Arzak: A Rare Fine Dining Win

My faith in haute cuisine is still shaken, but this dinner did not disappoint

Chef Elena Arzak with my brother Fred and me.

I’ve eaten in many temples of haute cuisine, and I am here to say that most have left me deeply unsatisfied. A recent night at Arzak, in San Sebastian, Spain, did not. But it is the exception that proves the rule.

Ultra high-end dining tends toward the soulless. It seems needy, in a sort of look-at-me way at…