CONSIDER the oyster leaf: It’s a plant that tastes astonishingly like a briny oyster. It is a curious thing — a culinary trickster that manages to both surprise and satisfy. And while the oyster leaf is harvested in Holland, it is completely at home in Spain’s Catalonia region, where I recently had the pleasure of encountering it not once, but twice, at the table.
This is, after all, the land of Gaudi, Dali — and Ferran Adria. Mundane, everyday objects seemed imbued with strange and remarkable powers here, from the sinister chimneys atop Gaudi’s La Pedrera in Barcelona to the jewel-encrusted stuffed bear that greeted me in Dali’s ramshackle seaside home in Port Lligat not far from the border of France.
Of course, no chef is more synonymous with alchemy than Adria, whose restaurant, El Bulli, is closing at the end of July in order to be reborn as a full-time culinary think tank. Unfortunately, I didn’t have the golden ticket — or lottery winnings — to secure a seat for the final season. But that didn’t stop me from trying to locate some of the magic that’s currently missing from NYC’s recession-era, comfort-food scene.
I found it in the ragtag outskirts of the captivating medieval city of Girona, about an hour’s drive northeast of Barcelona. There, in a room flooded with natural light, a server’s long pour of cava caused a glass bowl set before me to froth like the sea, offering up cold, fizzy waves of plump oysters, crisp fruit and tongue-tingling spice. It was then that I discovered the oyster leaf.
Which makes sense, because it was a case of culinary mystery that had drawn me to El Celler de Can Roca: While I was well aware of El Bulli, why hadn’t I heard more about its highly influential neighbor? After all, it recently earned three Michelin stars and a No. 4 spot on the World’s 50 Best Restaurants list, just two spots behind Adria’s temple to molecular gastronomy.
Can Roca is the handiwork of three passionate brothers raised in their family-restaurant business — head chef Joan, sommelier Josep and pastry chef Jordi. Their parents’ rustic el menu del dia once cost nine euros ($13); today, Joan’s inspired seven-course tasting menu runs 115 euros ($163) featuring updates on traditional Catalan flavors and cooking.
My favorite dish transforming art into deliciousness? A piece of sole perfectly cooked sous vide and complemented by six dabs of vivid sauces representing the “Mediterranean palette.” A glistening olive-oil “sun” crowned the plate and burst with tongue-coating richness, followed by the transporting flavors of fennel, bergamot, orange, pine nuts and green olives.
I left inspired — and a bit tipsy from Josep’s impressive wine cellar — but there were more culinary wonders waiting in Barcelona. The skyline of the city has been dramatically altered by the arrival of the new W Hotel, a skyscraper that resembles a sail at full mast and reflects the sun, clouds and azure sky of the Barceloneta seaport. Here, star chef Carles Abellan — who tools around town on a motorcycle like a sexy Mediterranean version of Mario Batali — helms Bravo 24, a chic restaurant with a lovely beachside terrace.
The menu showcases impeccably sourced meats and fish with little manipulation — think the short loin of a Rubia Gallega cow from Northern Spain carefully grilled over holm-oak charcoal to remarkably smoky effect. While the restaurant doesn’t shy away from modern techniques — a fruit salad is vacuum-sealed to enhance flavor in a method borrowed from Joan Roca — the overall impression is less intellectually rigorous, but no less delicious.
It was at Dos Cielos — a New Catalan restaurant from twin brothers Javier and Sergio Torres Martinez — that I had my second encounter with the oyster leaf, this time alongside a plump oyster swimming in a broth rich in umami flavor. The brothers have a light, modern touch: A single ravioli envelops a tiny treasure of foie gras and a delicate broth contains 38 “ecological” (i.e. organic) vegetables. The contemporary feeling extends to the room, which features stunning views of the city from its location on the 24th floor of the ME Barcelona Hotel and a crowd of well-heeled locals.
As Joan Roca explained to me through a translator, the region’s mercantile past has long made it a crossroad for ideas. In other words, the Catalonian identity seems suited to experimentation. Proud, industrious and fiercely independent, their outsider status to the Madrid establishment has taught them to take nothing for granted, even in the realm of gastronomy.
— — —
THE SHORT LIST
El Celler de Can Roca: Set menu from 95 euros ($137). Can Sunyer, 48, Girona.
Bravo 24: A la carte menu. W Hotel, Placa de la Rosa dels Vents, 1, Barcelona.
Dos Cielos: Set menu from 85 euros ($123). ME Barcelona Hotel, Pere IV, 272-286 Barcelona.