EPISODE 1 Mark Bittman vs. Jose Andres, Zaytinya

Bittman calls star D.C. chef Jose Andres "the hyperkinetic Catalonian," and indeed this show has about as much energy as anyone can handle.

After producing a traditional paella for thirty (Bittman's dish, shrimp with rice, was less impressive in its presentation but equally legit) and gorgeous stuffed crab (Bittman responds with a nice little crab soup), and after causing Bittman to cry on screen (relax: it's only onions), Andres leads The Star to his new "MiniBar."

This is a concept not seen anywhere else: Six seats, one menu, and forty dishes, prepared by a team of three chefs right in front of the guests sushi-bar-style. It's ten in the morning, and Andres starts serving Bittman bizarre creations one after the other: tomato seeds, cotton candy-wrapped foie gras, deconstructed meat-and-potatoes. Can he survive this feat of eating? He does, and even responds by demonstrating to Mr. Andres that he has a few Spanish licks of his own.


MEET THE CHEF Jose Andres

Jose Andres

José Andrés is an internationally recognized culinary innovator who is widely credited with bringing the small plates concept to the United States. Andrés has made a mark on the way Americans eat today.

Every weekend, millions of Spaniards invite Andrés into their home where he is the popular host of "Vamos a cocinar" a food program on Television Espańola, Spanish national television. The program will also begin airing in markets across Latin America later in 2005.

Andrés' eagerly anticipated first cookbook, Tapas: A Taste of Spain in America, will soon be published by Clarkson Potter. While there have been several volumes published in the past on Spanish cooking, Tapas is the first book by an actual working chef. Tapas will hit bookstores across the country in the fall of 2005.

Throughout his career, Andrés' vision and imaginative creations have drawn the praise of the public, the press and his peers. Bon Appetit magazine named Andrés Chef of the Year in the fall of 2004 and Food & Wine included Andrés in their 35 under 35 Tastemakers list for 2004. Saveur included Andrés on their 2004 Saveur 100 list, noting that he "represents the broad spectrum of Spanish (and Hispanic) cooking from ancient traditions to the fantasies reminiscent of El Bulli, where he once worked, better than anyone else in America today." In 2003, Andrés won the James Beard Foundation's Best Chef of the Mid-Atlantic Region. Earlier in his career, Andrés was nominated for the James Beard Rising Star Chef of the Year Award. In her annual list of her 50 Favorite Restaurants, former Washington Post critic Phyllis Richman posed a rhetorical question: "If José Andrés is cooking this exquisitely at age 29, what will he be doing by 35? " In 1999, Wine Spectator magazine named Andrés as one of the "Rising Stars of American Cuisine". After dining at Andrés' Café Atlantico, the Wine Advocate's Robert Parker deemed it one of the best meals of the year. Former President Bill Clinton termed Andrés "one of the premier young chefs in America". In addition, Andrés has been featured in leading food magazines such as Gourmet as well as Fox Sunday Morning News with Chris Wallace, the Food Network, the New York Times and USA Today.

Born in 1969 in Mieres, a town in the northern Spanish province of Asturias, Andrés displayed a talent and passion for cooking at an early age. After getting his start tending paellas for his family, Andrés decided to make to cooking his life's work at age 15. Encouraged by his father and undeterred by the fact the age for admission was actually 18, Andrés enrolled at the renowned Escuela de Restauracio I Hostalatge of Barcelona. From 1985 to 1988, he acquired practical experience by working in several Michelin starred restaurants including El Bulli, one of the few restaurants outside of France to be awarded three stars in the Michelin Guide. There, Andrés came under the tutelage of world renowned Master Chef Ferrán Adriá who remains a major influence.

In 1991, Andrés moved to New York City to work at the Barcelona-based restaurant El Dorado Petit. In 1993, Andrés moved to Washington, DC, to head the kitchen at Jaleo. From there, Andrés took on executive chef responsibilities at neighboring Café Atlantico and Zaytinya. In July of 2003, Andrés embarked on his most adventurous project to date with the opening of the minibar by josé andrés at Café Atlantico. A six-seat restaurant within a restaurant, minibar by josé andrés continues to attract international attention with its innovative tasting menu. In the fall of 2004, Andrés opened a third Jaleo and Oyamel, an authentic Mexican small plates restaurant and launched the THINKfoodTANK, an institution devoted to the research and development of ideas about food, all with a view toward their practical applications in the kitchen.

When he is not in the kitchen or in front of television cameras, Andrés serves on the board of DC Central Kitchen, is a contributing editor to Food Arts and is an enthusiastic promoter of the Washington restaurant scene. He lives in Washington with his wife Patricia and their three daughters.