My goal for this fall is to make Freshwhippedcreamike the biggest thing in the city as far as food goes. With Serious Eats being nothing but a rotting hull of what it once was, I think I can become the even more self proclaimed most read food blog in New York. Then TV deals, etc.

Anyway, I went to Spain recently and ate at Mugaritz, which is the number 6 restaurant in the world; I wasn’t thrilled. Let’s read my correspondence with them.

Dear Michael,

First of all I would like to thank you for your efforts trying to make us aware of your experience. It is a gesture that reminds us of the importance of our guests’ perspective who come to Mugaritz hoping to live an experience. We take all the appreciations that we receive very seriously. They help us grow.

De: Michael Adler [mailto:michael.adler@gmail.com]

Enviado el: miércoles, 24 de septiembre de 2014 2:24

Para: info@mugaritz.com

Asunto: Feedback on my meal

Hi,

I wanted to take some time to write to you about my experience at your restaurant on September 10th because much as I was looking forward to it, I was let down.

First though, your staff was professional and I have no qualms with them at all. I felt welcomed, well taken care of, and everyone was very polite.

That being said, to be honest, this might have been the worst meal of my life, as far as the food goes. I’ve thought about this carefully, and the food was certainly prepared to a high standard, but a lot of it was just unpleasant to eat.

I would say the first few courses weren’t terrible; I did not like the Kototxas, but that’s personal taste. On the other hand, the duck neck seemed to be stuffed with a mix of herbs that did not complement each other at all. I felt like I was eating a crunchy ring stuffed with foul grass. And speaking of grass the Highland grass wasn’t much better, and the tahini it was served with was just too, too much bitter. It left a bad taste in my mouth.

Next surprise was the razor clam that was still actively moving at the bottom of my glass-I guess this is a cultural thing, but I just do not want my food moving, and this is where the meal just started getting worse. The fish course following was unremarkable, but your Chicken and lobster Catalan cream tasted like it came from a can. It was bland, and the chicken and lobster were oddly chewy. The steak tartar was too clever for its own good – eating steak with a powdery texture that has next to no flavor just left me feeling strange and a little bit nauseated. And the black banana with shrimp paste just didn’t make any sense to me at all. Does anyone like completely over ripe bananas? And putting that much strong, salty shrimp paste next to it just didn’t work. Again, the flavors did not compliment each other at all. I was just hit with a nauseating punch of overripe banana and super-strong, super-salty shrimp paste. I guess if you were trying to invoke the sensation of leaving shrimp and banana on the counter for four or five days then eating it, mission accomplished.

Worse yet, the smoked loin of lamb with its cultivated wool almost got me to walk out of the restaurant. (I would have paid, but I came close to asking to see the manager, offering to pay the full bill, and just ending the meal there.) Again, just way too rich in a bad way. Smoked meat needs to be cut with a little bit of sweetness or something tangy. There’s a reason why American Barbeque is served with a bit of a drizzle of tangy tomato sauce, barbeque sauce. Serving a smoked peace of meat with nothing but wool on the side is just terrible. I don’t like Coca Cola, but I literally HAD to order a glass at that point to cleanse my palate.

The games and activities unfortunately were more tiresome than endearing. I’m still not sure entirely what I was doing with the game that preceded the milk and seaweed caviar, but it sure didn’t leave me any happier after eating solidified milk topped with super salty balls of seaweed. Just something that does not work. And the corn/bacon/herbs mortar and pestle was a complete failure because I just don’t want to work THAT hard while I’m eating.

So, dessert-not sure exactly what you guys were thinking with this one either. Parmasan and apple do not go together, at all. AT ALL. To your credit, I was enjoying the frozen apple shreds, but wow, was it just a terrible shock every-time I tasted the parmesan sprinkled through out. And , it might have been because my taste buds were a bit numbed by the frozen apples, but it didn’t even taste like good, aged parmasan, more like something from a shaker can. More terrible was the bleu cheese and berries with yogurt and dill. This was absolutely vile. There is no way you are going to take slightly out of season berries, mix them with dill and blue cheese, and get that to taste like anything other than a mish mosh of awful. The sugary porra was another failure, simply because the sugar rocks at the table were nearly impossible to grate. They were way too hard.

So, I really don’t want to be rude, and I know I was very negative, but I figured you’d appreciate the feedback. Again, I really did appreciate how professional and well run the restaurant was, but the food I feel just did not work.

Thank You,

Michael Adler

Mugaritz is a 16 years old project with a long trajectory behind it. In this time we have developed a personality and a philosophy that to say the least is -singular-. Mugaritz lives under 3 basic premises which are cornerstones for everything we do: Creativity in which we invest over 11,000 hours every year to create new recipes, plates and other interactive elements of the experience. We travel the world in culinary-cultural trips that allow for us to see the different ways of understanding food in the world. We learn from each and every one of them, and in a way, the dishes we serve in Mugaritz are the sum of all these ideas. The result is a completely different way to practice gastronomy and we do it assuming huge risks.

Produce and Interaction with our diners are the other two elements we use as the base of our work. Our relationship with producers is the key to have a constant supply of great quality foods and our relationship with our diners during their time with us is the key to make them enjoy. You are absolutely right! We make diners participate in the finishing of a dish. Many people appreciate this and discover new sensations.

We feel bound to give an answer to your opinions because they give an immediate sensation of disappointment and this affects us profoundly. The harshness of your words is eloquent and its obvious that our cooking style did not cover your expectations. Leaving aside the comments you make of some dishes, where you gracefully describe details related to sensorial, quality or aesthetics, we conclude that above everything else, there is a lack of harmony between us.

We would be lying if we told you that the mix of herbs inside the duck’s neck was a random choice, if we told you that the razor clam being alive was an accident or that the flavour of the Tartar and the black banana are things we do not like. Each and every one of those traits is there for a reason and each and every dish we serve is checked by senior members of our team before every service begins. We would be being dishonest if we told you now that on the day of your visit we made a mistake.

No. You have not been rude. We understand that the sharpness of your language comes from your frustration. You have shared your thoughts with us and we appreciate it. When we chose our style we chose it with responsibility. We assume a lot of risk every day and perhaps we failed in giving you enough explanations of our food.

In Mugaritz, over 60 people give their best every day to maintain the illusion of working in a project that creates incredible experiences. I assure you we will keep working to give back to our industry everything it has given to us.

I thank you once more for sharing your honesty. I would like to say goodbye hoping that one day you give us another chance to fulfil your expectations. This time, we clearly were not able.

Kind regards,

Andoni Luis Aduriz.

Here’s the moving clam:

`T`he little translucent fleshy part in the upper left part of the glass was trying its hardest to get out of the class. I’m also not sure what powdered green stuff that tasted like buttered bread was doing in there. That was actually good and should have maybe been put on top of something that wasn’t squirming and thrashing around under it.

Anyway, not much else to say right now, but stay tuned for more nyc based food coverage.