In DC, several of my favorite restaurants (Jaleo, Mini Bar, etc.) are staffed by chefs who have trained here. Open from April to October, closed on Monday and Tuesday (a chef’s weekend), El Bulli has only a very small number of reservations available per year, given the demand. Instead of charging usurious fees for their meals, they essentially have a lottery that is seems to be biased to returning customers. The email is on the web site, where they suggest requesting a reservation in ‘Mid October’. I just sent one in (again). Perhaps this year I will be lucky.