Les Cols

Restaurant: Les Cols
Location: Olot, Spain
Chef: Fina Puigdevall
Open: Dinner, Wed-Sat 8:30-10:30pm; Lunch, Tue-Sat 1-3:30pm
Date of Lunch: July 16, 2007
Cost of Dinner: $135
Recommendation: Would Definitely Try Again, and stay in one of the Pavilions.



The day after our marathon dinner at El Bulli, we headed to the small town of Olot in the mountainous area of northern Spain known as la Garrotxa. Olot, with a population of about 30,000, is the center of this area of around 40 dormant volcanoes. We had planned to drive out to the municipality of Andorra located up in the Pyrenees. On our way, I booked us a lunch reservation at the one Michelin-starred "Les Cols." I first heard about this place when I saw an episode of Andrew Zimmern's Bizarre Foods on the Travel Channel (see above). This restaurant and guesthouse is run by Fina Puigdevall, who was born in the same farmhouse that now houses the restaurant.

Ms. Puigdevall hired the local architectural firm of RCR Architects to transform the ground floor of this 13-century house into an amazing restaurant and add a pavilion of 5 guestrooms above the volcanic sand that cover part of the estate.

After our lunch, the hostess gave us a tour of the pavilion. It was unfortunate that all the rooms are occupied, because we were not able to see what they look like. However, a description of the rooms is enough for us to want to stay there the next time we are in the area.

Each of the 5 pavilion guestrooms are the epitome of architectural design. Guests use numeric codes to enter the glass door panels which lead onto the patio of volcanic rock. The guestrooms themselves have glass walls (opaque, so you can't see next door), glass floors, so you can see the volcanic rock underneath, and glass ceilings, so you can see the stars when you lie in bed. You can also black them out in case the starlight becomes too bright.

But we're here to talk about the restaurant, not the guestrooms.

Our reservation for lunch was at 1pm. I figured that an hour and a half for lunch would suffice before we head towards Andorra, a clear 2 1/2 hours away. When we finally saw our set menu, we all looked at each other and knew that we will never make it to Andorra. There are 17 courses in the lunch menu, and they are not at all tapas style. These are definitely heartier portions. The menu below are exactly how it is written. It is funny because the way it is written is very evocative of the menu at Manka's Inverness Lodge, the fantastic restaurant we went to for my birthday last year. Unfortunately, Manka's burned to the ground last Christmas.



Cava Raventos i Blanc, Home-made sausage from Olot - When we arrive, they ushered us towards the back of the farmhouse overlooking the gardens. This is where we begin our journey. Sitting on gorgeous golden chairs, they brought out glasses of cava, breads, and home-made sausages. We enjoy our first course in the fresh air overlooking a very serene and peaceful garden.

The Land, the Water, the Cereal: buckwheat crust, the essentiality of primary food - After the first course, we are whisked towards the front of the restaurant to our table overlooking the chickens that freely roam outside. The waiter then brought over a cart filled with about 12 or so bottles of different kinds of olive oils and multiple types of breads from Els Hostalets d'en Bas. We really shouldn't get too filled up with these breads because we know that there are still 15 courses more to come. However, the different breads were so hard to resist. And combined with the selection of different kinds of olive oils did not make it easy. There are light extra virgin olive oils, spicy ones, sweet ones, heavy and thick ones. Oh, boy!

Inspired in Summer Landscape: green beans juice, iced tomato, cucumber, mint, almonds - This dish, which the menu touts as inspired by the summer landscape is truly truth in advertising. The combination of the green bean juice, the cucumber, mint, almonds, and the tomato granita is fantastic and is refreshing on this humid day.

With the Scent of This Aromatic Mushroom: chanterelle salad, pine nuts, dandelion, tortell d'Olot - A tortell d'Olot is a local savory pudding. I really don't know what it is made of, only that it is very creamy and rich. The mushroom salad, dandelion leaves and pine nuts are served on top of the tortell and a nice covering of extra virgin olive oil. The earthiness of the chanterelles, the bitterness of the dandelion leaves, and the creaminess of the tortell go beautifully together.

To Eat With Fingers: cornbread sandwich, cereals bread from Els Hostalets d'en Bas, crumbs, olives - Els Hostalets d'en Bas is a farming community in the Garrotxa. All the cereals and flour used for the breads served at Les Cols were harvested at Els Hostalets d'en Bas. This crumbly sandwich made from cornbread can be eaten with about 2-3 bites.

A Yesteryear Stew, Without Meat, and With a New Texture: potato stew, eucalyptus oil, fried garlic - The stew here looks to be deconstructed. The cubes of potatoes are creamy and very gelatinous. Fried garlic are placed on top of the cubes and a rich hunter sauce is served with it. Very interesting and very good!

A Dish From the Region, Cooked in the Traditional Way: Santa Pau beans, flat pod beans harvested in 2006 - Fesol, or Santa Pau beans, are highly regarded in Spain. These white beans (haricots) are harvested in the town of Santa Pau and grows only on volcanic soil. Like fine wines, these beans have been awarded their own denominación de origen. At El Bulli, these beans were served to us in liquid form encased in pork fat. Here at Les Cols, they are at their original form: hearty and very filling.

A Hostel Dish: rice with squids, cock's comb, peppers, chicory - This was the specialty of the house and frankly, the dish that I have pushed to eat at Les Cols for. Just to see what cock's comb taste like. This is really a fairly simple paella dish made with squid and squid ink. What made it exotic is the addition of cock's comb and chicory. So what does cock's comb taste like? I would liken the texture to that of very tender chicken feet. It is very gelatinous and has taken the taste of the squid.

A Salted Fish Always Present in the Mountain Cuisine: cod, lettuce, tomato, cucumber, oil, salt - At a not-quite-pleasant cod dish we had earlier in the week at Sauc in Barcelona, I have become very leery of cod. In the previous version, it was very, very salted and not at all palatable. I was expecting this version to be similar. It was not! It was salted, but not salty. It mixes nice as well with the cool tomato broth, the lettuce and the diced cucumber that accompanies it.

A Warm and Seasoned Meat for Summertime: seasoned port ribs, herbs, melon, yoghurt - If the sauce was more plentiful and flavorful, this dish would probably have worked. The ribs were certainly well-cooked, it just wasn't as flavorful as I would've liked.

With the Contrast of Jams Made Here: Catalan cheeses, right to the point - Some of the Catalan cheeses we chose from the cheese cart were very pungent and strong. The taste truly lingers in your mouth. One blue cheese I tried was really quite good, but another was too strong for our taste. We were all unanimous in our love, however, for the jams that came with the cheese: apricot and orange peel marmalade, apple and aubergine jam, and watermelon and tomato jam.

With Fresh Fruits: grilled apricot, herbs juice, rosemary ice cream, biscuit - The first of our two desserts was a very light cobbler-like concoction made with grilled apricots, crumbled biscuits, and a sweet honey-like sauce and topped with a nice rosemary ice cream.

With a Product Typical from Olot: tortell with anisette, iced chamomile - The next dessert is a tart flavored with anisette, an anise-based liqueur. It is topped with granita made from chamomile tea. I love chamomile tea, so this was a nice surprise to see it served cold.

To Share: chocolate bar, an evocation to the restaurant space - The next three came together as a finale to our wonderful lunch. First is a 300g dark chocolate bar designed to look like the wall of the restaurant. At this point, it was too rich and there really aren't much left in our stomach for more. We only took a little piece of the bar and took the rest of it for later consumption.

Sweet Bread Service: cake from Els Hostalets d'en Bas, cooked in a wood oven - We also get some very nice sweet breads that taste suspiciously like bizcocho.

With the Typical Liquor from la Garrotxa: ratafia ice lolly - According to the waiter, ratafia is a liqueur that they typically drink in the Garrotxa. In addition to the the ice lollypops, they also served us the liqueur itself. It tastes like licorice and you really need to develop a taste for it because it is definitely an acquired taste.

To say the least, we never made it to Andorra. After lunch, we just headed back to Barcelona. Lunch took four hours! We left Olot, but the memories will definitely live on.