New York, New York

Eleven Madison Park
11 Madison Ave (at 24th St)
New York, NY 10010
212-889-0905

A couple of months ago, at dinner with my team from work, we happened upon the conversation topic of restaurants in New York. None of us lived there, and at an hour’s drive Michael was probably the closest, but the common consensus was – for fear of stating the obvious – that New York offered dining options that were far superior to our respective cities. I love DC, but in my opinion it just cannot compare. The sheer quantity and quality of fine dining in a city where everyone is a gourmand is something worth celebrating. So we decided that since we would find ourselves in the city in two weeks, we would throw caution to the wind, and go out for a nice meal.

I was charged with the task of picking a place, and to be honest I probably spent more time thinking about it than necessary. It was kind of like picking your fantasy baseball team, or your March Madness bracket. You check your watch and suddenly it’s four o’clock and you are nowhere near a decision. The occasion – and, more importantly, our budget – did not warrant a trip to one of the “holy quartet”: Per Se, Le Bernardin, Alain Ducasse or Daniel, but everything else was on the table, pardon the pun.

The list was long and distinguished, and I could fill pages upon pages just writing about my decision process, but that wouldn’t be very exciting, would it? Suffice to say that we wound up going to Eleven Madison Park. I had heard good things about it especially after the arrival of Daniel Humm as head chef, and the space was supposed to be excellent. It had not been my first choice but life is full of compromises. You do what you can and you do what you must, and you try not to lose too much of yourself along the way. In this case I hardly lost much by making this compromise.

I arrived on time, which as I have said many times before and will no doubt do so many times again, is early by my company standards. Very early, in fact. I had time for a pre-dinner glass of wine and opted for a glass of the house Châteauneuf du Pape. I don’t remember what it was but I remember not being impressed. I was impressed though, by the dining room. To enter, you walk through revolving doors into a vestibule that gives you no clue and in no way prepares you for the opulence of the dining room. I remember walking in and doing a double-take, pausing to take it all in. It was American Art Deco with a soaring ceiling and 35-foot windows, and was adorned with floral arrangements that belied that often-understated virtue that is so critical to class and taste – restraint. I thought to myself that this space had found its calling (or vice versa), for I could not think of many other things I wanted to do in that room other than eat, and eat well.

Morgan had trailed for a day in the kitchen at Eleven Madison, and remarked to me that Chef Humm ran a tight ship in the kitchen, and was very precise. That precision translated into the rest of the restaurant, with shiny flatware arranged just so on crisp white tablecloths and not a hair out of place. But where the precision shone through the most was the food. Clean lines and cubic shapes dominated the presentation and plates were sauced with care and meticulous exactitude. In a bizarre way it made you want to play with your food, just to mess things up, which I must confess made the meal more enjoyable.

The amuse-bouches threatened to dampen the evening, for out of a bite-sized selection of tuna tartare, sweetbread, and foie gras only the latter took my breath away. But the appetizers and entrées more than made up for the misstep. The beets in the beet salad came cubed (a cute touch), and the gnocchi came with just the right amount of sauce – another nod to the precision of the kitchen. I had never had gnocchi paired with seafood before (it came with shrimp and calamari in a Meyer lemon-based sauce), and the acidity of the sauce and seafood complemented the earthiness of the pasta perfectly.

I had the rabbit for an entrée, but I do not remember much of it because I was hit with the biggest pang of food envy ever known to mankind. Tom and Brody had ordered the Muscovy duck for two, glazed with lavender honey, and after I tried a slice the rest of my meal suddenly became bland and unpalatable. People have remarked that I close my eyes when I enjoy my food but as I ate the duck my eyes were wide open and remained that way for a long while as I muttered, “Wow.” over and over to myself, silently.

I have often wondered if other people’s food only tastes better because you only get one bite of it, but whatever the case I was extremely jealous and mildly bitter. The only reason that I had passed over the duck was because I’d had duck only two nights before (at an establishment not anywhere near the quality of Eleven Madison, unfortunately). But all is not lost. There is fortunately, in my experience, only one cure for this dreaded condition – to come back to the restaurant.

Next time I’m definitely getting the duck.


Wine Tasting Notes:

Gros Frere et Sœur, Clos Vougeot Musigni, 2005 (Jason’s choice)
I’d had this wine before at another similarly opulent dinner at Le Paradou in DC, and had been very impressed, so when I saw it on the wine list it almost picked itself. When he brought it over the sommelier remarked that this was one of his favourites, to which I scoffed, “You must tell that to everyone.” Thankfully he did not take offense at my spot of glibness, but went on to rather earnestly convince me that he really did like the wine. By the end of the conversation I was ready to buy insurance from him. The wine itself was medium to full-bodied, with a great nose and a long smooth finish. It had notes of the dark fruit that I am such a fan of – plums, cherries, blackberries – and also musk and oak. It was a little young, but showed signs of opening into a very lovely, very typically French wine.

Domaine du Vieux Télégraphe, Châteauneuf du Pape, 2000 (Michael’s choice)
I was introduced to Châteauneuf du Pape by Saskia, and have been a fan ever since. In keeping with the French theme Michael picked out this bottle. It was a small step down from the body and structure of the Burgundy that we’d had earlier but still entirely enjoyable. It had the same dark fruit but was sweeter, more fruit-forward and less tannic than the previous wine.

Domaine de la Grange des Peres, 2003 (Brody’s choice)
This was surprisingly very, very good. I don’t know why I had expected so little from it, but I was very, very surprised. In a good way. For the price (it was the cheapest of the three), it was an excellent bottle. Very well rounded and hit every part of your tongue and taste buds with a harmonious balance of sweetness, acidity and tannins. Some wines are good to taste, some wines are good to savour, and some wines are good for just drinking. This one was all three.