Family of One Goes to Eleven Madison Park

Many of you know of my great fondness for the fabulous New York restaurant, Eleven Madison Park, and how thrilled I was this summer when the restaurants received the highly-coveted and rarely-given four stars from the New York Times. I started going to the restaurant regularly back in 2006 when four stars were a dream for the new chef, Daniel Humm, who had come from San Francisco and the restaurant at the Campton Place hotel. I don’t know exactly what made me decide to go there, but I am awfully glad that I did.

After many years of not visiting New York, I had developed a taste for going there again and I was looking for a restaurant with which I could become associated. I call it my “tentpole” restaurant and it is one which totally captures my heart and my palate and which becomes a regular stop for me. I look forward to getting to know the folks that work there and to seeing how the restaurant changes. My fancy dinner on that trip was at Le Bernardin and so I was looking for something lovely, but maybe not quite as precious. I had frequented most of Danny Meyer’s restaurants and so thought I should give Eleven Madison Park a try.

When I walked in, I was totally captivated because the large, elegant, beautifully decorated space with the giant windows overlooking Madison Square Park was exactly as I had envisioned NYC restaurants when I was growing up in High Point. There was a slight drizzle outside which only made the scene more enchanting. The food was excellent and I enjoyed getting to know the general manager who had recently come from Charlie Trotter’s. I walked away with a good feeling.

I went back at Christmas and the next spring and the next summer and soon I had lived through a couple of changes in management. With the third group, I started feeling very much at home. I was given “my” table, at the top left hand corner of the highest level where I could watch everyone in the restaurant and with a peerless view of the park. I started growing fond of the staff. I started looking forward to the incredible gougeres and amuse bouches and the wonderful goat cheese butter that accompanies the bread.

At the same time, I did not want to put all of my culinary eggs into one basket, as it were, so I also formed an attachment to a restaurant called Country that was also highly touted and conveniently located in the hotel where I often stayed. It, too, was a beautiful restaurant, lovingly restored, but with much more of a cozy feeling. I started getting to know the staff there as well and had some marvelous meals including a truffle tasting.

At EMP, I now looked forward to finding out the latest in the lives of almost everyone I knew. I mourned when ones that I had grown close to left. I had received requests from friends to go with me to EMP, but, somehow, it had become my place, the place where I could read and listen to my iPod and eat increasingly delectable meals. Taking someone would break that spell.

Every year, I go to EMP just before I go to my parents for Christmas. I consider that my Christmas dinner since my actual Christmas celebrating is a bit, shall we say, muted as it is in the presence of a ninety year old and an eighty seven year old. Last year, one of my favorite managers told me that he had a present for me. The staff is always kind to me in letting my try new vintages or new dishes so I supposed it was a special course. Imagine my delight when Rob presented me with a menu, based on what I had eaten that evening, focused on my upcoming trip to Paris that gave staff members’ personal recommendation for places that I would like. At the top, it said, “From your EMP dining family”. I was so touched and grateful and would have sobbed, but I had not had the cheese course or dessert.

So, when I saw the announcement that EMP had gotten four stars, I was beside myself with joy as if a treasured colleague had closed a spectacular sale. I had Tshirts made for the staff that said—EMP Four Star Summer 2009—because they are my dining family.

As for Country, the story is not so pretty. There were several changes in management, but none of them could get any traction. They were repeatedly closed for health code violations. Finally, the restaurants closed with a slight whimper. I made the decision that one tentpole fancy restaurant is enough.

Let’s just say I am sticking with EMP.

Now, here is what I had on my last visit in early September—

Thousands of gougeres
Amazing amuse bouches
Sweet corn veloute chilled with bacon bavaroise
Santa Barbara sea urchin cappuccino with peekytoe crab and cauliflower
Hawaiian prawns roulade with avocado, lime, and yogurt (I had never had this and it was one of the signature dishes)
Organic rabbit rillettes with Concord grapes, pickled onions, and grilled pistachio bread (one of the rare misfires)
Atlantic halibut seared with sweet corn, summer radishes, and purslane
Four Story Hill pork belly applewood smoked with summer truffles (and presented in the most breathtaking—literally—way under a glass dome of swirling smoke)
Elysian Fields farm lamb herb roasted with petits farcis Nicois
Fromage including Brebirousse d’Argental, Aria, Tomme de la Chatigneraie, St. Nectaire
Blueberry and sweet corn bread pudding with buttermilk sorbet