11 Madison

It's been four months now since I settled into the city and two months since I started real work and wrote my last post. Tried some new places and re-visited some old favorites, but nothing so far has compared to my experience at Eleven Madison Park.

To set the scene, it was my friend's last weekend in New York before he left to start his new life in San Francisco (RIP Senior Eating Club). Our group had originally planned to celebrate at Daniel, but in the end, decided to just "go big". What resulted was four hours of amazing food, entertainment and friendship. The cost for an unforgettable night? Priceless. Not really, it was ridiculously pricey but you get what I mean.

CHEDDAR black and white cookies; TOMATO salad with strawberries and basil; CORN custard with tuna and caviar

BEEF pastrami with peppers, rye, mustard and cherry; TOMATO tea with lemon thyme; CUCUMBER marinated with lemon and melon

EMP used to be famous for their grid-like menu, where guests would be given a 4 x 4 menu board of different ingredients and asked to choose four of the flavors they'd like to see in their meal. Just recently, genius Daniel Humm decided to do away with this structure and instead implement a longer 14-course meal with each plate playfully showcasing one key flavor/ingredient dependent on seasonal produce. The environment was also more playful than most other Michelin-starred restaurants, highlighting many culturally "New York" styles in either the preparation or the presentation of our dishes. Our visit fell towards the end of summer, so we experienced items such as strawberry salad, lobster and seafood boil, braised sunflower, grilled apricots and even a mini picnic at the table, complete with freshly made cheese and EMP-branded beer.

DUCK roasted with raspberries, blueberries and mulberries (accompanied with gelatinous duck fat on crisps

FRESH CHEESE, pretzel, raspberry mustard and green tomatoes

APRICOT grill with lemon thyme ice cream and honey; WHEY sorbet with caramelized milk and cherries

I wasn't able to catch all of the many details presented to us throughout the courses, but I'll leave a few surprises unsaid. Hats off to one of the greatest culinary landmarks that New York should be proud to have.