leather plate surrounded by flames. He was also an award winner for his BBC role in the series, Heston Blumental Further Adventures in Search of Perfection where he worked at re-inventing some of the UK’s favorite dishes.

THIRD PLACE PIERRE GAGNAIRE, FRANCE:
Gagnaire’s and his restaurant holds three Michelin stars, and this is just one of his restaurants located from London to Tokyo. He enjoys incorporating art into his food. Of painting, he says art, “reveals and shares. I need to position my cuisine visually. I follow my instinct, which helps me determine qualities and flaws, and sometimes it reveals new flavors I was unaware of.” This year, Gagniare will open new restaurants in Dubai and Seoul.

2008 LIFETIME ACHIEVEMENT AWARD:

Gualtiero Marchesi is recipient of this year’s award and the first Italian chef to win three Michelin stars. Marchesi's cooking is influenced by his love of art. He is also influenced by art and recalls  Goethe's thoughts, “That artists are not those that say something new but those who know how to say a well-known thing as if it had never been said before." Author of the landmark book, The Machesi Code, and at his current age of 78, he’s planning to open a new restaurant in Milan. He will call it Machesimo.

Sponsors for the list are Restaurant Magazine, S.Pellegrino, Acqua Panna, Nespresso, Laurent-Perrier, Alliance Restaurant Insurance, American Express, Eureka, Electrolux and Steelite. The list, itself, is courtesy of  William Reed Business Media Ltd 2008. All rights reserved. William Reed Business Media Ltd. Registered Office: Broadfield Park, Crawley in the UK.