Seeing an event here is a waste of time and money, and I will never be enticed to return. I booked…read morea single ticket ($29) for the "Behind the Scenes at El Bulli" discussion featuring Ferran Adria, Lisa Abend, and Adam Gopnik. Here are my observations that should help explain why this was such an ill-considered venture on my part:
- While chef Dan Barber helped to organize the event, he was actually a no-show making for a less-than-full billing.
- The 90 minute "discussion" involved more than 30 minutes of promotional video for Ferran Adria that was ridiculous at best and certainly tiresome. The organizers certainly knew about this beforehand since they had to set up a projection screen and test out the videos. Why not properly describe the event then as 1 hour discussion plus 30 minutes of video?
- Poor moderation. In the hour where there actually was discussion, less than 5 questions were asked in total and there was no effort to really keep the speakers on topic which resulted in a 12 minute monologue about a glass of water.
- No photos, with the added warning that it "violates New York City law". Really? If this event were held a few blocks away at the 86th street Barnes and Noble, it wouldn't violate New York City law to take photos. Go figure.
- Disorganization. After the lecture, there was a book signing and it was quite difficult to figure out where to stand in line and then realize that there were actually 2 lines, one to buy books and the other to have them signed. When I asked if Ferran Adria and Lisa Abend were going to stay long enough to sign all the books, the event staff had no idea. I guess you just buy the full price books and take your chances. (Some authors won't stay until the very end.)
- Not enough books to sign. How do you have a book signing and run out of books? In all the ones I have been to around the country including one for President Bill Clinton, I have never seen this happen. I was towards the end of the line, and sure enough they ran out of BOTH books that were being signed. When I asked the staff person selling the books if they were indeed sold out, he made some awkward hand gestures and grunted something that sounded like no, which I assumed meant yes. On the way out a half hour after the event, empty-handed, I walked by all the people with 3 or 4 copies of the books. I see why they sold out. You would think they would limit 1 book per person so everyone has a chance to have a book signed, but you would be wrong.
Overall, this was just ridiculous. I could see an event of comparable quality or better at any of the bookstores in Manhattan for FREE and be guaranteed that books will be available and even have one of them signed. I did as much with Thomas Keller's cookbook for Ad Hoc and even had my photo taken with him. Why pay $29 for something that falls well short of this? Again, a waste of time and money. I'll never be back.