In the realm of making a night feel special, Eleven Madison knocks it right out of the park (albeit a park much larger than its little namesake). Everything is at a calm, relaxed pace that once you sit down at your table, you feel as if it’s yours for the rest of the night. The food is inventive and interesting new presentations of classic dishes. All four of the courses we had were extremely good and the majority of them made lasting impressions. The food definitely would stand out on its own but with the level of service the experience was raised to a whole new level.
The Executive Chef is Daniel Humm, and his concept is a grid menu that lists only the primary ingredient of every choice. For each of the four courses, you have four choices so the menu looks like a little square grid of words. After you order, the waiter asks if there is anything that you aren’t fond of so that they can tailor your dishes around your likes/dislikes. You can also opt for a larger chef tasting menu, but honestly there was plenty of food in the four course menu that more is unnecessary. We also did the wine pairing, which was definitely one of the best values of wine pairings I’ve ever had. We had two drinks prior to the first course, and then we had a glass with each course including dessert. All of the pairings were spot-on and each wine was immensely interesting and thoughtful.
Not only were there two drinks before our first course, but there were three rounds of small appetite teasers from the kitchen. The first were airy gougeres, mushroom tea with lemon verbena and toasted truffle brioche. The gourgeres were wonderful, but we both were not fond of the brioche toasts and the topping that had a dry, unpleasant texture. The next round of bites was scallop ceviche with blood orange presented in a scallop shell and raw tuna with pepper and basil powder. Both of these were awesome. The third round of little bites was a yogurt pop with fried fennel seeds and madras curry powder coated in goat’s milk butter and then a little piece of fried fish with aioli. The presentation on all of these was gorgeous and playful, right down to with the pops sticking out of a vase with tall grass.
After these three bites, the bread arrived with a choice of cow’s or goat’s milk butter. The bread was extraordinary with no other way to describe it other than to say it was a warm and buttery bread/croissant hybrid.
And then our meal began. I believe we had been there for over an hour at this point! My first course was fluke. The fluke preparation that evening was fluke carpaccio with dried apples, celery, and chives. I adored the thin slices of melt in your mouth fluke with the apple flavor. My friend’s first course was the Langoustine with green apple and celeriac. This was extremely tender and the flavors were outstanding. We both agreed though that the fluke was the better dish.
For my second course I chose the endive with truffle, egg yolk, and pear. I can’t even begin to describe how wonderful this insanely tender endive was. I find it incredibly impressive when a chef can make vegetables taste this amazing. My friend chose the Loup de Mer, which was okay but a bit on the disappointing side as none of the flavors really tasted like they came together.
The third course for my friend was sous vide guinea fowl with salsify puree and jus. This was another wow dish. The fowl was so tender and paired sensationally well with the fabulous salsify puree. I love salsify and think it is one of the most under-used vegetables out there. My third course was pork with roasted plum, onion soubise, and amoretti crumbs. The pork was incredibly tender, the onion soubise was buttery fabulousness, and the almond flavored crumbs added such a nice sweet, nutty layer of flavor.
After our final savory course, our waiter rolled over a little cart and proceeded to mix up a homemade orange egg cream for us. He explained that the restaurant likes to take old fashioned New York hometown favs and bring them back. Well, if they keep serving these, there is no doubt in my mind that the egg cream will make a rapid comeback.
For the dessert course, my friend had the Pistachio that was a Pistachio cheesecake with pistachio sponge cakes, grape sorbet, and pistachio crumble. I had the Chocolate which was Hazelnut mousse coated in guandija chocolate atop a bed of caramel crumble served with espresso ice cream and sponge. The pistachio won the dessert war hands down. I thought the chocolate dessert was good, but there was something missing from it for me. On the other hand, the pistachio had everything and I couldn’t get enough of the grape sorbet.
Then the absolute best part of the evening arrived. My friend and I were invited back to the kitchen for a tour. The kitchen was immaculate and exuded an absolute state of calm and efficiency. We were brought to a station where we could watch everything while someone made a cocktail using liquid nitrogen for us. I can’t remember 100% what it consisted of but there were diced apples, some frozen apple brandy, and some sort of foam made into a ball in the liquid nitrogen. It was awesome. They also let us flip through a copy of their brand new cookbook, which is just as beautiful as everything else that night and now on my Christmas wish list.
When they brought us back to our table they left a bottle of cognac for us to sip as much of as we wanted at our leisure. The petit fours that night were a fruit gelee with chocolate, a raspberry linzer tart, pistachio and rose macaroon, and a lemon shortbread tart. The standouts of these were the raspberry tart and the lemon shortbread tart which were both awesome. As we paid our bill, they presented us with envelopes that had the menu and the full explanation and paired wine for the dishes we ordered and also left me with a jar of granola and explained that they give one to every woman that dines with them. I finished my jar the other day and its one of many reasons I want to go back to Eleven Madison.
Find a reason to go
The Executive Chef is Daniel Humm, and his concept is a grid menu that lists only the primary ingredient of every choice. For each of the four courses, you have four choices so the menu looks like a little square grid of words. After you order, the waiter asks if there is anything that you aren’t fond of so that they can tailor your dishes around your likes/dislikes. You can also opt for a larger chef tasting menu, but honestly there was plenty of food in the four course menu that more is unnecessary. We also did the wine pairing, which was definitely one of the best values of wine pairings I’ve ever had. We had two drinks prior to the first course, and then we had a glass with each course including dessert. All of the pairings were spot-on and each wine was immensely interesting and thoughtful.
Not only were there two drinks before our first course, but there were three rounds of small appetite teasers from the kitchen. The first were airy gougeres, mushroom tea with lemon verbena and toasted truffle brioche. The gourgeres were wonderful, but we both were not fond of the brioche toasts and the topping that had a dry, unpleasant texture. The next round of bites was scallop ceviche with blood orange presented in a scallop shell and raw tuna with pepper and basil powder. Both of these were awesome. The third round of little bites was a yogurt pop with fried fennel seeds and madras curry powder coated in goat’s milk butter and then a little piece of fried fish with aioli. The presentation on all of these was gorgeous and playful, right down to with the pops sticking out of a vase with tall grass.
After these three bites, the bread arrived with a choice of cow’s or goat’s milk butter. The bread was extraordinary with no other way to describe it other than to say it was a warm and buttery bread/croissant hybrid.
And then our meal began. I believe we had been there for over an hour at this point! My first course was fluke. The fluke preparation that evening was fluke carpaccio with dried apples, celery, and chives. I adored the thin slices of melt in your mouth fluke with the apple flavor. My friend’s first course was the Langoustine with green apple and celeriac. This was extremely tender and the flavors were outstanding. We both agreed though that the fluke was the better dish.
For my second course I chose the endive with truffle, egg yolk, and pear. I can’t even begin to describe how wonderful this insanely tender endive was. I find it incredibly impressive when a chef can make vegetables taste this amazing. My friend chose the Loup de Mer, which was okay but a bit on the disappointing side as none of the flavors really tasted like they came together.
The third course for my friend was sous vide guinea fowl with salsify puree and jus. This was another wow dish. The fowl was so tender and paired sensationally well with the fabulous salsify puree. I love salsify and think it is one of the most under-used vegetables out there. My third course was pork with roasted plum, onion soubise, and amoretti crumbs. The pork was incredibly tender, the onion soubise was buttery fabulousness, and the almond flavored crumbs added such a nice sweet, nutty layer of flavor.
After our final savory course, our waiter rolled over a little cart and proceeded to mix up a homemade orange egg cream for us. He explained that the restaurant likes to take old fashioned New York hometown favs and bring them back. Well, if they keep serving these, there is no doubt in my mind that the egg cream will make a rapid comeback.
For the dessert course, my friend had the Pistachio that was a Pistachio cheesecake with pistachio sponge cakes, grape sorbet, and pistachio crumble. I had the Chocolate which was Hazelnut mousse coated in guandija chocolate atop a bed of caramel crumble served with espresso ice cream and sponge. The pistachio won the dessert war hands down. I thought the chocolate dessert was good, but there was something missing from it for me. On the other hand, the pistachio had everything and I couldn’t get enough of the grape sorbet.
Then the absolute best part of the evening arrived. My friend and I were invited back to the kitchen for a tour. The kitchen was immaculate and exuded an absolute state of calm and efficiency. We were brought to a station where we could watch everything while someone made a cocktail using liquid nitrogen for us. I can’t remember 100% what it consisted of but there were diced apples, some frozen apple brandy, and some sort of foam made into a ball in the liquid nitrogen. It was awesome. They also let us flip through a copy of their brand new cookbook, which is just as beautiful as everything else that night and now on my Christmas wish list.
When they brought us back to our table they left a bottle of cognac for us to sip as much of as we wanted at our leisure. The petit fours that night were a fruit gelee with chocolate, a raspberry linzer tart, pistachio and rose macaroon, and a lemon shortbread tart. The standouts of these were the raspberry tart and the lemon shortbread tart which were both awesome. As we paid our bill, they presented us with envelopes that had the menu and the full explanation and paired wine for the dishes we ordered and also left me with a jar of granola and explained that they give one to every woman that dines with them. I finished my jar the other day and its one of many reasons I want to go back to Eleven Madison.
Find a reason to go
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