M2 Travel M A R C H 7 , 2 0 1 0B O S T O N S U N D A Y G L O B E

APRIL 15-17CHICAGOWindy City Burlesque Festival:Burlesque has been making acomeback for years. Gyms offerburlesque exercise classes.Troupes like the Boston Baby-dolls spin tassels all over ourPuritan City. For whatever rea-son, it’s quite acceptable to shakein something shimmery. Nextmonth in Chicago, you can seesome of the best of the country’sburlesque performers at thisfestival, which features headlin-ers such as Foxy Tann, who hasshared stages with comedianMargaret Cho, and Madame X,who has performed in a Chicagoproduction of ‘‘Snow White andthe Seven Drag Queens.’’ There’salso a lineup of comedians sched-uled to perform in non-sparklyclothing. Various locations.www.windycityburlesquefest.com

APRIL 17 and 18 PHILADELPHIAFree Library Festival: The bigname at this year’s festival isSapphire, the author who wrote‘‘Push,’’ on which tonight’s Oscar-favorite ‘‘Precious’’ is based.Other authors in the lineup in-clude Jimmy Gownley, whowrote ‘‘Amelia Rules! The Tween-age Guide to Not Being Unpop-ular,’’ and Jim Zervanos, whowrote the coming-of-age story

middle part of the programshould appeal to pop fans,thanks to former ‘‘American Idol’’contestant Matt Giraud, who hassigned on for a show on April 21.The end of the run should attractclassical fans, who will enjoyperformances by artists such ashot young concert pianist Jona-than Biss. Locations and ticketprices vary. www.gilmorekeyboardfestival.org

Destinationse v e n t s

Big screensand burlesque

APRIL 22-25HOLLYWOOD, Calif.TCM Classic Film Festival:If your remote control tends tobring you to the channel knownas TCM (that’s Turner ClassicMovies), you’ll find like-mindedthinkers in Hollywood nextmonth at this first-ever festival,which features a lineup of someof the most beloved movies inhistory. The films, which include‘‘Casablanca’’ and ‘‘The Story ofTemple Drake,’’ are must-sees,but the big draw will be the per-sonal appearances. Luise Rainer,who just turned 100, is sched-uled to visit the festival to in-troduce her 1937 film ‘‘The GoodEarth.’’ Jerry Lewis will be onhand to screen ‘‘The King ofComedy.’’ The theaters them-selves should also appeal tomovie buffs. Venues includeGrauman’s Chinese Theatre andthe Egyptian Theatre. Packagesvary. www.tcm.com/festival

‘‘Love Park.’’ The best thing aboutthis festival, as its name suggests,is that it’s free. 215-567-4341.www.freelibrary.org

APRIL 17-MAY 8 KALAMAZOO, Mich.Gilmore Keyboard Festival:The early part of this celebrationof music is good for families,thanks to artists such as PeterMiyamoto, who makes pianosound fun to youngsters. The

PLAN AHEAD

JUNE 11-13 LEICESTERSHIRE, EnglandDownload Festival: Aerosmithhas been somewhat unpredict-able lately. Lead singer StevenTyler fell off the stage during ashow last year and then foundhimself in rehab. Months later,he showed up at a Home Depotand began singing into a loud-speaker. Not long after that, hisbandmates were rumored to bereplacing him with a new leadsinger. Then last month, thosesame bandmates surprised fansby announcing tour dates withTyler at the helm. One of thosedates is the Download Festival atDonington Park, where Aero-smith will share a lineup withThem Crooked Vultures, Wolf-mother, Rage Against the Ma-chine, and Billy Idol. Ticketpackages vary. www.downloadfestival.co.uk

MEREDITH GOLDSTEIN

Events are sometimes canceled,rescheduled, or sold out; call orcheck online. Meredith Goldsteincan be reached at mgoldstein@globe.com.

‘‘The King of Comedy’’ with Robert DeNiro will air at the inaugural TCM festival in Hollywood.

El Bulli (which is colloquial Cata-lan for a bulldog breed).

‘‘I know it’s a good restau-rant,’’ he says.

‘‘Do you know it’s been calledthe best in the world?’’

Edu grins an uncharacteristi-cally large grin and stares at theroad ahead.

From Barcelona, it’s a two-hour slog north to Roses, thenseveral beautiful windsweptmiles through the Cap de Creusnature preserve. Once at the res-taurant our table is set slightlyapart from the main diningroom, giving us the sense that weare both looking in on a play andtaking part in it.

The menu immediately setsan informal tone. Apéro ‘‘moji-tos’’ and ‘‘caprihinas’’ are rectan-gles of sugar cane set in ice andsoaked in white rum and cacha-ça, a sugarcane liquor. These arefollowed by a black currant andeucalyptus ‘‘tea,’’ presented likepart of a Japanese tea ceremony,where a single green drop of con-centrated eucalyptus floats atopmolten red liquid in a tiny silverbowl. We cradle it in our hands,liquid bits of heaven and hell inone sip.

One of the first dishes to ar-rive is a Gorgonzola globe withfresh-grated nutmeg, presentedin the center of the table like anostrich egg we break into andshare. We’re several courses inbefore someone realizes we’ve yetto see a fork. By meal’s end, we’ve

used mostly our hands, liftingbites to our mouths and dabbingup sauce with our fingers.

For some courses, the table-ware is as artistic as the food, forothers, the receptacles are livingthings; pinch the end off a hum-mingbird-friendly flower andsuck out the ‘‘nectar’’ inside inone dish or lap drops of honeyfrom pine needles in another. Inboth cases, the vessel’s flavor istransferred to what we eat.

The meal creates personalityshifts at our table of four. We talkand touch more than normal, asif the route to our emotions hasbeen shortened.

There are themes that runthrough the meal: ‘‘Tender pista-chios’’ are a meditation on about10 ways to prepare them. Later,soybeans are presented at least15 ways in one dish — every con-ceivable form presented like anabstract abacus. Other momentspush a diner’s limits, like rabbitbrains in consommé and a chick-en cartilage canapé. Some teaseperceptions with trompe l’oeilslike ‘‘artichoke’’ leaves that turnout to be white rose petals or a‘‘shark fin’’ made of clear, spa-ghetti-like pumpkin strands.

We share the food as a groupor as couples; we guard it likecavemen and savor it like it’s thelast thing we’ ll ever eat. Edubreaks out of his shell. The manI’ve never associated with theword ‘‘goofy’’ is posing for pic-tures, making funny faces,clenching the rose between histeeth, and hanging a spoon fromhis nose. Out of the blue, whileeating tiny sea anemones, hegrowls, ‘‘Mar!’’ (‘‘Sea!’’)

We’re served a whole grilledpassion fruit and once the top’scut off, we find it’s been filledwith chicken broth. The dishmixes sweet and savory andmakes us pucker and giggle. Lat-er, tiny cubes of marrow lie atopan oyster in its shell, which wespoon onto an oyster leaf and

I push Adrià a bit and his re-ply is enigmatic: ‘‘Bulli alwaystalks about the past.’’

He’s not after old techniques,but the nostalgia that new onescan create. If he can come upwith something in a near-perfectstate, Adrià bets it will knocksomething loose in the heart orthe mind. It’s an imperfect pro-cess.

‘‘There’s no direct line,’’ hesays. ‘‘If you make a salad withartichoke and lobster, that’ll doone thing for one person andsomething else for someone else.A flower brings out emotions insome people and not in others.’’

So he conducts. He breaksperceptions that border on whathe calls ‘‘kitschy’’ to put custom-ers at ease. He makes you eatwith your hands. He plays withthemes and juggles with thespots where sweet and savoryshow up during the meal.

‘‘It’s complicated. It’s like edit-ing a film,’’ he says. ‘‘If you don’thave a good rhythm, you fallasleep.’’

Yet when he gets the elementsto line up, he creates a direct con-nection between your food andyour emotions.

I think back to our dinner, to asquab consommé so clear andpure that it’s served in a wineglass and savored like a grandcru. There was also a perfectcockle floating on a gel seeminglymade of a weekend by the seaand there you are, feet in thesand, face in the sun. Beaming.

‘‘I want to do more than eat,’’he says. ‘‘There is emotion infood and I want to feed the soul.’’

A few days later, I receive an e-mail from Edu:

‘‘I’m sending a leftover sensa-tion from our night at Bulli.

It was 6 hours and 44 dishes.It flew.’’Is it food? Should it be? This is

why we go. Now, after 20 years asa restaurant that turned food onits end, perhaps only two yearsremain. It flew.

Joe Ray can be reached atjoe@joe-ray.com.

Supper for the senses, no forks requiredº EL BULLIContinued from Page M1

El BulliCala MontjoiRoses, Spain011-34-972-150-457www.elbulli.comDinner, with wine, runs morethan $400 a person.Where to stayRoses is a seaside eyesore, butis your best nearby option.VistabellaAv. Díaz Pacheco, 26-30Playa de Canyelles Petites011-34-972-256-200www.vistabellahotel.comA romantic and pricey optionon the outskirts of Roses.Rooms for two start around$400 a night.Aparthotel Mar y SolPlaza de Cataluña, 20011-34-972-252-111www.prestigehotels.comA good budget option withoptions starting around $80.

If you go . . .

PHOTOS BY JOE RAY/FOR THE BOSTON GLOBE

Cooks work with blunt-ended syringes in El Bulli’s kitchen,where chef Ferran Adrià (below) oversees each station.

pop into our mouths.Along with moments when

we say, ‘‘Is that food? Should itbe?’’ it seems Adrià is also show-ing us how we should treat fooddaily. There is a world of technol-ogy and science in his work thathas fascinated me for years, yetseated at our table, it all fallsaway and I’m interested only inthe glow of its effects. This food isprivilege and deep pleasure, ap-preciated as art, slurped with adrip running down the chin,served with a dose of surprise,considered delicate or devouredsensually.

Two weeks later I interviewAdrià and spend the first hourshooting photos in the kitchenand watching him work. Thereare 45 cooks, each practicallyglued to the 2 square feet they’reallotted, but Adrià never standsstill. He is a conductor, constant-ly moving in and out of theframe. Before dinner, he checkskitchen stations, looks over prod-uct orders, and tastes everythinghe walks past, silently consider-ing what he has in his mouth forseveral seconds before pronounc-ing a verdict.

Along with the customarythings you see in a kitchen —bubbling pots, whisks andknives, the bent-head position ofa cook at work — there are peoplewalking around with blunt-end-ed syringes that they use to ex-tract liquids from silver bowls. Ina back alcove, there’s a machinethat looks like a miniature ce-ment mixer with a copper bowland behind it, a cook runs his fin-gers across the top of a silver bal-loon, spinning it atop a liquid ni-trogen bath that spills fog ontothe table and across the floor,making the Gorgonzola ‘‘egg.’’

This is Adrià’s domain, thenexus of food, science, and art.He is known for foams, spherifi-cations, and essences, reducedand reconstituted versions ofproducts that are futuristic ver-sions of a perfect past. Yet whileother chefs struggle to under-stand his concepts, he simply us-es them as a tool.

‘‘It would take three days toexplain spherification, but that’snot important,’’ Adrià says. ‘‘I’mafter the emotions science bringsout. We want happiness, notcomprehension.’’

There is a world of culinaryreferences and another of scienceand technique that would wreckthe meal and its surprises — andleave you with lots of cold food —if someone took the time to ex-plain it all.

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