One of the most well-known trailblazers in molecular gastronomy is chef Ferran Adrià. Chef Adriá is the genius behind ElBulli, which earned 3 Michelin stars and was one of the best restaurants in the world before it closed in 2011. Interestingly, it will reopen in 2015 as a creativity center.
The executive director of The Drawing Center, in NYC, was so impressed with the dining experience at ElBulli, that when he came across the information that Chef Adriá used drawings to work out the “immense body of technical knowledge required to generate a constant stream of ambitious new dishes,” he reached out to him and eventually created the exhibition Ferran Adrià: Notes on Creativity.
Ferran Adrià Plating Diagram, circa 2000-2004. Colored pen on graph paper.
Ferran Adrià, Food DNA Diagram, 2013. Colored pencil and graphite on paper.