El Bulli to close for two years

Adria to close ElBulli for two years
28 January 2010 | by Rosemary Ryan

Spanish celebrity chef Ferran Adrià has announced he will close his three-Michelin-starred restaurant ElBulli for two years.
During a speech at the international culinary congress Madrid Fusion Summit, Adrià outlined what he called the “action plan” for the famous restaurant for the years 2010 to 2020


The chef said he will temporarily close the iconic restaurant on the north Catalan coast near Barcelona during 2012 and 2013.
In a release Adrià said he and manager Juli Soler had decided to commemorate the 50th anniversary in 2012 of ElBulli’s conception with the “closure of one cycle and the beginning of a new phase in which a radical approach to the creative process and the pursuit of a new challenges”.
Under the plans ElBulli will open this year from June 15 to December 20. The opening calendar for next year will be released this September. In 2012 and 2013 the restaurant will be closed to the public and reopen in 2014.
Adrià said the closure time would be devoted to “thinking, planning, and preparing the new format for subsequent years.
“In consequence this will allow ElBulli to have two creative centres: ElBullitaller…in Barcelona, and ElBulli restaurant itself,” the release said.
“During this time all the know how about elaborations, techniques and styles acquired after 30 years of creative research will be analysed, and the results of said work will be compiled in a comprehensive and thorough encyclopaedia.”
At a press conference Adrià said the decision was for a combination of personal and creative reasons. “I’m not retiring,” he said.
“It’s just that we’re not feeding anyone at the restaurant for two years. We will still be working. I don’t want to go and sit on a beach in the Bahamas but I think we deserve to lead more normal lives because for 25 years we have been focusing on the restaurant. Now we need more time with our families.”
ElBulli currently only opens for only six months a year and last year shifted its opening season which previously ran April to October, forward to June to December.
In the release Adrià said that when it reopens, ElBulli would continue to challenge the concept of a restaurant”.
He said this would be based on two criteria. “a. Research will be prioritised over production and b. each season will be different in terms of opening dates and times, capacity of the restaurant in terms of diners, staff etc, going beyond the pursuit of innovation that Elbulli has been undertaking ever since the decision was made, among other things, to open only for six months, offer only one sitting and cancel the standard menu”.