The Incredible Legacy of Juli Soler

Written by

Every great restaurant has both a front and a back of the house. Juli Soler personified the front of the house in one of the most influential restaurants in history. In 1983, he was managing an unassuming seaside bar and grill that was part of a miniature golf course when he hired a young chef with an unimpressive résumé. It was a very inauspicious start, but, together, the two of them changed the world of cooking. The chef was Ferran Adrià, and the miniature-golf bar and grill was elBulli.

Juli Soler

To say that elBulli was special is an understatement. Carved out of a bay on the Costa Brava, it was a magical spot, and Juli was largely responsible for that magic. Committed diners waited years to secure a reservation before traveling incredible distances for a single, albeit very large, meal. Juli was there to welcome them at the climax of their journey. He was everything a host should be—gracious, funny, and warm. He changed the fine-dining experience, stripping away many of the formalities so that guests could relax and engage emotionally and intellectually with the dishes in front of them.

The cuisine of elBulli, crafted by Ferran, his brother Albert Adrià, and an extremely talented team, was legendary of course, but there would have been no elBulli without Juli. He was the kind of person you wanted to work with, someone who inspired the people around him to grow. As elBulli began to evolve, he encouraged the team to learn, travel, and experiment. When Ferran took sole control of the kitchen and threw out old recipes, Juli fostered Ferran’s burgeoning creativity. They took risks, challenged conventions, and would eventually close the restaurant down for six months each year so the chefs could dedicate themselves to research and culinary innovation. The dishes that came out of elBulli captivated diners and inspired chefs throughout the world, including the Modernist Cuisine team and the work that we do.

NPM__K1U5251

Together, Juli and Ferran transformed an inconspicuous restaurant into a hotbed of culinary creativity. Some of the most talented chefs in the world passed through the kitchen and went on to become industry leaders—their success is a testament to the tremendous environment Juli created. elBulli is one of the great restaurants. It will be talked about for many years to come and Juli’s legacy will live on in those conversations.

Juli will be deeply missed. Our thoughts go out to his loved ones and the elBulli family.

Remembering Homaro Cantu

Written by

We lost an extraordinary voice on Tuesday, one that inspired his guests to think, imagine, savor, and smile.

I first connected with chef Homaro Cantu in 2003 through discussions on eGullet forums, although I didn’t realize it at the time. I met a member who used the handle “inventolux”; all I knew about this person was that he or she was incredibly knowledgeable. We began to correspond directly, and eventually I pieced together enough information to realize I was talking to Cantu.

I finally met him in person at Moto. Dining at that Modernist mecca was always an experience of both technological wonder and gustatory delight. Chef Cantu was truly a showman—his food elicited a sense of surprise and shock that ignited the imaginations of his guests. He became famous for his “printed food” and was perhaps the most technologically advanced wizard on Chicago’s culinary scene. Even more importantly, his edible innovations echoed who he was: an intelligent, wildly creative pioneer who always had a twinkle in his eye.

GettyImages_98339036 (1)
Photo by Amy Sussman

Chef Cantu had a deep interest in invention that extended beyond the sleek dining room of Moto and its high-end cuisine. He wholeheartedly believed that novel approaches to food can help solve critical problems. He wanted to find solutions that would feed the hungry and help us live healthier lives. He cared deeply about the culinary community and was instrumental in establishing The Trotter Project to honor the legacy of his mentor, Charlie Trotter.

Homaro Cantu enchanted guests with playful, avant-garde food and inspired his fellow chefs to create, take risks, and dream big. Cantu was an innovator, a scientist, a passionate chef, and a generous friend. Our hearts go out to his family and to his team. He will be profoundly missed.