Cocktails

Early Look: Ferran and Albert Adria’s 41°

BY Kate Krader | POSTED MARCH 22, 2011 AT 4:13PM EDT

Terry Zarikian with Albert Adria, left, is living my dream at 41°.

I’m in the middle of interviewing F&W's Best New Chefs 2011 (announcements coming April 5th!), and one question I'm asking is: What’s your dream meal? Right now, my dream meal is in Barcelona and begins with drinks and appetizers at 41°, followed by tapas at Tickets, two amazing, new adjacent spots from chefs Ferran and Albert Adria. Terry Zarikian, creative director of Manhattan’s very cool new Spanish restaurant Bar Basque and a long-time friend of the Adria brothers, is living my dream. Here’s Part I of his report:

I had strict orders: Arrive promptly at 41° at 7 p.m.

I did. I was met by a doorman (in a ringmaster costume, just like the circus) with a short list of names. Once inside, I checked out the mostly classic drinks, from Manhattans to margaritas and, believe it or not, Cosmos. All were meticulously mixed. Even the gin-and-tonics section was detail-oriented: There were more than two dozen gins, and a separate section of tonics, all served over little icebergs carved from a block of ice.

The food at 41° includes their version of traditional bar snacks: oysters with topping like soy tapioca “caviar” or “Schrencki” osetra, a special caviar from the Amour river on the Siberian border.

Pistachios wrapped in sour yogurt "skin" at 41°.

But Albert served us a selection of elBulli–inspired snacks: The renowned, gel-filled spherical olives (here, called Las Olivas Rellenas del 41), flavored with rosemary and garlic; pistachios wrapped in a dry “skin” of sour yogurt; and puffed grains of wild rice seasoned with curry that's poured from a black tin box into a black coal–like ceramic bowl. Mini hollowed-out baguette-like crackers came wrapped with warm, translucent slices of Iberian pancetta seasoned with pimentón and pearls of liquid mozzarella with a basil leaf. More than fantastic were the mini seaweed cones, filled with a spicy tuna tartar and a mysterious puffed grain—it was so delicious, no one cared what it really was.

41° Iberian pancetta wrapped around baguette-like crackers.

And that was just our appetizers at 41°. In my next report, I’ll tell you what I had at Tickets.

Early Look: Ferran and Albert Adria’s 41°

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