Madrid Fusión 2014, Day One Jan. 27 in Photos

* * * * *

 Three-star chef Joan Roca of Can Roca (Girona, Catalunya), named by UK's Restaurant Magazine panel as The Best Restaurant in the World, on the first day of Madrid Fusión 2014 doing his presentation, Creatividad Urbana: Inspiración Externa, Motivación Interna. 
 Photo by Gerry Dawes©2014 / gerrydawes@aol.com / Facebook / Twitter / Pinterest. Canon 5D Mark III / Canon 70-200mm f/4L USM with Canon 1.4 Telextender. 

 
Madrid Fusión 2014. Photo by Gerry Dawes©2013 / gerrydawes@aol.com / Facebook / Twitter / Pinterest. Canon 5D Mark III / Canon 24-105mm f/4L IS USM
.

 
Juan Mari Arzak, María José San Román and Quique Dacosta at Madrid Fusión 2014. 
Photo by Gerry Dawes©2013 / gerrydawes@aol.com / Facebook / Twitter / Pinterest. Panasonic Lumix DMC ZS30 43-86mm f3.3 – f6.4. 

Chefs Sergi Arola and Jordi Cruz at Madrid Fusion 2014. Photo by Gerry Dawes©2014 / gerrydawes@aol.com / Facebook / Twitter / Pinterest. Canon 5D Mark III / Canon 70-200mm f/4L USM with Canon 1.4 Telextender. 

 Pitu Perramón, Owner of La Taberna de Gourmet and other restaurants in Alicante, Jordi Cruz (ABaC, Barcelona) and his assistant chef, David, and food writer / Catalan culinary personality Xavi Agullò with champion cortador de jamón Clemente Gómez at Los Pedroches jamón Ibérico stand, on a jamón stand hopping tour that I organized at Madrid Fusión 2014. Photo by Gerry Dawes©2014 / gerrydawes@aol.com / Facebook / Twitter / Pinterest. Canon 5D Mark III / Tokina 17-35mm f/4. 

 Three-star chef Martín Berasategui and two-star chef Paco Pérez (Hotel Mirror, Barcelona and Miramar, Costa Brava) at Madrid Fusión 2014. 
 Photo by Gerry Dawes©2014 / gerrydawes@aol.com / Facebook / Twitter / Pinterest. Canon 5D Mark III / Tokina 17-35mm f/4. 

José Andrés and three-star chef Juan Mari Arzak (Arzak, San Sebastián) at Madrid Fusión 2014. Photo by Gerry Dawes©2014 / gerrydawes@aol.com / Facebook / Twitter / Pinterest. Canon 5D Mark III / Tokina 17-35mm f/4. 

 
Slide Show of Madrid Fusión 2014, Day One Jan. 27

 ___________________________________________________________________________________________________

About Gerry Dawes

Writing, Photography, & Specialized Tours of Spain & Tour Advice

For custom-designed tours of Spain, organized and lead by Gerry Dawes, and custom-planned Spanish wine, food, cultural and photographic itineraries, send inquiries to gerrydawes@aol.com.  

I have planned and led tours for such culinary stars as Chefs Thomas Keller, Mark Miller, Mark Kiffin, Michael Lomonaco and Michael Chiarello and such personalities as baseball great Keith Hernandez and led on shorter excursions and have given detailed travel advice to many other well-known chefs and personalities such as Drew Nieporent, Norman Van Aken, Karen Page and Andrew Dornenberg, Christopher Gross, Rick Moonen, James Campbell Caruso and many others.

 * * * * *

“The American writer and town crier for all good Spanish things Gerry Dawes . . . the American connoisseur of all things Spanish . . .” Michael Paterniti, The Telling Room: A Tale of Love, Betrayal, Revenge and The World’s Greatest Piece of Cheese

* * * * *

"Gerry Dawes, I can't thank you enough for opening up Spain to me." -- Michael Chiarello on Twitter. 

"Chiarello embarked on a crash course by traveling to Spain for 10 days in 2011 with Food Arts

contributing authority Gerry Dawes, a noted expert on Spanish food and wine.  Coqueta's (Chiarello's new restaurant at Pier Five, San Francisco) chef de cuisine, Ryan McIlwraith, later joined Dawes for his own two week excursion, as well. Sampling both old and new, they visited wineries and marketplaces, as well as some of Spain's most revered dining establishments, including the Michelin three-star Arzak, Etxebarri, the temple to live fire-grilling; Tickets, the playful Barcelona tapas bar run by Ferran Adrià and his brother, Albert; and ABaC, where Catalan cooking goes avant-garde." - - Carolyn Jung, Food Arts, May 2013.

* * * * *

"In his nearly thirty years of wandering the back roads of Spain," Gerry Dawes has built up a much stronger bank of experiences than I had to rely on when I started writing Iberia...His adventures far exceeded mine in both width and depth..." -- James A. Michener, author of Iberia: Spanish Travels and Reflections

 * * * * *

Gerry Dawes was awarded Spain's prestigious Premio Nacional de Gastronomía (National Gastronomy Award) in 2003. He writes and speaks frequently on Spanish wine and gastronomy and leads gastronomy, wine and cultural tours to Spain. He was a finalist for the 2001 James Beard Foundation's Journalism Award for Best Magazine Writing on Wine, won The Cava Institute's First Prize for Journalism for his article on cava in 2004, was awarded the CineGourLand “Cinéfilos y Gourmets” (Cinephiles & Gourmets) prize in 2009 in Getxo (Vizcaya) and received the 2009 Association of Food Journalists Second Prize for Best Food Feature in a Magazine for his Food Arts article, a retrospective piece about Catalan star chef, Ferran Adrià.



In December, 2009, Dawes was awarded the Food Arts Silver Spoon Award in a profile written by José Andrés.



". . .That we were the first to introduce American readers to Ferran Adrià in 1997 and have ever since continued to bring you a blow-by-blow narrative of Spain's riveting ferment is chiefly due to our Spanish correspondent, Gerry "Mr. Spain" Dawes, the messianic wine and food journalist raised in Southern Illinois and possessor of a self-accumulated doctorate in the Spanish table. Gerry once again brings us up to the very minute. . ." - - Michael & Ariane Batterberry, Editor-in-Chief/Publisher and Founding Editor/Publisher, Food Arts, October 2009. 

Pilot for a reality television series with Gerry Dawes  
on wine, gastronomy, culture and travel in Spain.

Experience Spain With Gerry Dawes: Customized Culinary, Wine & Cultural Trips to Spain & Travel Consulting on Spain

Gerry Dawes can be reached at gerrydawes@aol.com

Club Chefs of Connecticut Taste of Spain Tour 2014 with Gerry Dawes: A Gastronomic Journey of Discovery through Barcelona, Valencia, Alicante and Madrid, January 13-19

 * * * * *
 (Much more to come; stay tuned for more photos and descriptions.)

 

Club Chefs of Connecticut Taste of Spain Tour 2014 with Gerry Dawes: Sitting at the kitchen storeroom 'family' table, just a couple of hours after an all-night flight from New York, at Bar Gelida, Barcelona, having an old-time Catalan breakfast: Victor Honrath, Wykagyl Country Club, New Rochelle, NY, showing his prowess in drinking Catalan Cava (methode champenoise sparkling wine) from a porrón (a typical Catalan drinking vessel) at Bar Gelida as Wayne Klingman decides to go the safe route and pour himself a glass of Cava. Photo by Gerry Dawes©2014 / gerrydawes@aol.com / Facebook / Twitter / Pinterest. Panasonic Lumix DMC ZS30 43-86mm f3.3 – f6.4. 

 

Club Chefs of Connecticut Taste of Spain Tour 2014 with Gerry Dawes:  Sitting at the kitchen storeroom 'family' table, just a couple of hours after an all-night flight from New York, at Bar Gelida, Barcelona.  (From left) Chefs Brian Limitone, Meadow Ridge Senior Living, Redding, CT;  Gerard Resnick, Century Country Club, Purchase, NY; Robert Rainone, Larchmont Yacht Club, Larchmont, NY; Carey Favreau, Glen Arbor Club, Bedford Hills NYC; Wayne Kregling, Brownson Country Club, Huntington, CT; Wayne Klingman, Garden City Country Club, Garden City, NY; Victor Honrath, Wykagyl Country Club, New Rochelle, NY;  Dan Neuroth, Bronxville Field Club, Bronxville, NY;  Austin Simard , Brownson Country Club, Huntington, CT; and James Rosenbauer, Country Club of Farmington, Farmington, CT.  Photo by Gerry Dawes©2014 / gerrydawes@aol.com / Facebook / Twitter / Pinterest.  Panasonic Lumix DMC ZS30 43-86mm f3.3 – f6.4.

Club Chefs of Connecticut Taste of Spain Tour 2014 with Gerry Dawes:  Sitting at the kitchen storeroom 'family' table, just a couple of hours after an all-night flight from New York, at Bar Gelida, Barcelona, having an old-time Catalan breakfast:  One of the dishes, mongetes con botifarra (white beans with sausage, aillioli on the side).  Photo by Gerry Dawes©2014 / gerrydawes@aol.com / Facebook / Twitter / Pinterest.  Panasonic Lumix DMC ZS30 43-86mm f3.3 – f6.4.

Club Chefs of Connecticut Taste of Spain Tour 2014 with Gerry Dawes:  Sitting at the kitchen storeroom 'family' table, just a couple of hours after an all-night flight from New York, at Bar Gelida, Barcelona, having an old-time Catalan breakfast:  Grilled sepia (squid) with fried potatoes (and aillioli).  Photo by Gerry Dawes©2014 / gerrydawes@aol.com / Facebook / Twitter / Pinterest.  Panasonic Lumix DMC ZS30 43-86mm f3.3 – f6.4.

* * * * *

From January 13-19, 2014, I led ten chefs from Connecticut and New York on a Club Chefs of Connecticut Taste of Spain Tour 2014 with Gerry Dawes gastronomic journey of discovery through Barcelona, Valencia, Alicante and Madrid.  My culinary contacts gave them seminars on pastries, Spanish hams, olive oil, saffron, spices, many kinds of rice preparations and in-depth tours of La Boquería market in Barcelona and Mercat Central in Valencia.

Tour Members included Executive Chefs Robert Rainone, Larchmont Yacht Club, Larchmont, NY; Carey Favreau, Glen Arbor Club, Bedford Hills NYC; Wayne Kregling, Brownson Country Club, Huntington, CT; Wayne Klingman, Garden City Country Club, Garden City, NY; Victor Honrath, Wykagyl Country Club, New Rochelle, NY;  Brian Limitone, Meadow Ridge Senior Living, Redding, CT;  Gerard Resnick, Century Country Club, Purchase, NY; Dan Neuroth, Bronxville Field Club, Bronxville, NY;  Austin Simard , Brownson Country Club, Huntington, CT; and James Rosenbauer, Country Club of Farmington, Farmington, CT.

In Barcelona, they met such star chefs and culinary stars as Barcelona chefs Carles Abellàn, Jordi Cruz (probably soon to be Barcelona’s first three-star chef), Juanito Bayen (owner of the legendary market bar Pinotxo), Quím Marquéz (Quím de la Boquería), Quím Marqués (Suquet de L’Almirall), Roser Torras (Directora of grup gsr - produccions de gastronomia, one of most brilliant culinary event producers in the world) and Jorge Mas, owner of Mas Gourmets.   The chefs toured La Boquería with market owners’ association President Salvador Capdevila, La Boquería President Oscar Uribe and Jorge Mas of Mas Gourmets.  They also met Llorenç Petras, the now-retired Maestro of Mushrooms, who just happened to be at his Petras stand that day (the stand is now run by his son) and showed the chefs a pile of prime black truffles.

And they visited the workshops of star pastry makers Christian Escribà at Escribà in Barcelona, Paco Torreblanca in Petrer (Alicante) and the Carmencita spice plant in Novelda (Alicante).  In Monóvar (Alicante), the chefs also took a tour of Salvador Poveda winery with Rafael Poveda, where they tasted a wine from a 1947 solera and were invited to write their names on a large barrel head.

In Valencia Paella Maestro-owner Rafa Gálvez, of La Matandeta, a restaurant set in the Albufera lagoon rice fields, just a few kilometers south of Valencia, did a hands-on demonstration of how to make classic Paella Valenciana and a paella de verduras, a vegetable paella, both cooked over wood fires outdoors.

An Ibérico ham and ham cutting seminar and an anchovy seminar were provided by Emiliano and Alejandro García’s Casa Montaña (Valencia) with pro ham cutter Juanma Aguilar and María José San Román gave the chefs seminars on both saffron and olive oil at her one-star Michelin restaurant, then joined us for dinner with a version of her “Menu Gerry Dawes” (the taberna's most popular and most expensive menu eight years running) at her award-winning La Taberna del Gourmet, which was twice named in the past three as the best tapas bar in Spain. 

In Madrid, 70s something Lucio Blásquez, owner of the legendary Casa Lucio, entertained the chefs with an impromptu accordian player-accompanied song and dance to the tune of Madrid’s classic castizo schottis, the traditional music of San Isidro.   We were also treated royally at Casa Botín, where we had roast suckling pig for lunch, and for our farewell dinner, first Chef-partner Javier Muñoz treated us to Champagne on the spectacular roof terrace of the Palicio de Cibeles, then we took elevators to our private table for a multi-course dinner for the chefs’ last night in Spain. 

 * * * * *

About Gerry Dawes  (Click here on yellow link for)

Dawes Bio, Awards, Quotes from Famous Chefs and Culinarians, etc.  & Custom Tours of Spain

Contact:  gerrydawes@aol.com

Chef Jordi Cruz, One of the Fastest Rising Stars of the Post elBulli Epoque Gets a Second Michelin Star at ABaC in Barcelona.

* * * * *

 

Persistence of Memory* (Salvador Dalí) Five-Watch Rating

Jordi Cruz is one of my favorite post elBulli-era chefs. I predicted that he will get a third-star.  After less, than two years at ABaC, he received his second.  !!Enhorabuena!!

Chef Jordi Cruz empasize a point as he talks about his cooking techniques after dinner at Restaurante ABaC. Photo: Gerry Dawes©2011 / gerrydawes@aol.com.

ABaC Barcelona (From my article in Departures, May 2011)

Want to catch a true rising star in the Spanish food firmament, one that many predict will soon be awarded three Michelin stars? Jordi Cruz first cooked at the restaurant L’Estany Clar in the village of Berga, north of Barcelona, where at the age of 26 he became the youngest chef in Spain to receive a Michelin star. He then moved further into the Catalan hinterlands, to Món St. Benet, near Manresa, where he cooked at L’Angle, the restaurant attached to Ferran Adrià’s food research center Fundació Alícia. Anyone who ate there immediately recognized his rare talent. Cruz is now lighting up the sophisticated Barcelona culinary sky at the glittering new ABaC Restaurant & Hotel, which opened in 2008. Dishes might include smoked salmon with cauliflower purée served under a smoke-filled cloche, or an ethereal mushroom-and-truffle focaccio accompanied by a little tumbler of champignon bisque with hazelnut foam. Not to be missed is Cruz’s extraordinary extraterrestrial gin-tonic, made with cucumber and a dollop of lemon sorbet. Cruz is not just creative; his food is as delicious as that of any Spanish modernista cuisine chef today. Dinner, $215. 1 Avenida Tibidabo, Barcelona; 34-933/196-600.

Bottega Napa Valley Chef Michael Chiarello looks over a bottle of wine. Chef Jordi Cruz's ABaC. Oct. 11, 2011.  Photo: Gerry Dawes©2011 / gerrydawes@aol.com.

Where to Stay: The restaurant is located within the sleek new ABaC Hotel (rooms, from $460), whose owners also have two others places in Barcelona, the Hotel Cram (rooms, from $250; 54 Aribau; 34-932/167-700) downtown—home to Michelin-starred restaurant Gaig)—and the new Hotel Mirror (rooms, from $250; 255 Córcega; 34-932/028-686) in the Eixample district, whose restaurant, The Mirror, just hired two-star chef Paco Pérez. -- Gerry Dawes

View the Current Issue