NYC's Grid System Survives EMP's

Diner's Journal confirms the news today regarding yesterday's tweet from Ryan Sutton. Sutton, NYC food critic for Bloomberg News who keeps tabs on dining deals via the Price Hike and the Bad Deal, revealed via Twitter yesterday that "Eleven Madison Park dropped its grid format." The 16-item grid was introduced in September 2010 and invited diners to choose ingredients from each of four sections and have their meal built around those choices. It was one of many changes to take place at the restaurant that year and was designed to strike up a dialogue between guests and service staff. Two years later, the grid falls victim to the constant evolution that has come to define the four star restaurant.

On their website, the restaurant still invites guests "to share any allergies, dietary restrictions, and ingredient preferences with us so that we can tailor our menu to each individual," but the grid is gone. A meal at Eleven Madison Park remains 16 courses, $195, and epic. [DJ] [Twitter]

The 21st Century Limited is Full Steam Ahead

Tonight is going to be the third dinner is a seriers of five; all part of the 21st Century Limited switch with Alinea and Eleven Madison Park.  Grant Achatz and his Chicago Alinea crew drove to town earlier this week and served their first dinner at Eleven Madison Park Wednesday night.  There's been people on Craigslist selling tickets to the affair and Pete Wells, who got to experience the $495 meal on Wednesday, describes in a Diner's Journal article how he bobbed for apples, littered the floor at Eleven Madison Park with dead leaves, and watched Achatz shatter a “Chocolate piñata” over a table he and EMP Chef Daniel Humm just painted to look like "a lost Abstract Expressionist canvas."  Wells goes on to write:

There is real magic happening at Eleven Madison Park.  The collaboration is a culinary first and those lucky enough to experience it are lucky enough to experience it.  Part of the multi-course menu includes urchin and driftwood, Scottish woodcock, pines hoots, huckleberries, and an edible helium filled balloon that tastes like green apple.  Grubstreet has pictures to prove it.  Dinner continues through Sunday.

Daniel Humm and Eleven Madison Park will pack up and make the drive westward for a five night stint at Alinea beginning October 10th.  Tickets have yet to go on sale for the EMP at Alinea portion of the 21st Century Limited.

The Train's Full

Tickets for the first half of the 21st Century Limited switch between Alinea and Eleven Madison Park went on sale Friday via the Limited's Facebook page and sold out in a matter of minutes.  From September 26th to the 30th, Grant Achatz and the team behind his Chicago restaurant Alinea will be cooking at Eleven Madison Park.

The event takes its name from the 20th Century Limited train, which ran passengers back and forth from Chicago to New York from 1902 to 1967.  The $495 ticket price includes a multi-course dinner, reserve wine pairing and, we're guessing, an assortment of flowers.  It was tradition to give men that rode the 20th Century Limited carnations and women flowers and perfume.

No mention yet as to when tickets will go on sale for October 10th to the 14th, when Alinea will host Daniel Humm and the Eleven Madison Park team in Chicago, but something tells us when they do they'll go fast.

The New Dinner Format at Eleven Madison Park Includes Beer from Ithaca Beer Company

“Flower Power”, “Cascazilla”, and “Partly Sunny” are some of the playful names of beer being made in Upstate New York.  They are all being brewed at Ithaca Beer Company.  Dan Mitchell founded the brewery in 1998 and has been committed to making quality craft beer ever since.  Last Friday, September 7^th, the public was given its first chance to taste “Picnic Basket,” the newest addition to Ithaca’s roster.  The difference between “Picnic Basket” and the other beer being made 30 miles south of Syracuse is Picnic Basket Pale Wheat Ale is only available at Eleven Madison Park.

Intrigued by the collaboration between one of the world's greatest restaurants and the small, Upstate brewery that is Ithaca Beer, Digest NY reached out to Eleven Madison Park to learn more.

Click to read more ...

Now Boarding: 21st Century Limited

From 1902 to 1967, New Yorkers and Chicagoans could swap places aboard the express passenger train known as the 20th Century Limited.  Now, chefs Daniel Humm of Eleven Madison Park and chef Grant Achatz of Alinea are giving you the opportunity to hop a $495 ride on what they're calling the 21st Century Limited.

The Times confirmed reports of the switch-a-roo taking place between Eleven Madison Park and Alinea in September and October.  For five days in September, the 26th through the 30th, Achatz and his Alinea staff will be cooking and serving inside the walls of Eleven Madison Park.  The following month, October 10th through the 14th, Daniel Humm and EMP's staff will be at Alinea.

Tickets will go on sale in the coming weeks via the 21st Century Limited's facebook page.  The price includes wine pairings, but not tax and gratuity.  Of the project's ambition, Humm says, "It's a crazy idea, but that's what's cool."  As for Achatz's approach, "When we bring Alinea to New York, we’re looking at it as a Michelin three-star restaurant that’s popping up in New York,” he said. “I mean, we’re not taking it lightly.”

Eleven Madison Park Will Turn Another Corner in September

Eleven Madison Park wants to be the best restaurant in the world.  In the fall of 2010, the restaurant took a new approach to hospitality.  EMP removed a few seats along with its a la carte option and implimented their 'grid menu'.  The idea behind the grid is to encourage interaction with the guests.  They choose from rows of ingredients, which might read something like this: tomato, crab, langostine, foie gras.  Once the guest's decisions are made, the kitchen builds their meal accordingly.

More changes are underway.  According to a Times article, one of these is a beer made by Ithaca Beer Company, brewed specially for the restaurant to pair with a cheese course (served in a picnic basket btw).  Shortly after Labor Day, the $125 prix fixe option will no longer be available once Chef Daniel Humm and General Manager Will Guidara impliment a few more changes that will result in a four hour, interactive dining experience under the lofty ceilings and lofty goals of Eleven Madison Park.

Update on Monday, July 30, 2012 at 5:04PM by Craig Cavallo

In other Humm/Guidara news, the president is going to be at a $40,000/plate fundraiser dinner tonight at sister restaurant in The NoMad Hotel.  Dinner just kicked off at 5pm and No Drama Obama will address the diners at 8pm.  The proceeds benefit the Obama Victory Fund 2012.

T R O T N

The Roof Of The Nomad (TROTN) is launching dinner service tonight.  Turns out, it's called The Nomad Rooftop and, as of this morning, you can make same day reservations to "sit under the stars and have an ultra-refined meal," as Will Guidara mentions in an interview with Eater.

Operating a restaurant that is exposed to the elements provides an interesting set of circumstances for Daniel Humm (Chef) and Will Guidara (GM), the managing partners in Eleven Madison Park, The Nomad, and now The Nomad Rooftop.  "It's weather dependent," Mr. Humm says, "you have to prep in advance, even if you end up not opening. It's a headache in many ways."

The alfresco dinner comes in the form of a six-course tasting for $125.  "We're starting off with a menu that has a dish of tomatoes, some bread with tomatoes. We will serve a tomato soda with it that comes in a custom-made soda bottle that the guest will have to open."

The Rooftop experience is stamped with the Guidara Guarantee: "We know that the way to get a reservation here is a pain in the ass, and I'm sorry to the dining public for that. But we couldn't think of a better way to do it, and we will work to make it so it is worth your while"

There is a cupola on The Nomad Rooftop that will "ultimately become a private dining room."  It seats ten and can be booked like any other table.  It's also enclosed, so it'll be open year round.

For reservations, call 347.472.5660.

Adam Platt, in the Parlour Room, with the Chicken for Two

Adam Platt recently visited The NoMad and left it with a two-star review.  He enjoys the "flawlessly executed egg appetizer" and "best of all" are the "snow peas, flavored with mint, Pecorino, and little hidden nuggets of pancetta."  He finds "the weakest part of the menu are the snacks, but after that Humm’s cooking begins to click into high gear, like a well-engineered European sedan."

Due to the restaurant's hotel location, and the responsibilities that go with it, "room service and a whole host of high-volume party events, there’s a vague assembly-line feel to the proceedings that is compounded by the prices."  Price is the recurring theme and while "the main courses at NoMad are accomplished, none of them are cheap."  At $39, Platt pins the cracked lobster dish as "extravagantly priced."  "If you don't mind paying $20 for those carrots (and some at my table did mind), I recommend you order them with the duck ($32)."

Daniel Humm and Will Guardia have set the bar pretty high with Eleven Madison Park.  According to Platt, the efforts that have gone into EMP have resulted in "the finest restaurant in the city."  Its success is somewhat of a double edged sword as he seemed challenged to be blown away at The NoMad.  While he refers to other entrees as "pricey barnyard creations," he finds none to be "as satisfying as the chicken for two ($78)," but that hasn't left the dish out of public crosshairs.