Eleven Madison Park

[Sneakeater]

And if that's my only real complaint about this place . . . .

[rich]

Having read rich's "service" thread, I realize that what I commented on, with respect to EMP, was more the style of service than the quality of service.  This is a Danny Meyer restaurant, for God's sake.  There's no question of being ignored or left waiting or not having your needs graciously attended to.  His places are known for top-notch service, and this place is at least as good as the rest of them.

What bothered me (and I don't want to make a big deal about it; it hardly ruined my meal, and I'm certainly going back) was how informal the service was.  Everything that needed to be done was done, but it was all very casual (in the Danny Meyer style).  I said I was surprised to be complaining about that, because usually it's my preference.  But this food was so formal -- it's nothing like what's ever been served in any Danny Meyer restaurant, at least in my experience -- that I thought it warranted a more formal level of service.  I think Country gets that kind of service exactly right.  It isn't overdone, it doesn't seem fake, but the waitstaff is very deferential to the patrons (in a way that the friendly, chatty servers at EMP just aren't), and seem almost in hushed awe of the kitchen (and "hushed awe" is exactly what the kitchen at EMP -- unlike Country -- deserves).

I think what's driving this for me is that I think that eating food this extraordinarily good (or that's extraordinarily good in this particular way) should seem like more of an event.  The service at EMP is just too casual for the food they serve.

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I understand what you're saying SE, but that's why we celebrate "vive la difference" (sp?).

I totally enjoy the laid back service at EMP, while the formal service at Per Se was the only problem I had there.

The hushed tones of PS reminded me of my altar boy days when I was serving a funeral mass - eveything seemed so solemn. I was waiting for someone to start a rendition of "Amazing Grace." That's the type of service I totally dislike.

Everyone has their preferences.

[Nathan]

Sneakeater:

I wonder what you would think of the service at Alinea.

It's somewhere between Meyer-esque informality and four-star haute.

[BryanZ]

Yes, Nathan, that's a great way to portray the service at Alinea. But the food at EMP is more traditionally elegant than at Alinea, thus demanding perhaps more "traditional" multi-star service.

Just a thought.

[Sneakeater]

Interesting that Platt didn't seem to be totally gaga over EMP in this week's New York Mag.

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Yeah, but I thought the key passage from Platt's review was the following:

"The kind of showy, even effete, cooking Mr. Humm practices isn’t for ­everyone, of course. The comforting beef ­haunches and pig’s knuckles once on the menu have been banished, replaced by precious-sounding constructions . . . ."

I actually share Platt's basic preference (or do I mean prejudice) myself. But clearly what Daniel Humm is doing isn't the kind of thing Platt is going to get most excited about.

Edited August 22, 2006 by Sneakeater (log)

[Chefmara]

too bad every single last line cook (including me) quit except one because of the new chef.  and the waitstaff now hate their job.

you may be impressed by trendy food on limoges plates, but maybe you should be aware of the costs of the bullshit.

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This is possibly interesting, but you really have to back this up.

What is making people leave?

The wait staff that served me a month ago were revelling in serving and describing my 8 course suprise meal - and trust me I know they were not acting.

I met and chatted with the chef for some 15 minutes - we had a candid exchange regarding the food and some common acquaintances - I did not get the impression it was unhappy ship.

Do share please Chefboy.

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Some of the best actors in all of NYC *ARE* servers.

11MP is no exception.

[Chefmara]

So...if we want attention to details...what would be the better detail in your mind?

Napkin foldage OR salt on the table?

When I see salt on the table, I get tingly all over!

[Champagne Sadie]

When I see salt on the table, I get tingly all over!

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In a good or bad way?

Personally, I don't like seasoning on the table in a high end restaurant. I'm hoping that the chef has prepared the meal exactly as it should be eaten.

My experience of 11 Mad over the last 5 months has been very positive.

[Chefmara]

When I see salt on the table, I get tingly all over!

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In a good or bad way?

Personally, I don't like seasoning on the table in a high end restaurant. I'm hoping that the chef has prepared the meal exactly as it should be eaten.

My experience of 11 Mad over the last 5 months has been very positive.

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In a good way. Not all palates are created equal.

I believe a Chef who's ok with salt at the table is confident that his food is pretty darn good. And it's there for those freaks who like to oversalt their things. I don't think it takes away from the quality of a restaurant to have salt/pepper @ the table.

The reason I get tingly all over is because I have had so MANY experiences where cooks have such bad abilities to season, that things are worse than bland. So you're stuck eating as it is.

But there are places where the food has been on the money, and no salt on the table is more than fine.

I would just rather have the ability to add some if it's needed, and as a cook/manager, I'd like others to have the same ability available to them.

[Nishla]

Last night we had a fantastic meal at EMP.

We were more than 30 minutes late for our 6pm reservation because we got stuck in traffic, and had a cab driver who apparently doesn't know how to drive in NY. (Note to self: next time you're getting in a cab and the previous occupants say "make sure you give this guy directions," find another cab).

We called the restaurant to say we were running late, and they saved our table. For dinner, we ordered the gourmand tasting menu with wine pairings:

Amuses

Hors d'oeuvres were similar to those described previously--clam in saffron gelee, sweetbread cornet, tuna roulade on fennel, and goat cheese sandwich. These were nice starters, each very different.

Langoustines in a bouillabaisse gelee with peekytoe crabmeat and caviar served with a manzanilla sherry, la Guitana. Yummy. A nice light starter, and the sherry (almost colorless) matched very well. I think there was dill and saffron in the gelee, which went well with the seafood.

Diver scallops and lobster ceviche with orange and tarragon, with fennel/radish salad. Served with a cold sake (can't remember the brand). The seafood was barely "cooked" in the citrus, with a great texture and orange flavor. The sake was just a touch sweet and fruity--good match.

Fantasy of Eggs

Egg yolk cooked in the shell with sea urchin and cauliflower foams and caviar. Served with champagne Geoffroy. The flavors in this were SO good, but the egg was slightly overcooked (definitely into soft-boiled range instead of runny). The champagne really brought out the sea urchin and cauliflower flavors.

Turbot

Slow cooked in saffron fumet, with mussel and scallop coquillage, topped with zucchini to look like scales. Wine was a chateauneuf du pape white, roussane grape. I thought this was the most beautiful dish, but the least interesting in terms of flavor. The broth was tasty, the fish was perfectly cooked, but no wow factor (compared to the other dishes).

Lobster

Poached in orange carrot nage, with fried ginger. Served with 1994 German riesling. This was my favorite dish of the night, partially because of the wine pairing. Each of the flavors came through extremely well, and the wine really heightened the dish and made the ginger flavor really explode. It was nice to have an aged riesling too--the color was golden, and the flavor had much more depth than typical young rieslings.

Foie gras

Seared, topped with spice cookie crumble, served with banyuls poached apple and red wine poached apple puree. Wine was a sweet chenin blanc. This was probably the least successful dish of the evening. I couldn't taste the cookies at all, and the apple didn't have a great flavor.

Supreme de volail

poached with black truffles, with sliced truffles also under the skin. Served with celery root puree, and diced truffles and celery root. Wine was a very funky 2002 gevry chambertin with notes of agave and pine. Before serving this dish, two servers came to the table with the whole pot of chicken, opened the lid, and let us see and smell the whole supreme. The plated dish was really tasty, and the wine was incredible with it.

Fromage

Lynnhaven chevre with capezzana olive oil and pickled chantarelles. Served with vin jaune, which was almost like a dry sherry. I LOVE goat cheese, and the mushrooms were an interesting touch.

Dessert amuse

Concord grape sorbet and jelly and cheesecake ice cream with crispy meringue sticks. YUM.

Chocolate-hazelnut

Souffle with gianduja ganache and espresso bean ice cream. Served with vin santo. This was a really good chocolate dessert, and the ice cream was fabulous. I was pretty stuffed by this point, and couldn't even finish the dessert!

Mignardises

Overall, this was an extremely good meal. I was really pleased with the wine pairings and most of the dishes were very well executed. The service was generally very good, with a couple minor problems. Our server got the order of dishes mixed up at one point and described the wrong one. Also, my husband is allergic to peanuts (not too severely), which we mentioned to the server, but one of the mignardises had some peanut butter inside. It wasn't enough to make my husband sick (just tingly, itchy mouth), but it was a mistake that could have been much more serious if he were more severely allergic.

Also, the woman serving the table next to us might be the most patient person in the world. It was a table of four patrons who complained about absolutely everything. They needed each dish described multiple times, then sent back a bunch of stuff because it wasn't exactly what they wanted. They were incredibly unpleasant, but the waitress graciously accommodated all their requests.

[Pan]

My brother and I are taking our mother out to 11 Madison Park on Tuesday night for her birthday. My mother looked at the menu online and likes many of the dishes on the Aquatic Tasting Menu but eats only seafood (certain kinds, at that) and not fish. Also, the tasting menu has to be for the whole table. Do you think they'd be willing to give her some dishes from the tasting menu as a supplement to the prix fixe? Given the various dietary restrictions for health reasons and things that family members just don't eat for whatever reason, I doubt a tasting menu will be feasible (unless perhaps if we called in advance to give a list of specific ingredients and paid extra). So I think it'll be the prix fixe. Any words of wisdom? I'm very much looking forward to the meal, as I told the reservationist who called me to confirm this afternoon.

Oh, I just remembered: The Muscovy Duck, which is for two, looked good to my mother. Pardon me if it's already been mentioned in this thread, but have any of you had it, and is it as good as it sounds?

Edited October 23, 2006 by Pan (log)

[Pan]

OK, I'm too tired and tipsy to make a full report, but after being one of a party of four, all having prix fixe menus (too many of us couldn't eat some of the dishes in the tasting menus), I have to wonder what the big deal is. I liked 11 Madison Park before Chef Humm was hired. I had very high expectations for tonight's dinner, and they were not met. The desserts were great and the highlight of the meal. The wine pairings the sommelier recommended were also excellent. The service was extremely slow (we waited at least an hour by the clock for the appetizers to arrive). Nothing was bad, but I fully expect that my meal at Hearth on Friday will be a lot more impressive. I will elaborate soon.

[Pan]

I was about 15 minutes into writing a more elaborate reply when my idiot colleague closed the window!

So where was I?

7:45 reservation.

1st batch of amuses - just OK, I thought; nothing very memorable. I liked the hamachi amuse best, probably.

2nd amuse (served at approximately 8:36) - delicious, reminiscent of Vongerichten's work at JoJo 15 years ago, I thought. Broth richly redolent of vegetable essences including tomato, parsnip, and carrot, mussel.

Bread - very nice. Favorites: Olive bread; nutty multigrain bread which was charred just the right amount.

Appetizers:

Me: Consomme of Hawaiian Blue Prawns and Maine Diver Scallop with Green Apples and Ginger. Very much influenced by Tom Yong Goong (Thai shrimp soup w/o coconut milk) but by no means a takeoff. Contained kaffir lime leaves and (presumably kaffir) lime juice. Very nice.

Parents: Salad of Peekytoe Crab. They liked it but weren't blown away.

Brother: Terrine of Foie Gras with Port Gelee. (Also came with foie gras creme brulee.) He would have preferred just seared foie gras and found the dish a little sweeter than he would have liked, but it tasted good. The foie gras creme brulee was a nice touch.

Mains:

Me: Slow Cooked Loup de Mer with Broccoli Puree, Hazelnut Emulsion and Chanterelles. Sounds good, right? Well, it was fine but not really memorable.

Father: Black Angus Tenderloin "Poele'" with Braised Oxtail and Sauce Bordelaise. My father liked the steak, didn't like the stewy oxtail/vegetable mixture. The rest of us did. I thought this dish was great.

Mother and brother: Lobster, which they liked (I didn't try any).

Dessert:

Me, Mother, Brother: Chocolate-Hazelnut Souffle' with Gianduja Ganache and Espresso Bean Ice Cream. Lovely! It came with a tasty (non-alcoholic) shot of a hazelnut drink. The ice cream was a strong coffee flavor, accompanied by ground coffee beans. The souffle' was more in the nature of a molten chocolate cake, at least to my palate, but a very good one at that.

Father: Sheep's Milk Yogurt Cheesecake with Roasted Pineapple, Kaffir Lime and Frozen Coconut. I didn't get a try of this, but my father was less thrilled with his dessert than we were with ours.

Post-Dessert: Wonderful chocolate truffles, very concentrated pates de fruit (guava, I believe), buttery chocolate fudge.

They were kind enough to give me half-pours of wine for pairings with the appetizer and main. The pairing with the appetizer was a truly delicious wine, Wegeler, Wehlener Sonnenuhr, Spaetlese, 1994. I also really liked the pairing with the main. Unfortunately, I can't find it on the online wine list and didn't write the name down. So if I remember, I'll come back to this thread and post the name.

Other than the really overly slow service, there was nothing wrong with the meal; it just didn't meet the very high expectations I had and didn't feel like a good value because of that. I was expecting a memorable meal, and was instead left with one memorable amuse, perhaps, memorable desserts, and great wine pairings. I would definitely come back to sit at the bar and have dessert with a wine pairing, but I think I will have to look elsewhere for a truly sublime meal.

Edited October 25, 2006 by Pan (log)

[Joe Gerard]

b

I was about 15 minutes into writing a more elaborate reply when my idiot colleague closed the window!

So where was I?

7:45 reservation.

1st batch of amuses - just OK, I thought; nothing very memorable. I liked the hamachi amuse best, probably.

2nd amuse (served at approximately 8:36) - delicious, reminiscent of Vongerichten's work at JoJo 15 years ago, I thought. Broth richly redolent of vegetable essences including tomato, parsnip, and carrot, mussel.

Bread - very nice. Favorites: Olive bread; nutty multigrain bread which was charred just the right amount.

Appetizers:

Me: Consomme of Hawaiian Blue Prawns and Maine Diver Scallop with Green Apples and Ginger. Very much influenced by Tom Yong Goong (Thai shrimp soup w/o coconut milk) but by no means a takeoff. Contained kaffir lime leaves and (presumably kaffir) lime juice. Very nice.

Parents: Salad of Peekytoe Crab. They liked it but weren't blown away.

Brother: Terrine of Foie Gras with Port Gelee. (Also came with foie gras creme brulee.) He would have preferred just seared foie gras and found the dish a little sweeter than he would have liked, but it tasted good. The foie gras creme brulee was a nice touch.

Mains:

Me: Slow Cooked Loup de Mer with Broccoli Puree, Hazelnut Emulsion and Chanterelles. Sounds good, right? Well, it was fine but not really memorable.

Father: Black Angus Tenderloin "Poele'" with Braised Oxtail and Sauce Bordelaise. My father liked the steak, didn't like the stewy oxtail/vegetable mixture. The rest of us did. I thought this dish was great.

Mother and brother: Lobster, which they liked (I didn't try any).

Dessert:

Me, Mother, Brother: Chocolate-Hazelnut Souffle' with Gianduja Ganache and Espresso Bean Ice Cream. Lovely! It came with a tasty (non-alcoholic) shot of a hazelnut drink. The ice cream was a strong coffee flavor, accompanied by ground coffee beans. The souffle' was more in the nature of a molten chocolate cake, at least to my palate, but a very good one at that.

Father: Sheep's Milk Yogurt Cheesecake with Roasted Pineapple, Kaffir Lime and Frozen Coconut. I didn't get a try of this, but my father was less thrilled with his dessert than we were with ours.

Post-Dessert: Wonderful chocolate truffles, very concentrated pates de fruit (guava, I believe), buttery chocolate fudge.

They were kind enough to give me half-pours of wine for pairings with the appetizer and main. The pairing with the appetizer was a truly delicious wine, Wegeler, Wehlener Sonnenuhr, Spaetlese, 1994. I also really liked the pairing with the main. Unfortunately, I can't find it on the online wine list and didn't write the name down. So if I remember, I'll come back to this thread and post the name.

Other than the really overly slow service, there was nothing wrong with the meal; it just didn't meet the very high expectations I had and didn't feel like a good value because of that. I was expecting a memorable meal, and was instead left with one memorable amuse, perhaps, memorable desserts, and great wine pairings. I would definitely come back to sit at the bar and have dessert with a wine pairing, but I think I will have to look elsewhere for a truly sublime meal.

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I had dinner at 11MP last night, and while I didn't love every dish, the hits outweighed the misses for me. One of the highlights was the first set of amuses. The tuna roulade with fennel, the goat cheese napolean and particularly the sweetbread/chives cornet were outstanding. The latter, if sold by the bag, could replace every snack food known to man. The second amuse, small mussels served in a carrot nage, was extremely flavorful but very, very sweet, and this is where the trouble set in for me.

My next course was the Foie Gras Terrine with Port Gelee, Raisins and Hazelnuts. There was a second layer of gelee sandwiched in the middle of the terrine, and as a result it also was very sweet, tasting disturbingly like a brownie. Now I like brownies, but by this point in the meal I felt like I had already had dessert. The Foie Gras creme brulee that accompanied the terrine was very good, by far the best version of this dish I have had. My wife's appetizer, the Consomme of Hawaiian Blue Prawn and Main Diver Scallop, was a nice dish but not very exciting.

The entrees were clearly the highlight of the meal. The suckling pig confit with its crackling skin was simply amazing. Its apparent simplicity on the plate does not do justice to the concept and execution of the dish. The Poached Organic Poularde "En Consomme" with Black Truffle Mousseline was also terrific. The texture of the chicken managed to be firm and meltingly tender at the same time. The truffles under the skin and the intense consomme were sublime. This was a beautiful, refined dish.

We added a cheese course of three selections from Switzerland including a runny, unctous Vacherin. Desserts were the Caramel Coulant with Raspberries and Salted Caramel Ice Cream and the Chocolate-Hazelnut Souffle with Gianduja Ganache and Expresso Bean Ice Cream. The little caramel cake was slightly overbaked so its center did not run at all when cut into. The souffle was lovely but was baked in what is basically an oversized shot glass so there wasn't much of it.

This is indicative of what I like to call "The Incredible Shrinking Dessert Syndrome". If desserts get any smaller in NYC restaurants the staff will have to hand out magnifying glasses to every patron upon entrance.

This leads me to the overall question of portion size. With the exception of the chicken, every dish was the size of a tasting portion, as others have pointed out. If you want to leave full, make sure you have plenty of bread, and add some cheese, or order the tasting menu.

Finally, I would like to know if anyone else found the dishes to be served much less hot than one would usually find. Many dishes were served with consommes, and they were warm, not hot. I believe this was intentional, not a serving or timing issue, as many dishes were served this way.

All in all, certainly a quirky meal but I would definetly return.

[Sneakeater]

http://nymag.com/daily/food/2006/11/nicole...dison_park.html

???????????????????????????????????????????????

[Pan]

That's a big loss, since the desserts are the best thing there.

[docsconz]

Kaplan says that wherever she goes, she plans on sticking to her style, which she describes as "three- or four-star comfort food." "Dessert tastes don't really change over time. Nobody is looking to eat a dessert they have to think about," she says.

While that is the safe road and I can't argue with her decision, I don't agree with her assertion. There will always be a market for relatively safe desserts that are well-prepared and tasty, but that doesn't mean that what is considered safe and tasty doesn't evolve over time.

[raji]

Regarding her comfort food comment - actually I was getting kind of sick of the trend of paying more and more for mac and cheese and grilled cheese and tuna melts...

[Sethro]

I don't think comfort food can be "three or four star", nor should it ever command fine dining prices. That's not a knock on her stuff at all, which in my opinion is way beyond comfort food anyhow. Pop rock foam, cornbread ice cream, chocolate shooters--this is kind of modern stuff.

[DutchMuse]

I think this is just further refining of the restaurant's vision after Chef Humm has arrived. I always enjoyed the desserts there but he may want to bring in his own person, I'm not sure. Part of the whole re-organization I bet.

[Luckylies]

yayyyy!!!!! N.K was too hot for that place!!!!!!!!!!! best wishes!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Tell us where you'll go????!!!!!

My last meal at EMP was sooooo long and soooooo slow (too slow) that it was hard to eat dessert at the end...

I can't wait to be fully upright for your desserts!

and to everyone else...what do you think will come next?

hyper-modern ye old tyme americana.

[raji]

Dessert should = Concrete at adjacent Shake Shack. All the money is going to the same place anyways... they should make a separate line for shakes!

[alanamoana]

Dessert should = Concrete at adjacent Shake Shack. All the money is going to the same place anyways... they should make a separate line for shakes!

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they do have a separate line for some stuff. don't know if shakes are part of the "short line". but it doesn't seem to work because people can't be bothered to read...

[raji]

I know and you'd think they would with all that spare time on line...

[Nina C.]

I went to EMP for Brunch today for the express purpose of tasting Nicole Kaplan's desserts again before she moves on.

I have a huge sweet tooth, so I decided to be a rebel and bookend my meal with sugar. No salad for me to start, instead I had the rich hot chocolate, served with a quenelle of vanilla bean whipped cream, a small homemade marshmellow and a chocolate macaroon. Although the macaroon was just slightly on the dry side, it worked with the salted caramel filling.

They brought around a "bread basket" which we agreed was a surprise highlight of the meal. Flaky tender croissants, deeply caramelized canneles, and small strawberry and almond croissants. There was also a bread of some sort.

Next, I had the "slow cooked dayboat Chatham Cod with violet artichokes and pancetta." This was a dream - the fish was cooked perfectly, delicate and fresh, and far more flavorful than cod usually is. While the crispy artichokes on top, and sauteed artichokes underneath were nice, it was the deeply-flavored and well-salted artichoke foam that made the dish so memorable. The sprinkle of diced pancetta was more of seasoning than ingredient, which allowed the fish to shine.

My sweetie had the eggs benedict with buttermilk biscuits and pancetta. This was perfectly cooked, quality ingredients and the pancetta/biscuit combo was a nice twist on the usual, but at the end of the day it was still eggs benedict - not so much to say.

Then for dessert we had the "honey crisp apple french toast with bacon streusel and maple pecan ice cream" and "araguani chocolate souffle with caramel popcorn and salted caramel ice cream." The french toast was more like toastlets - little postage-stamps of almond topped brioche with caramelized coins of apple, a quenelle of the icecream, and a warm bourbon sauce along side. There was just a tiny sprinkle of the "bacon streusel" and it was a little weak for my taste. On it's own you could taste the bacon, but it didn't seem to add anything when paired with the other components. Certainly a pleasant dessert - the unadvertised bourbon sauce added a good bit of depth and interest to it.

But the souffle was the more overly successful dessert. The star of the show was the salted caramel ice cream with beautiful nuggets of salt throughout it. The souffle was lovely - the waiter instructed us to poke a hole in it and then pour the accompanying dark caramel sauce over it. I was pleased to see the contrast of caramels - the ice cream was light and sweet, the sauce was dark, slightly bitter, and a good match to the intensity of the chocolate.

Interesting to note: the hostess told me that Nicole Kaplan's successor will be her second-in-command, a woman whose name is escaping me at the moment. I'm wondering if this is a permanent replacement, or a stopgap measure until they find a bigger name.