GAST RO N O M I E Last name: Adrià. First names: Ferran and Albert. Occupation: Chefs, but so much more. These two have raised cooking to an art form and wrapped it all in an utterly Barcelonan lifestyle. Twofold proof. Nom : Adrià. Prénoms : Ferran et Albert. Profession : chefs, mais pas que. Ces deux-là érigent la cuisine au rang d’art et l’englobent dans un way of life made in Barcelona. La preuve par deux.
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he world just had to accept it: elBulli, Ferran Adrià’s renowned restaurant, closed its doors in 2011. It will reopen in 2015, if all goes well, but in another form, a fresh concept breathlessly awaited by the gastronomic world. Since then, and until then...well, the world has kept turning and the Adrià brothers planned ahead. Never short on inspiration, they designed dining establishments bearing their inimitable mark that have become, after a single forkful, Barcelona’s Places to Be. Just as elBulli was exiting stage left, Tickets Bar was raising the curtain. Located on the legendary, historic Avinguda del Paral-lel, an oh-so-strategic location also known as the Broadway of Barcelona, Tickets earned a star in the 2014 Spain & Portugal Michelin Guide. Here, the ambiance is casual, interpreting bohemian Spanish life in six different sections, each dedicated to a different specialty: La Presumida (The Vain), La Estrella (The Star), El Gallinero, also known as Camarote de los Marx (Marx’s Brothers’ cabin), Nostromo 180286, El Garatje (The Garage) and La Dolça (The Sweet). No menu, but a choice of snacks, picoteos, surf and turf tapitas, xuxis, and, of course, the must-try liquid ravioli with Payoyo cheese. The beverage menu includes champagne and other wines, but the star of the show remains a beer developed by Ferran Adrià himself, the famed Estrella Damm. Bookings for Tickets are done exclusively online (reservas@ticketsbar.es) and you should plan on a wait of up to two months. Barely five strides from Tickets (we measured) is 41° Experience, a cocktail bar, yes, but more intimate and exclusive, resembling a dinner theater. Another site steeped in Adrià style, 41° Experience is indeed a cocktail bar, but it combines drinks with a range of unique and inventive dishes, as well as musical and audiovisual treats. The end result promises an evening in which the unexpected is to be expected, where every experience borders on the fantastic. As with Tickets, reservations are made through the website. While indisputable as chefs, Ferran and Albert have also established themselves as incontrovertible showmen.
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