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Spanish chef Andoni Luis Aduriz is joining the ranks of Michelin-starred chefs who've opted to open less formal and more affordable restaurants, Spanish newspaper El País reports.
Aduriz, who catapulted his restaurant Mugaritz to 4th place on the World's 50 Best Restaurants list sponsored by S.Pellegrino and Acqua Panna, hopes to open the new venue in San Sebastián in late 2014.
''There is only one Mugaritz. So it's about growing in a different way with a simple restaurant that is fun, casual, cool and can be replicated,'' Aduriz told Spanish news agency EFE. The yet-to-be-named restaurant will be located down the street from Mugaritz so the chef can ''keep an eye on it'' and see how things go before thinking of expansion, according to El País.
In recent times, Michelin-starred chefs have been leaning towards opening less formal restaurants at a lower price point, a phenomenon that Ferran Adrià calls ''the future of gastronomy.''
''Today, there are many informal things about gastronomy. It's a new context that is displacing a lot of people...The problem is people are dining out more frequently so they want to dine well while being informal. Informality is tied to popular cuisine but can also be incorporated into contemporary cuisine,'' Adrià recently told FDL in an interview.
Adrià is right to point out the trend as it's been in the making for a few years now. Here's a list of just a few of the Michelin-starred chefs who've open casual elegant dining spots around the world:
Daniel Boulud
Café Boulud in NYC, Toronto
Wylie Dufresne
Alder in NYC
Thomas Keller
Bouchon Bakery in NY, CA and Las Vegas
Claudio Sadler
Chic n' Quick, Milan
Quique D'Acosta
Vuelve Carolina and Mercatbar, Spain
Gastón Acurio
Tanta, Barcelona, Chicago
