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After 30 years of being a partner and manager at elBulli, Juli Soler has resigned from his duties as executive director of The elBulli Foundation due to a neurogical illness.
Although elBulli closed as a restaurant last year, Soler had been a part of the restaurant since 1981. His role in the history of elBulli cannot be underestimated - while a young Ferran Adria manned the kitchen he took on the front of the house duties, greeting and delighting guests with this winning personality.
Solar, pictured above third from left, said that since the beginning, the restaurant was like none other, adding: "elBulli was an enchanting place, getting there was almost an adventure, but thanks to our clientele and word of mouth, Germans, French and a good many Catalans came to savour a cuisine that, although very different to that of today, was already in the forefront of new European trends."
Together, the two men became unstoppable and have gone down in history as one of the most dynamic culinary partnerships of the past 20 years.
The culinary world is already mourning Soler's absence but he will continue on as the honorary present of The elBulli Foundation, according to Spanish newspaper El Pais.
"Juli and I were like a married couple, 30 years together, 14 hours every days...he's generous and daring and allowed the culinary team the freedom to put avant-garde before business," Adria told El Pais. The rest of the elBulli team took to twitter to thank their boss and offer somen words of encouragement, saying: "We were already excited about working with Juli at the elBulli Founation, now we have to do things twice as good so he can be proud of us."
