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Jordi Roca, Albert Adrià and Ángel León are not only connected for representing avant-garde national cuisine, but also for having jumped to the international scene for their milestones and stellar participation in the Netflix show ‘Chef’s Table‘.
We take a look back at the chapters that these three Spanish chefs have starred in, all of which have elevated everything from creative pastries to innovative maritime cuisine with global impact.
ÁNGEL LEÓN
Ángel León, renamed the ‘chef of the sea’ for having created ecosystems for future generations through gastronomy, is one of the last members of the new season of Chef’s Table.
Netflix gets into the kitchen of Ángel León’s Aponiente restaurant to launch a new episode of the documentary series that, since it was launched in 2015 by Brian McGinn and David Gelb, stands out for offering a unique look at the chefs protagonists; revealing details of their lives, talents and passions that influence their culinary identity.
The episode filmed in Cádiz dedicated to León focuses especially on Ángel León’s discovery of ‘marine rice’, and on the chef’s own frustration at not having obtained funding or collaboration from any NGO to be able to cultivate it massively and thus contribute to fighting hunger in disadvantaged areas and countries.
The content includes scenes filmed at the Aponiente restaurant, in the marshes of the Bay of Cadiz Natural Park, at the Tabanco El Pasaje, at the Antonio restaurant in Zahara de los Atunes, at the Taberna Casa Manteca, at Charo’s churros stand (an endearing local character from El Puerto de Santa Maria), at the municipal market in Jerez de la Frontera and at the facilities of the tuna company Petaca Chico.
ALBERT ADRIÀ
Following the chronological order of Chef’s Table‘s audiovisual archive, we rewind to the past, to the Albert Adrià episode that premiered in September 2018. The former Bulli known for exploring the limits of creativity in contemporary haute cuisine would be part of the show’s fifth season.
The Albert Adrià episode of Chef’s Table traced the history of one of the world’s most important restaurants, while showing how one of its main protagonists continues to innovate. Throughout the sequences, some of the chef’s most famous elaborations were accurately shown under a hypnotic visual perspective.
People know El Bulli, but they don’t know too much about Albert Adrià’s work. It was a question, again, of observing one of the great institutions of world cuisine from an unexpected perspective. He’s a magnificent chef and we wanted to give him the opportunity to tell his story,’ said series creator David Gelb about the episode.
At the time of filming, Albert Adrià captained the elBarri group in Barcelona with six restaurants. The chapter tells the story of how the chef begins to reclaim his place as one of the cornerstones of what was once the best restaurant in the world elBulli and explores how far he can take his creativity in the world of gastronomy. Although the documentary focused on his successful Tickets restaurant, it really centered on the opening of his latest project at the time: his futuristic restaurant Enigma.
JORDI ROCA
The first Spanish chef to participate in Chef’s Table was Jordi Roca. The famous pastry chef would also get in front of the cameras to record an episode dedicated to pastry, and the cult of dessert.
Jordi Roca starred in one of the episodes of the fourth season of the series, along with a cast made up of personalities such as Christina Tosi and Will Goldfarb. The driving force behind the innovative Rocambolesc ice cream parlor was the figure who first represented the value of the national scene, from the restaurant he shared with his brothers, El Celler de Can Roca, awarded with three Michelin stars.
The program featured some of the most representative elaborations of Roca’s imaginary, such as Anarkía, a collage with more than 43 colorful elaborations; Viaje a La Habana, an ice cream enclosed in a chocolate cigar that retains the flavor of the Havana cigar; or the series of edible perfumes made hand in hand with his brother Josep.
Jordi Roca’s episode of Netflix’s ‘Chef’s Table: Pastry’ told the story of how a young man with no clear ambition managed to find his true calling in his older brothers’ kitchen and, in doing so, turned his restaurant into one of the most acclaimed haute cuisine establishments in the world. Fate would put him in charge of the pastry at his brother’s famous restaurant, where his imaginative creations would eventually make him one of the world’s great dessert geniuses.
