You must remember me talking about my favourite restaurant in New York City: Eleven Madison Park. I fell in love with the place the minute I stepped foot inside a couple of years ago… I’ve been back a couple of times since. Since my last visit, EMP has climbed up 26 spots in the 50 World’s Best Restaurants list and has won 2 James Beard awards for Outstanding Restaurant and Outstanding Pastry Chef for Angela Pinkerton. Before all these awards were announced, I already had my reservations for this past Friday. I was in New York for a few days but for a family affair, not on one of my usual culinary trips. I didn’t have a lot of free time to eat my way through the city, but I did have one free lunch and I knew that I wanted to share the EMP experience with my mom and my sister. I must say that above all, above the beautiful space, the gorgeous flower arrangements and the absolutely delicious food, the service is what makes this restaurant outstanding in my mind. To be remembered from one visit to the next, especially when you’re not a regular, is amazing! For the staff to actually take the time to memorize my name and welcome me at the door as if I were there every week is so welcoming. The service is impeccable, the staff is knowledgeable without being pretentious, they are polite without being stuffy and approachable without ever crossing any boundaries…

But enough talking, I know you want to hear about the food! At the risk of sounding repetitive with my previous post on Eleven Madison Park, I just had to share this meal with you all. As I had mentioned before, the menu is very simple: 4 rows and 4 columns of ingredients. You pick one from each row and the kitchen team builds your plate around that main ingredient. They do ask you if you have any food allergies or aversions before the meal starts… Once you’ve made your 3 or 4-course choices, be ready for a 10-course meal! You get 3 amuse-bouches before the bread even arrives at your table, you then get your 4-courses, a pre-dessert, your dessert then a plate of mignardises to close the deal. That’s a 3-hour lunch if you have the time, a bit shorter if you don’t. So without further ado, below are photos of everything we ate. Go ahead and feast your eyes! And don’t forget to make reservations for the next time you visit the Big Apple!

AMUSE-BOUCHES

FIRST COURSES:

SECOND COURSES:

THIRD COURSES:

INTERVAL:

Instead of the classic sorbet-ish dish to cleanse the palate at this point, we were served an “egg cream” which was prepared table side. It’s a classic “New York” drink whose history is a bit vague and debated. The only think known for sure is that it was invented in New York. This particular version, the result of many trials by Pastry Chef Angela Pinkerton, uses a vanilla malt syrup instead of chocolate syrup and a drop of olive oil in each glass for an added “je-ne-sais-quoi”.

A little video that I shot while our waitress was preparing the egg cream table side at Eleven Madison Park

DESSERTS:

MIGNARDISES:

Before we left, we were handed a dark gray square envelope containing the description of everything we had eaten, including a little information card on the history of the egg cream. The menu was autographed by chef Daniel Humm! As if that wasn’t enough, we were each handed a jar of their very own granola! Now I don’t know how they knew that I was a big granola fan but this little surprise could not have been more perfect! I am enjoying some of their granola as I write this and it is delicious!

Eleven Madison Park
11 Madison Avenue
New York, NY
212 889 0905

Lunch
Monday–Friday noon – 2:00pm

Dinner
Monday–Saturday 5:30pm – 10:00pm