Molecular Gastronomy, En Garde!

Print |

bar210

By Joshua Lurie
For dineLA.com

Cutting-Edge Technology Impacts LA Plates and Glasses

Not many chefs are willing to use the term “molecular gastronomy” on the record these days, even though they’re applying cutting-edge technology and techniques more than ever. Whether you call it “molecular,” “avant-garde” or “vanguard,” get ready for a show, and some serious flavor, in ways that are no longer gimmicky.



Culinary fireworks detonate throughout José Andrés’ culinary pleasure palace, but let’s focus on the cocktail program, which is led by beverage director Lucas Paya. The El Bulli veteran has introduced a number of “new classics,” including a Manhattan with Michter’s Rye and a spherified cherry at the bottom of a martini glass. A “Magic” Mojito is strained over cotton candy and a LN2 Caipirinha is concocted tableside using liquid nitrogen. Most recently, Paya topped a Sherry and tonic based cocktail with lemon “air” to mimic the look of beer. “Anything we can use that makes our offerings more fun, beautiful, surprising, balanced, etc is always welcome,” he says.

- 465 South La Cienega Blvd, Los Angeles, 310.246.5555, www.thebazaar.com



Michael Voltaggio was first inspired by cutting-edge cookery at the Ritz-Carlton in Naples, Florida. He led the Grill Room kitchen, but volunteered for a demotion to learn techniques like sous vide from Dining Room chef Arnaud Berthelier. At establishments like The Bazaar and The Langham, he’s favored the dehydrator, since “it doesn’t require you to add anything to the food,” and liquid nitrogen, since “it’s like deep-frying, but cold.” He uses nitro to create “dippin’ dots,” instant ice cream pebbles. He’s become so convinced of “understanding technology as it evolves and applying it to food” that he and brother Bryan have partnered with a German company to import hydrochlorides like agar, gelatin and seaweed additives.

At the Star Chefs conference in New York, he recently created a dish that looked like a caprese salad, but was entirely sea-based. He infused tomatoes with dashi, created a “Parmesan” tuille using frozen, dehydrated calamari, and crafted a “balsamic reduction” using bonito infused rice vinegar and squid ink for a “sweet and sour” flavor.

Voltaggio plans to incorporate many of these techniques at his upcoming restaurant, which should debut in the first quarter of 2011. “I’ll always accent my food with little surprises,” says Voltaggio, “but at the end of the day, it’s always about making the food taste good.”

- www.voltaggiobrothers.com



At his French restaurant, chef-owner Christophe Émé makes sure to employ modern techniques “with parsimony and mix it with classic French technique” He uses foam to finish dishes, delivering “a very light taste.” Not that foam would qualify as “molecular” for Émé; he’s seen it too often. “The problem now with this technique is that people use that everywhere with everything,” he says. “That is sad!”

The amount of labor and oversight necessary to deliver cutting-edge cooking is also an issue, but Émé still serves desserts like the silky caramel panna cotta, which cleverly appears in a caviar tin, lined with bursting green apple “caviar." He’s also been working on a gelee of celery, which will pair with Ortolan’s celery root “spaghetti” and hazelnut foam.

- 8338 W 3rd St, Los Angeles, 323.653.3300, www.ortolanrestaurant.com



Pastry chef Adrian Vasquez dismissed the expression “molecular gastronomy,” saying, “If Ferran [Adria] wants to call it ‘new cookery,’ that works. Really I don't call it anything, they're just techniques added to a repertoire.” For example, he adds carrageenan (a thickening agent) to milk.

More specifically, Vasquez creates spherified and gelatinous “cocktails” on a nightly basis. Recently, each table received a grapefruit-forward Greyhound sphere served in a metal spoon and a granita-like Mojito rectangle served in a ceramic spoon and topped with micro mint.

He originally featured the Mojito for his eight-course dessert tasting menu. Chef-owner Michael Cimarusti liked it so much, he appropriated the “cocktail” as an amuse bouche, which forced Vasquez to create a replacement. The Greyhound was his friend’s favorite drink. He’s also developed a gin and tonic, a Cosmopolitan, a lemon drop and a Hot Toddy, to cure his cold.

- 5955 Melrose Ave, Los Angeles, 323.460.4170, www.providencela.com



Brian Redzikowski produces Japanese dishes at the Thompson using contemporary techniques. As he said, “Some sauces are frozen on acetate, shaped and placed on a hot plate. It thaws and becomes liquid in seconds.” Other sauces are kept in chargers, allowing him to produce foams. “What inspires me about cutting edge cooking techniques is the use of the mind to build on the basics and make cooking and food exciting,” says Redzikowski. “Some of the benefits of technology to produce food is an exact, consistent product.” For example, Redzikowski weighs food to the gram and employs sous vide and induction burners. This allows him to achieve an exact temperature, to eliminate room for error and to overcome spatial constraints.

Redzikowski’s latest “molecular” dish involves a Jidori chicken thigh terrine that’s cooked sous vide, cubed and pan-roasted. The crispy square is speared with a sprig of aromatic rosemary and a decorative branch and served in a glass tumbler with pumpkin sauce and maple syrup foam. He calls the dish “fall Southern style comfort food.”

- 9360 Wilshire Blvd, Beverly Hills, 310.273.1400, www.thompsonhotels.com



Stefan Richter has taken his kitchen “back to basics, cooking a piece of meat properly, using only local wines and meats and fish.” Yet, for dessert, he features a whimsical lollipop trio inspired by the popsicles he ate as a child in Europe. He coats ice cream orbs in vanilla cream and dips them in liquid nitrogen, yielding a trio of smoking spheres on sticks. On my recent visit, they included one pop with a passion fruit coat and pineapple core, a second pop with double strawberry action, and a third pop sporting coconut shavings, with chocolate within. Richter’s also experimented with citrus, red wine and mint. Richter has a liberal view of the subject, saying, “It is all molecular gastronomy!!!...You cook or braise a meat and you change its structure while doing it.”

- 3000 Olympic Blvd, Santa Monica, 310.449.4000, www.stefansatlafarm.com



What is it about “Top Chef” veterans and technology? In addition to Voltaggio and Richter, Vigneron, previously with The Bazaar and bar210, also employs “avant-garde techniques.” The Seattle area native finds inspiration in every available cooking technique, whether it’s trimming artichokes or bathing popcorn in liquid nitrogen. As he said, “With every sort of craft or any sort of occupation, it behooves the person involved to be abreast of cutting edge technology and all the advances that can be made through science.”

Vigneron recently conducted a cooking demo at Universal Orlando, which allowed him to create an avant-garde dish with a Harry Potter theme. “The Snitch is the golden ball they chase around when playing Quidditch,” says Vigneron. “How can I make this golden orb? Butter beer is essentially cream soda that has a golden tinge to it. To give it that really nice butterscotch flavor, I made brown butter powder using tapioca maltodextrin (‘it essentially turns fats into powders’), took butterscotch essential oil and combined them on a plate.” The carbonated butter beer sphere became an explosive one-bite amuse.

Vigneron is currently building a Hollywood test kitchen for his SyFy show, “Marcel’s Quantum Kitchen,” which will debut in February and follow his catering adventures. He’s also scouting locations for his own restaurant, which should open next year. In both cases, he’ll utilize avant-garde techniques where applicable. “A lot of people think molecular gastronomy is a type of cuisine,” says Vigneron. “It’s more a means to an end.”

- www.twitter.com/marcelvigneron

Follow us on:

SEARCH

• accommodations
• activities
• arts & culture
• dining
• nightlife
• shopping
• transportation
• visitor resources