El Bulli

El Bulli (as of 2008, the restaurant refers to itself with the orthography elBulli [ [http://www.elbulli.com/ El Bulli website] ] ) is a three Michelin starred restaurant run by chef Ferran Adrià.

The small restaurant overlooks the Cala Monjoi bay, in Roses on the Costa Brava in Catalonia, Spain, and has been described as "the most imaginative generator of haute cuisine on the planet" and does a great deal of work on molecular gastronomy.

"Restaurant" has judged El Bulli the best restaurant in the world a record four times — in 2002, 2006, 2007 and 2008.cite web|url=http://www.theworlds50best.com/restaurants/restaurant_01.html|title=World's 50 best restaurants|publisher="Restaurant Magazine"|date=2008-04-21|accessdate=2008-04-21]

The restaurant has a limited season from April to September; bookings are taken on a single day the previous October. It accommodates only 8,000 diners a season, with 800,000 people calling to try and book places — around 400 requests for every table. The average cost of a meal is €250; the restaurant itself has operated at a loss since 2000, with operating profit coming from El Bulli-related books, and lectures from Adrià. [ [http://www.guardian.co.uk/travel/2007/feb/03/saturday.budget.restaurants Who's for a Bulli burger?] , Kevin Gould, "The Guardian", 3 February 2007] [http://observer.guardian.co.uk/foodmonthly/futureoffood/story/0,,1969713,00.html If the world's greatest chef cooked for a living, he'd starve] , John Carlin, "The Guardian", December 11 2006] As of April 2008, the restaurant employed 42 chefs.

Roger M. Buergel, Director of the Kassel Documenta 12 art show in 2007, designated El Bulli as Pavilion G of Documenta. [cite web
url = http://www.elbulli.com/documenta/docs/nota_prensa_en.pdf
title = Press Release: El Bulli Contribution in Documenta 12
date = 2007-06-02
publisher = Documenta
format=PDF]

History

The El Bulli site was founded in 1961 by Dr Hans Schilling, a German, and his wife, who wanted a restaurant for a piece of land he had purchased. [ [http://www.elbulli.com/historia/index.php?lang=en&seccion=1&subseccion=1 History of El Bulli] ] The name "El Bulli" came from the French bulldogs the Schillings owned. The first restaurant was opened in 1964. The restaurant won its first Michelin star in 1976 while under French chef Jean-Louis Neichel. [ [http://www.elbulli.com/historia/index.php?lang=en&seccion=1&subseccion=9 History of El Bulli] ] Ferran Adrià joined the staff in 1984, and was put in sole charge of the kitchen in 1987. In 1990 the restaurant gained its second Michelin star [ [http://www.elbulli.com/historia/index.php?lang=en&seccion=3&subseccion=5 history of El Bulli] ] and in 1997 its third. [ [http://www.elbulli.com/historia/index.php?lang=en&seccion=4&subseccion=9 History of El Bulli] ]

References

External links

* [http://www.elbulli.com/ El Bulli website]
* [http://www.elbulli.com/historia/version_imprimible/1961-2006_en.pdf Printable version of the history of El Bulli]
* [http://travel.guardian.co.uk/article/2002/oct/26/travelfoodanddrink.foodanddrink.spain Guardian review, October 2002]
* [http://edition.cnn.com/2007/WORLD/europe/04/24/top.restaurants/ CNN story, March 2007]