The set-up:
My brother and his significant other were in New York City for a 4 day mini vacation, which it turned out, overlapped by one day with me being in the New York area on business. So we decided to meet in the city for dinner this past Monday. Because my brother is friends with a German food critic, and because said food critic (www.sternefresser.de) had eaten at Eleven Madison Park fairly recently and said that it was THE place to eat in NYC, my brother insisted we meet there for dinner...his treat (I obviously did not object).
The dining experience:
Upon my arrival at this fine location right at Madison Park in the FLatiron district of Manhattan, I was greeted my a number of extremely courteous and professional men and women. When my brother and his SO arrived shortly thereafter at around 7:45pm, we were immediately seated despite our reservation not being until 8:15pm (It was pretty busy).
After some good conversation, I looked at the wine list (which was as complete as any I've ever seen). Although the prices for the wines were very fair, they skewed toward the high end, but there were also plenty of value bottles available of which I chose one (2004 Brovia Nebbiolo Langhe Valmaggione). We then ordered our food. All of us chose the three course menu.
Before we ordered, we were served a number of amuse bouches, incredibly tasty bites that got us started for the evening.
The amuse bouches were followed by a divinely delicious mushroom soup with a creme foam on top.
I then ordered the following dishes:
- Diver scallop ceviche with fennel, Yuzu, and Satsuma tangerine
- Bone marrow crusted Angus Beef with braised root vegetables and sauce bordelaise
- Tahitian Vanilla Souffle
Before I go into specifics about each course, allow me to say that each course was terrific, and that I have never eaten at any restaurant, where perfection was achieved at every stage.
The diver scallop with which I started was a both artful and masterful execution that was a world-class scallop sashimi lightly dressed in a sweet yet tart tangerine dressing. If you know what Umami is, then trust me when I say that this dish was all Umami.
The tenderloin was prepared "sous vide" and although I consider this dish a standard, it was again executed to perfection, with every little detail being right on the money. The meat was perfectly cooked to medium rare. The root vegetables were cooked just right...the very fine root vegetable puree was delicious. But the best part was the Oxtail essence that came as a side. It was covered in a creamy foam, which, when mixed together with the salty, savory Oxtail, was heavenly.
Lastly, the souffle was a fitting ending to the menu. Visually, this perfect souffle tasted as good a it looked and the quark/passionfruit sauce that was served with it was again impeccable.
After dinner, we were offered a selection of incredibly tasty macarons that come in all sorts of flavors, along with a bottle of wonderful French Cognac.
Some of the impressions about Eleven Madison Park is that:
- Their personnel is as professional and unfailingly polite as any personnel at a major financial services institution. They are well spoken, well educated, impeccably mannered, and seem to love their work. I have never seen a gastronomic environment like this.
- Although I had trepidations about whether my brother would regret paying $88 for the menu, I have to say that the diner was actually an extraordinary value. What makes the difference are the additional appetizers and drinks that are built into the dining experience.
- Following my asking our waiter whether he could confirm that the beef was prepared "sous vide", we were later offered a look at the kitchen. Given that I was so interested in food preparation, the manager wanted to extend this privilege to us. And how well organized this kitchen is...it's like the chef and his staff are running a group of cooks with military precision and efficiency. Very impressive.
Overall, given the extremely high standards of service, food quality, and innovation, I am declaring this dining experience a the best of my life so far, and I can highly recommend anyone to go to Eleven Madison Park, based on my dining experience.
Here's a video they have on their website:
Eleven Madison Park from Nick Cannell on Vimeo.
0 comments:
Post a Comment