El Bulli’s Ferran Adrià and Joshua Russ Tupper outside of Russ & Daughters (Photo courtesy of Serious Eats)

Serious Eats‘ Ed Levine was charged, recently, with showing the legendary Ferran Adrià around New York. Ed writes:

“Where do you take El Bulli’s Ferran Adrià, the Spanish toque god, molecular gastronomy master, who closes his restaurant in Spain for half the year just to come up with new dishes and new gastronomic ideas, to eat in New York City? Where do I take the man who is generally considered to be the greatest, most influential and innovative chef in the world, for a late breakfast or brunch in Gotham? Not an easy question, is it? …So where do you take the man who has cooked everything? Somewhere he can taste food and experience something and someplace for the very first time, somewhere that will resonate in his heart, soul, and palate. That’s how I found myself at Katz’s Deli on the Lower East Side eating a pastrami sandwich, a hot dog, a knoblewurst, and washing it all down with New York City’s own contribution to the food foam culture, the egg cream. And just to complete the experience we headed over to Russ & Daughters for a bagel with smoked salmon and cream cheese.“

Details of the day:

“We walked down the street to Russ & Daughters, where Joshua Russ Tupper shared the 100 year-old history of his family’s business. Adrià sampled a bagel with cream cheese with smoked salmon and pronounced it delicious. But it was more than deliciousness that he recognized at both Russ & Daughters and Katz’s.

As we were leaving Russ & Daughters, Adrià smiled knowingly and said, ‘You can feel the souls of these places. That’s what I want people to feel at El Bulli.’”

It’s a shame they didn’t try our egg cream during their visit. The staff behind our candy counter certainly knows its way around that kind of foam.

- Jen Snow