The Negroni is served in a white chocolate ball, the pizza crust is in meringue form and the servers are trained by acting coaches. The 20+ course meal at Somni is a dream.
It’s time for the 17th course to be served at Somni. Seven cooks line up along a marble kitchen counter as spotless as their fitted chefs’ whites. They fan out, delivering cut-glass plates to each of the 10 diners seated in a row in front of them. Set on the center of a square linen napkin is a hunk of yellowfin tuna, flesh still joined to fin, carved in the shape of a hatchet. It looks like an edible rendering of some elaborate Bond weapon out of the ’60s, dangerous and delicious.
Zabala ran Saam and conceived Somni with Andrés. Its hidden setting, experimental cooking and counter-side tasting menu motif mirrors Andrés’ two other top-flight restaurants, Minibar in D.C. and é in Las Vegas. I’ve dined at each of them, and Somni is the best of the three — the one most creatively supercharged yet grounded in profound pleasure, the one that moves notions of engaged hospitality forward, the one most worth the considerable splurge.
Every course — and there are 20-plus of them, none larger than four bites — starts with a short monologue from a chef, introducing each dish and often including instructions. Close-up chats with Zabala and other staff follow; they might exhibit a whole dry-aged turbot, or identify a mysterious green powder as pulverized oregano.
Perhaps Somni’s style might best be described as Notional Cuisine. It blurs the line between whimsy and academia, between applied theory and cheeky cleverness. Zabala doesn’t much like labels applied to his cooking. Chefs from the school of molecular gastronomy tend to feel this way. He’s a native of Barcelona and an alum of Ferran Adrià’s now-closed El Bulli. Many of Zabala’s creations build upon, or comment on, Adrià’s repertoire and classics from culinary lexicons around the world.
France Dernières Nouvelles, France Actualités
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