Dinner by Ferran Adrià of Ell Bulli up for grabs at auction
Mythical Spanish restaurant El Bulli may have shuttered two years ago, but auction house Sotheby’s is offering the highest bidder at an upcoming wine auction the chance to enjoy a dinner prepared by legendary chef Ferran Adrià himself.
It’s the latest addition to a hotly anticipated wine auction to be held in Hong Kong and New York next month when El Bulli -- which has held on to the title of best restaurant in the world five times by “Restaurant” magazine -- sells off its wine cellar.
The opening bid for a dinner with Adrià at his Barcelona restaurant Tickets, which he co-runs with brother Albert, starts at $5,000 USD ($40,000 HKD, or about €3,836).
Other lots that have been added to the wine sell-off include a chance to snatch various bits of El Bulli memorabilia, including four chefs’ jackets signed by Adrià, a set of El Bulli knives, menus, wine lists, and El Bulli stationery.
Many of the lots for sale are also one-of-a-kind bespoke pieces designed specifically to help execute and serve Adrià’s avant-garde cuisine. Examples include baroque and corrugated trays and crockery for his signature spherical olives.
More than 8,800 bottles of wine, all of which will bear an El Bulli sticker and some of which will be signed by Adrià and restaurant partner Juli Soler, will be auctioned off April 3 in Hong Kong and April 26 in New York.
Overall, the auction is expected to fetch up to $1.6 million.
The highest value lot includes a trio of Domaine de la Romanée Conti, Romanée Conti 1990, which is estimated to bring in $32,500 to $47,500.
Pockets don’t go that deep? More affordable lots include bottles priced as low as $50 for a 1999 Cuvée Prestige de Caroline.
The El Bulli wine auction follows on the heels of two other landmark cellar sell-offs, including that of Charlie Trotter’s namesake Chicago restaurant, which closed last year, and historic Parisian restaurant La Tour d’Argent.
http://www.sothebys.com/en/sales-series/2013/the-elbullicellar-sold-to-benefit-the-elbullifoundation/overview.html
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