Constructing Albert

The much-honored Spanish restaurant elBulli, which closed in 2011, was once considered the best in the world, but this intriguing foodie documentary reveals a rival - a sibling rival, that is. While elBulli's head chef Ferran Adriá was proclaimed a genius, it seems that behind the scenes simmering wasn't confined to stockpots. Over a four-year period, filmmakers Collado and Loomis follow the story of Ferran's former partner and co-chef, younger brother Albert, as he steps out of the long shadow of elBulli's legacy and stakes his own claim to fame on an ambitious string of five restaurants in Barcelona's theater district, each featuring a different wildly innovative cuisine. At the heart of this growing empire is Tickets, a restaurant in which nothing is impossible, elevating the humble tapas to haute-cuisine. Next door 41° shines with a special light. Conceived as a mini elBulli seating just sixteen fortunate dinners, it explores the heights of culinary creativity. Albert's fertile vision does not stop there: Pakta, japaneseperuvian fusion with the Adrià stamp; Bodega1900, a homage to Catalan vermouth culture; Hoja Santa, an immersion into the depths of traditional mexican cuisine; and Enigma, his most ambitious project, and the one he hopes to turn into one of the best restaurants in the world. Each very different from the other, they all bear his personal signature. This is Albert's proclamation of self-assurance, his attempt to escape the shadow of the now legendary elBulli and enter the Pantheon of great chefs. This is Albert constructing himself.