Robert Parker Jr. in Montreal

The exclusive Interview “François Chartier meets with Robert Parker Jr. in Montreal, June 20, 2011”.

*This 90-minute interview was transcribed by Josee Brisson, collaborator on francoischartier.ca, from the audio file recorded by François Chartier.

PART 1: AUDIO & TRANSCRIPT
PART 2: AUDIO & TRANSCRIPT
PART 3: AUDIO & TRANSCRIPT

Transcript:

Robert Parker: The alcohol can be lowered though proper viticulture, through shoot positioning and things like that where you can get the full phenolic ripeness in the grapes. But I mean after having worked with one of the greatest chefs (Joël Robuchon), maybe the greatest chef, today, I’m sure it’s about balance. What he is doing, deconstruction and molecular cuisine, it’s still about presenting a balanced flavour! He doesn’t want wasabi or mint to destroy…

FC: No, it’s not only about the power of taste, it’s about what’s behind.

Robert Parker: I’m sure that kitchen must look like a science laboratory.

FC: No, not at all! It’s a regular kitchen! It might be the idea we get because everyone used to write about it as a science. But if you go to a real laboratory, like in Barcelona, it’s a kitchen where they experiment, and even there, it’s just a kitchen and not a laboratory! However, there is new technical equipment like ovens and such, but they don’t look like what you would find in a scientific laboratory. If we look back at the 1950s, people were going crazy because everyone was making French fries because someone invented the deep fryer. And everyone is making French fries at home today! I think it’s the same thing. Today, there are new technical ideas that people will be using at home in 10 or 15 years from now. People are already using some of them right now.

Robert Parker: Like sous-vide being applied at home now!

FC: Et voilà! And I mean the syphon and…

Robert Parker: When I first found out about it and saw some of the great chefs using it, they never thought it would be adapted for home use.

FC: One of the things that I find is great with Ferran Adrià, I had the chance to eat at elBulli 5 times, and work with them. So I tasted in the kitchen but I also ate as a client, so I am a very lucky man! I was so impressed to see what was taking place in the laboratory in Barcelona, and then in the kitchen in Roses, and then when they served it in the restaurant. There is something missing, a link, and you wonder: how can he achieve some of his dishes? The look, the taste! Ferran Adrià has achieved something fabulous! I would compare it to wine with the longest finish in the world, you know?

Robert Parker: Does he spend any time with wine match-ups or does he leave that to the sommeliers?

FC: No, they were talking and working on that a lot 10 years ago, they were trying to see what they could do because they received a lot of criticism about that. So they tried to find how to change that, they think of everything at elBulli! Even the clothes, the water, everything has been thought through, and they constantly rethink everything, so they rethought the wine matching as well.

The first time I met them was very funny because I arrived there and Juli Soler and Ferran were sitting in the dining room and it was 1 o’clock in the afternoon and I was with my wife. They spent half an hour giving me a speech about how they weren’t looking for a sommelier, but they had asked me to come, even though they weren’t looking for a sommelier and they know how to deal with wine, etc. And after a while I told them, I’m not looking for a job! And I know what you are doing, I’ve been reading about you for many years! So they had been looking at how they could improve wine match-ups. You know, when you’re serving 37 courses, because that’s elBulli! You don’t choose what you eat when you go to elBulli and sometimes there are five small courses being served to you at the same time. They were doing the first 5, 6 or 7 courses to pair with Champagne, then one with Riesling, another one with Chardonnay, one with Pinot Noir, and maybe the last one by groups. They tried it but Ferran felt like he was stuck in jail because he had to change his idea of creativity. . Because one of Ferran’s most powerful attributes is his creativity….

The end!


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