Sometimes during a trip, a single episode can stand head and shoulders above the rest. A beautiful palace, a breathtaking sunset, or in this case, a last minute lunch on the final afternoon before the journey home.
Eleven Madison Park is a restaurant that has undergone numerous metamorphoses throughout its relatively short existence. Originally, EMP was a successful restaurant for over a decade serving brasserie-style fare to throngs of New Yorkers. But restauranteur and owner Danny Meyer couldn’t shake that feeling that EMP could and should be more. After all, it was occupying the Metropolitan Life North Building, one of New York’s premier art deco skyscrapers. Such a venue was crying out for something a little bit more special. Eventually it was time for a rethink. Swiss Chef Daniel Humm was whipping up a proverbial storm over in San Francisco and when Meyer sampled his food, he was sure he’d found the man who could reinvent EMP. However was a far tougher job to convince Humm that New York was the place for him.
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| Outside |
Eventually Humm made the move, but early days were fraught with diffidence and frustration. There were too many covers each night and Humm found his brigade falling short of the sufficient adroitness required for his complex cuisine. Another major component fell into place when restaurant manager Will Guidara was convinced by Meyer to leave his established post at The Modern in MoMA (another cog in the well-oiled Meyer restaurant machine).
With a shared philosophy, Humm & Guidara set about laying the foundations necessary to create something special. They instilled a powerful ethos and brotherhood amongst their staff that bleeds out and is blindingly obvious as a diner. With clearly defined ambitions, EMP steadily improved its stature. A major and, in my humble opinion, genius move occurred when they spat in the face of convention and threw away the typical restaurant menu. In EMP you receive a card with a grid of single words. Each word describes the main ingredient of the course and the rest is a mystery. More on this later.
Then around 2009 or so, EMP’s reputation started to rocket and it received a four star rating in the New York Times. Then it entered Restaurant Magazine’s world awards in 2010 at 50 and last year, in 2011, in leaped all the way up to number 24. When Michelin released their 2012 guide early, in the autumn of 2011, EMP had shot up from one star right to three. Let’s not forget the host of James Beard Foundation awards that they have won. Yet the only time I could get a suitable table was early on my final afternoon. It could get pretty tight with regards to making my flight on time. But that only adds to the excitement right?
It was one of those resplendent summer days we dream of here in the UK, where the sun is shining fiercely and the city’s soul appears to be alive and dancing. As I traversed the bustling Madison Park, a tiny green oasis surrounded by a fence of concrete skyscrapers, I was hit with that sharp pang of regret and dread we all get at the end of a wonderful holiday at the thought of leaving.
Upon entering the Metropolitan Life North Building you are greeted by a gorgeous white and wooden panelled art deco dining room with green accents and huge vaulted ceilings. With sun streaming through the impressive windows, the room was dramatic to say the least. A combination of chic with a hint of opulence, without ever straying into pretentious.
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| Dining room |
We had arrived a few minutes early to see the large number of staff at the top of the dining room having, what we were told, is their daily team meeting. It was a small insight into the family ideology that has clearly been instilled at EMP.
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| Staff at their daily meeting |
We took a seat at the art deco bar and had a little chat with the bartender as he explained some of the history of the building itself. Along with the chilled music in the background I felt that I was sitting in a black and white film from the 50s.
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| Bar |
When we were eventually led to our table we were greeted by our smiley waitress and the menu was explained. On the card are sixteen main ingredients arranged in a grid format. Each row is a course and there are four options for each. According to our waitress, each dish is about 70-80% designed by the chefs, but you tell them any allergies, preferences or dislikes and they will try and tailor the dish to you. You can leave everything to the chefs or you can try and tailor your dish as much as possible, within reason (i.e. you can’t be asking for some white truffle and caviar with everything).
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| Menu |
It’s such a novel idea that I couldn’t help but feel the excitement build. Essentially you never really know exactly what’s going to be arriving at your table so immediately the guessing games begin and you know you’re in for a special experience.
Pretty soon, one by one, a trio of amuse bouche arrived. First up were warm little pillows of cheesy choux pastry known as gougères followed by an incredible ‘tomato tea’ & parmesan crisps. Essentially this was a seriously intense tomato consommé with a lemony touch and a bewitching honey and lemon fragrance provided by lemon verbena & lemon thyme.
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| Gougères |
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Tomato tea &
parmesan crisps |
Sturgeon sabayon with chive oil was playfully presented in an eggshell and was smoky, creamy and another master class in flavour concentration with dainty sturgeon pieces at the bottom.
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| Sturgeon sabayon |
Freshly baked bread and was served in little blankets, reminiscent of the way they serve it at Noma. Warm and crispy on the outside but flaky and soft on the inside, the bread was excellent and came served with both a cow’s and a goat’s milk butter.
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| Bread in its blanket |
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Cow's butter (left) &
goat's butter (right) |
When my starters arrive I’m pretty sure a little yelp of glee must have escaped my mouth. Here were two plates of food of supreme beauty. A true artist who knows how to connect with his audience at a spiritual level.
Braised octopus with chorizo crumble and paprika was married with potato, confit lemon & aioli. Chef Humm is a massive fan of his crumbles; in fact the new EMP cookbook contains a whole section devoted to them, with over 25 recipes. As a side note, I think it’s worth investing in the EMP cookbook, most people won’t be able to cook a lot of what’s in there, but it’s worth it for the sheer volume of food porn within its pages. I’ve never had octopus cooked as well as this and the chorizo crumble provided a big burst of flavour in each bite that was complemented by the slight acidity of the lemons and contrast in textures of the potatoes. Probably my favourite dish.
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Octopus braised with lemon,
chorizo & potato |
Rabbit was served as a rillette with cherries, a pistachio encrusted ball of cherry sauce, caramelised onions & mizuna (a peppery Japanese leafy vegetable) and a couple of crispy wafers of pistachio & cherry bread. When the pistachio ball was cut it yielded the wonderful dark, sharp cherry sauce within. I only had a little sample but the unctuous rabbit was an excellent partner to cherries. It’s a combination I’ve never had but it works extremely well.
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Rabbit rillette with cherries,
pistachio & pickled onion |
My brother’s seared Lou de Mer with fennel, lemon and confit cherry tomato was a clean and subtle plate but was probably the most forgetful dish of the day.
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Loup de mer seared with
fennel, tarragon & tomatos |
On the other hand my lobster lasagna with lobster and lemon verbena bisque, summer squash, zucchini and lobster oil was an exquisite rich bisque uplifted by the undertones of citrus and of course, a pasta of perfect thickness and correct daintiness.
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Lobster lasagna with
zucchini & lemon verbena |
As for the mains, both of us chose the pork so we requested for them to be different. Both were the belly and loin with a pork jus. I had mentioned that we liked chanterelle mushrooms (they were in season) so our dishes had a different accompaniment containing chanterelles.
My brother’s was a pistachio and bacon crumble, roasted apricots and spinach with fresh chanterelles. Mine was a sweetcorn and chanterelle farro ragu. Both of these were outstanding and my brother’s in particular contained a contrast of textures and flavours. However I preferred my farro ragu for its sheer depth of flavour. A little dampener was when I experienced a bit of cross-table envy at the lady on next to us. When she received her main course a little later on, her piece of pork appeared substantially larger.
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Pork roasted with apricots,
bacon, spinach & chanterelles |
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Pork roasted with farro,
sweet corn & chanterelles |
Then another little surprise came our way when the waiter wheeled over a huge trolley and made a traditional New York egg cream whilst he explained the origins of this drink. I had never seen nor heard of an egg cream before so watching the process was particularly appealing. It contained vanilla syrup, milk, a splash of olive oil (specially created for the restaurant) and soda water. I don’t now how closely this sticks to a classical egg cream recipe but it was bloody good, a weird combination of sweet, creamy bubbles.
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| Egg cream |
Now for desserts and my apricots arrived roasted with lemon thyme, olives, almond bavarois and a crumble. A refreshing combination of sweet, tangy, smooth and a little pang of salty. Olives made for an unlikely but welcome source of saccharine goodness.
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Apricot roasted with almond
bavarois & candied olives |
Chocolate was accompanied with espresso as a chocolate sorbet, espresso sponge & chocolate gianduja (sweet chocolate containing hazelnut paste) in the middle, which looked like a tubby Kit Kat. Oh and of course, more crumble.
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Chocolate gianduja with
hazelnut, espresso & caramel |
Petit fours were sunflower tuiles, earl grey and blueberry macarons & raspberry jellies. These were all pleasant without really being outstanding.
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Sunflower tuiles, earl grey &
blueberry macarons
& raspberry jellies |
Another little surprise arrived before the bill (or cheque as they'd say). A long thin box adorned with the restaurant's motif slid open to reveal a little fruit cake. My brother had told them that this was my birthday meal and this was their little treat. The dense syrupy cake was sweet but never cloying. A tasty little touch.
Then as you leave they present you with some envelopes containing your printed menus including the date and each ingredient you chose is filled in with the rest of the dish. Mine also contained a little message saying 'Happy Birthday!'. It seems as though they really do think about every detail at this place.
Service throughout our meal had been slick and personable if not slightly constrained. Each member of staff carried out different jobs in an efficient manner. I even saw waiters constructing cocktails tableside from their trolleys, which added to the theatre. There was a noticeably long time between each course, however they did ask about any particular time constraints. Despite the grand room and class of the venue, there wasn’t that distinct lack of atmosphere you often find when fine-dining. The place was full and people were not restrained in their conversation.
Eleven Madison Park is currently in experiencing a rather rapid ascent in its reputation and it’s not hard to see why. It’s unusual slant on the menu builds anticipation that is supported by service that was not overbearing. Like many fine-dining restaurants in London, it’s hard to exactly define the type of cuisine that is served here so in these situations I always give it that rather flaccid title of ‘European’. Fortunately the food I ate was anything but disappointing. Maybe I am easily pleased but when the dishes arrived, each one was alluring in its design and complex on the palate. Due to particularly dynamic nature of its menu, everyone eating at EMP at one time is likely to have a unique experience. All this resulted in a particularly memorable meal that I find rather difficult to fault.
Price: 4 course lunch $74
Where to go before/next: Fancy some leisurely sightseeing before/or after your lunch? Maybe check out the striking & unusual Flatiron Building (175 Fifth Avenue), The National Arts Club (15 Gramercy Park South) or Tibet House (22 West 15th Street). If you're feeling a bit more adventurous, the Museum of Sex is around the corner (233 Fifth Avenue), that isn't some sort of euphemism.
Location: 11 Madison Avenue, New York, NY 10010
Nearest Subway: E 23rd St Broadway
Opening Times: Lunch 12.00 - 14.00 (Mon - Fri). Dinner 17.30 - 22.00 (Mon - Sat)
