Revisiting some of the media from our Ferran Adria events
Vancouver chefs plan for Ferran Adria's visit
Martha Perkins
February 18, 2014 09:00 PM
From left: Frank Pabst, Scott Jaegar, Barbara-Jo McIntosh, Vikram Vij, Sean Cousins, Angus An and Thomas Haas are working together to create a memorable Vancouver welcome for Ferran Adria. Absent from photo is Hidekazu Tojo. — Image credit: Martha Perkins
Ferran Adria has been called a genius, the worlds most creative chef, a man who changed gastronomic history.
So what do you feed him when he comes to Vancouver?
Thats the daunting yet exciting task of Barbara-Jo McIntosh, who is organizing Adrias one-night stay in Vancouver on March 8. Shes enlisted the help of seven of Vancouvers most accomplished chefs and the Vancouver Club to pull it off.
On February 17, she gathered Frank Pabst (Blue Water Café), Thomas Haas (Thomas Haas Chocolates), Vikram Vij (Vijs), Hidekazu Tojo (Tojos), Scott Jaegar (The Pear Tree), Angus An (Maenam) and Sean Cousins (Vancouver Club) to plan the menu.
Since Adria, who closed his three-star Michelin restaurant, elBulli, in 2011 so he could concentrate on training other chefs, has said he prefers that chefs not use his recipes, the chefs have been given free rein.
Show off Vancouver to him what we do and do well, McIntosh said.
Surprisingly, there was relatively little talk about the food at the meeting. The chefs divvied what proteins theyd use but did not get into the specifics; that magic will happen back in their own kitchens.
I expect Ferran to blow everyone away, says McIntosh, the owner of Books to Cooks on 2nd Avenue, says of the pioneering master of molecular gastronomy. Hes driven by a desire to show the world what, in his mad scientist mind, he has created.
The Vancouver Club event is in three parts: a Cava reception, Adrias presentation and a Lavish after-party. Tickets to the after-party are sold out (tickets were $1,000) but there are still some left for the Cava reception and Adrias presentation. They are $700 each (or $800 for a pair) and include a seven-volume set of Adrias books, including elBulli 2005-2011: A Journey Inside the Creative Process of the Worlds Greatest Chef.You can also order the book set for $625. Details at BooksToCooks.com.
Copyright 2014
The original article was posted here on February 18, 2014.-