Jason Sandford
Jason Sandford is a reporter, writer, blogger and photographer interested in all things Asheville.
Curate, a tapas restaurant, recently opened at 11 Biltmore Ave. in Asheville and stands ready to begin pushing the Asheville culinary scene to new levels.
Aside from the food (which I expect to be fabulous but can’t report since I haven’t eaten there yet), the connections that the restaurant owners bring to Asheville are incredible. Curate chef/owner Katie Button was an apprentice under Ferran Adria, a super-influential chef known for running one of the most creative kitchens in the world at his restaurant in Spain, elBulli. Button was recently part of a panel discussion with Adria and others at the 92nd Y in New York City.
Adria’s methods, and the magic around his cooking, are the subject of a new book, The Sorcerer’s Apprentices: A Season in the Kitchen at Ferran Adria’s elBulli by Lisa Abend, (there’s a review here by the Christian Science Monitor), and the panel discussed the book, the chef and the cooking.
Button was also on a panel at NYU for Experiemental Cuisine, whose members include Wylie Dufresne, Johnny Iuzzini, Dave Arnold, Harold McGee and other top chefs.
One other note from Liz Button, who wrote to tell me about all this:
There is a lot of interest in elBulli and all the people who have worked there, including Jose Andres from the huge restaurant group “Thinkfood Group” who owns Jaleo, Minibar, Cafe Atlantico, The Bazaar amongst many others in LA, Las Vegas and DC. Jose and his group were here at the opening (truly sorry you missed it!) and his presence was enjoyed by so many people from Asheville. It was truly amazing. Ashevillian’s saw him through our storefront window and ran in to ask “Are you really Jose Andres – and why are you in Asheville!?” It was fun to say the least.
Check out this report by an NYU blogger on the discussions.
And read this report at docsconz.com, which notes that The Sorcerer’s Apprentice is already set to be made into a major motion picture.
The bottom line is that we’re talking about the world’s top chefs having a direct connection to Asheville through Curate. That can only mean great things for the restaurant, and for the Asheville food scene in general.
