The chef Massimo Bottura is one of those food artisans who use tweezers to place a fennel frond on top of a bonsai lasagna. The menu of his 3-Michelin-star restaurant in Modena, Italy, features 10-part-course dinners worth $500 a pop. Mr. Bottura’s creations are sculptural, witty, and are meticulously laid out. But he also relies on chance. One of his famous happy accidents involves dessert.
A sous chef in the restaurant was ready to serve a tart with a luscious lemon-zabaglione filling. Plated and on his way to the table he slipped, and both tart and dish fell to the floor. The plate smashed in pieces and the tart splattered in a mass of yellow custard and crumbs.
Bottura had an epiphany. He came to the rescue, photographed the accident before it was cleaned up, and spent the next few days reconstructing the chaotic mess to the utmost detail. He even had a dishware manufacturer design a plate that had a smashed-and-put-together effect to serve the tart on. From the moment he conceived “Oops! I dropped the lemon tart,” as the dessert was baptized, it became a bestselling item in the menu. What a happy—and yummy—accident!
—Raúl Rodriguez, Prêt-à-Manger, NYC, 10.22.2018