Eleven Madison Park

What's the hottest restaurant in New York right now?

Well, I know of one place whose chef won the James Beard Award for Best Chef New York City last year. And then, one year later, it nabbed another James Beard Award, this time as Outstanding Restaurant. On top of all these, it boasts a Michelin star, four stars from the New York Times (one of only seven restaurants!), and is named as one of S. Pellegrino's Top Fifty Restaurants in the World.

Something is definitely buzzing at Eleven Madison Park. Even though this restaurant has been around since 1998, things started to happen when owner Danny Meyer hired Swiss chef Daniel Humm as executive chef and Will Guidara as general manager in 2006.

More recently in September 2010, they made some even more bold changes. For one, they reduced the number of seats by about 30%. Their goal? - to make Eleven Madison Park more of a special destination, a place that offers a "rarified experience to a smaller number of diners."

The friendly, accessible neighborhood restaurant is joining the big leagues now. Gone is the option for a la carte dining in the dining room (you can still order that way at the bar). Even the simple one or two course lunch (only $28!) is gone. Everything is a tasting menu now: three to four courses at lunch; four or five courses at dinner.

The most interesting change? The menu.

Yep, that's it! No more fancy descriptions of the dishes and all their little components. Instead, your meal is inspired by the ingredients. Mr. Guidara calls this more like a "dialogue" since you can tell the chef what you like or don't like and he can take that into consideration.

This flexibility also allows the kitchen to be more nimble, giving them the ability to change items at moment's notice.

I've been wanting to try this place for quite some time now. I was thrilled when several New York food bloggers were willing to take an extended lunch on a Friday to join me for a special meal at Eleven Madison Park.

I met up with Andrea from High Look Food Drink and Christine from Fresh, Local, and Best.

Also, Talida from Talida Bakes!

Bryan ordered a lovely mojito-like cocktail to start things off.

After ordering our core "elements" from the Bingo card menu, the fun tastes started arriving!

First the many little amuses that preceded our actual courses. We began with a lovely, savory mackerel tea with dashi. They also brought out some super thin sesame "crackers" of sorts and some lovely, cheesy gougères (all pictured above in first picture of the post).

Smoked sturgeon with sabayon and chive oil served in an egg shell.

"Celery Root"
I was feeling like eating something a bit lighter (knowing I'd be eating much heavier things the rest of the weekend!), so I opted for the "Celery Root" starter. This playful interpretation of celery root also included tiny bits of celery leaves.

"Fois Gras"
 Almost everyone else ordered this dish, and for good reason. It was absolutely incredible. The fois gras creme brulee was velvety, smooth yet also lightly torched with a beautiful candy shell characteristic of creme brulee. On the side, bites of fruit prepared in various ways accompanied the centerpiece.

"Oysters"
Creamy and rich, Andrea's favorite part of this oyster dish was the bright green gelatinous leek sauce.

"Mackerel"

A light refreshing dish made with raw mackerel slices, toasted pine nuts, lettuce, and a mixture of sauces. I chose this as my second course (out of four). 

"Veal"

Veal blanquette with smoked bone marrow, winter root vegetables

Christine loved how the daikon punctuated the smoky nuances of the meat veal and bone marrow.

"Lobster"
The butter poached lobster with spring vegetables was incredible and definitely another crowd favorite. The waiter had wholehearted recommended this dish, and thus many of us (including me!) ordered it.

"Pork"
Roasted pork shoulder, confit belly, pork jus, microgreens

Jasmine sorbet with tangerine "snow" and citrus foam.

The light, citrus-themed palette cleanser was bright and cheerful, exploding with various different textures and temperatures at the same time.

Dessert

"Pear"
I was amazed at the exquisite level of detail that went into preparing these works of art. Just look at the perfect little cylinders of fruit! Andrea got this dessert and liked it very much.

"Lemon"
I ordered the lemon dessert, which was a delightfully deconstructed lemon poppyseed crumble. The most unique element was the addition of salty green olives, which, actually, worked surprisingly well!

Bryan (typical guy!) went for the savory "dessert," a cheese tasting that also came with a lovely cheese biscuit (you can sort of see it in the distance!).

Christine ordered the chocolate dessert, which I forgot to photograph! Thankfully, you can see a picture of it on her blog.

Mignardises
Though I'm usually plenty full, I always look forward to the tiny sweet bites that you get at the end of the meal.

Carrot macarons!

And toffee crisps!

Chef Humm was so friendly. He went around and talked with many of the diners in the dining room. He was more than happy to oblige our request for a photo.

So funny, he's like more than a head taller than all of us!

We had an excellent meal. The food is executed with finesse, care, and true attention to detail. Chef Humm is an artist, which is quite clear both from the looks and taste of his masterpieces. The space is absolutely gorgeous, with soaring ceilings and huge windows that let in ample sunlight. The service is excellent and the staff was quite friendly. Of course, the chef was super friendly too!

Overall, we had a wonderful time there. I would highly recommend this place for a date!

Related Posts
Marea (lunch)
Marea (dinner)
Eataly
Peter Luger Steak House
Eating in New York (again)

Eleven Madison Park
11 Madison Ave
New York, NY 10010

Fresh Strawberry Pie with Sweet Balsamic Reduction + Giveaway!

We'll take a brief break from the Eating Out in New York (again) Series for a little Friday dessert. :)

Oh tiny kitchen, why can't you fit everything?

One negative aspect of having a tiny kitchen is that you can't stock up on food. Lack of storage space basically forces me to pay premium prices for smaller packaging. I don't have a pantry. Instead, my snacks are stuffed in random kitchen cabinets.  In general, I try not to buy things in bulk.

Imagine my utter shock when I got a call from the front desk (at 8AM no less!) telling me to come down immediately to pick up a very perishable large shipment.

Bleary-eyed and hardly coherent (yes, she had awaken me from my slumber, after all), I went downstairs and brought the box upstairs. When I opened it I nearly gasped.

There were 8 twelve-ounce cartons of strawberries.

I was thrilled but at the same time a bit anxious as I glanced at my tiny kitchen.

Oh dear.

What was I going to do?

I did try eating some of them plain, and they were delicious. However, strawberries are very, very perishable items and they really don't last long.  I knew there was no way I could eat all the berries. Furthermore, I felt like my refrigerator had been hijacked, stuffed to the brim with these berries.

Then Bryan, the non-cook who saves the day in the most surprising ways sometimes, suggested that I make "sugar strawberries." Apparently, his mom used to make it all the time when he was a kid, and he actually enjoyed eating them.

Happy to find a way to store my strawberries somewhere else other than the refrigerator, I decided to make sugar-macerated strawberries and then use them to make a fresh strawberry pie that would totally remind me of summer.


Sugar Strawberries
2 lbs strawberries, stemmed and sliced
1/2 cup sugar
1 T balsamic vinegar

Combine strawberries and sugar in a large bowl and mix well. Let sit at room temperature for about 30 minutes. Liquid will come out of the strawberries. Using a sieve or colander, drain the strawberries. Take the drained liquid and combine with balsamic vinegar. Bring to a boil in a saucepan and cook until the liquid has reduced by at least 1/2 and has reached the consistency of syrup. Cool and set aside.

If you have a ton of strawberries, you can freeze the sugar strawberry base for future use for making strawberry shortcake, pies, or other desserts! They freeze really well!


Making the Pie . . .
Making the pie is easy, as this is a no-bake pie and can really come together in minutes as long as you have a crust ready to go. In this case, I defrosted one of my larger bags of frozen macerated strawberries in order to make the pie.

The pie crust
If you don't have time to bake your own crust, you can always buy a pre-baked one in the store. Alternatively, if you make your own, you will need to pre-bake it, since this is a no-bake pie. I used this great recipe (you can see my step by step pictures here).

When baking the crust, be sure to weigh down the empty pie crust with something heavy (e.g., dried beans, pie weights). Otherwise, your crust will shrink (like mine did - oops!!).

Once the pie crust is ready, the rest is super super easy. Heck there's really not an exact recipe once you have the crust. I'll try to write one anyway, but really, the amounts are very very flexible.

Fresh Strawberry Pie with Sweet Balsamic Reduction

~ 1 lb sugar macerated strawberries 

8-12 oz Greek strained yogurt

pre-baked pie crust

Pre--bake a pie crust (check out this excellent tutorial). Spread the Greek strained yogurt on the bottom layer of the pie crust. Top with sugar macerated strawberries. Finally, drizzle with the balsamic-strawberry reduction.

Serve!

Yumm . . . this fresh pie tastes so much like summer. It's absolutely delicious.

I personally love how the thick, creamy yogurt, which is just a bit tart, balances out the fresh and bright tasting strawberries. The deep balsamic sugar sauce adds just enough sweetness to round the entire dessert out.

Here's looking forward to summer really really soon . . .



Giveaway!

California Giant Berry Farm is the company that kindly sent me the strawberries. They currently have a website called Put Some Spring Into Your Step with creative tips on how you can use berries. One cool tip I liked was to freeze strawberries and using them as ice cubes in lemonade. Hee hee, maybe I could even used my frozen sugar-macerated strawberries!

In the spirit of promoting good health through food and exercise, California Giant Berry Farm has generously offered to give away the following to ONE lucky winner:

1) One shipment of fresh berries and
2) a $25 gift certificate to Academy.com (they sell sports equipment)

In order to enter, please comment below and tell me your favorite way to enjoy berries in the summer! For second and third chances to enter, please tweet and/or write about the promotion on facebook. You must link back to this post. For example:

Giveaway! Win a shipment of fresh berries plus $25 gift card to academy.com @tinyurbankitchn http://bit.ly/jYnqZ1

For tweets, please mention @tinyurbankitchn. For facebook entries, please mention @Tiny Urban Kitchen.

Giveaway ends next Wednesday, June 1 at Midnight EST.

Good luck!

Disclaimer:
Time to time I receive free products, meals, etc. as a food blogger. I do not receive any payment for blog posts/reviews nor am I required to write a post when I receive free products, meals, etc. The views expressed in this post are completely my own. The strawberries and the giveaway are paid for by California Giant Berry Farm. The balsamic vinegar was provided for free by Star Fine Foods.

Marea (lunch)

GNOCHETTI ruby red shrimp, controne bean puree, rosemary

A great way to enjoy Michelin stars on a "budget" is to visit during lunch (if they serve lunch - not all of them do!). Oftentimes, the menu has plenty of overlap with the dinner menu - just with lower prices and slightly smaller portions.

At Marea, the business lunch costs $42 and includes a primo (first course) and a secondi (second course). Depending on what you choose to order, this can be a fantastic value. For example, secondis on the dinner menu typically cost around $40 while the primos are in the $15-20 range. If you choose wisely, you can save more than $20 by eating at lunch instead of dinner.

Of course, if you choose pasta as your secondi instead, then it's not nearly as good of a deal, since the pastas only cost around $30 on the dinner menu.

Marea recently got "upgraded" and now is the proud owner of two Michelin stars. Considering the restaurant has only been around for 2 years, this is pretty incredible.

That must be why Marea was one of the two places (the other being Peter Luger) that Bryan really really wanted to visit during this New York trip.

Tasting of Crudos

We met up with Bryan's cousin for lunch, which is why you see everything in threes.

Although we all ordered the business lunch, (woo hoo, available on weekends!) we also added several special crudos for variety. The staff was very accommodating and gave us a nice sampling of some of their favorite crudos. Typically, the business lunch primo comes with just one larger crudo order or a "tasting of three crudos" ($8 supplement). We all ordered the "tasting of three" but also asked them to throw a few extras in there. [note -the tasting of three crudos typically costs $25 at dinnertime!]

RICCI sea urchin, lardo, sea salt

I had tried their signature Ricci the last time I was there. I remember thinking it was "perfection on a plate," and something I knew Bryan would love. Surprisingly, this signature dish was not on the lunch menu! Thankfully, when I verbally asked about it, they happily accommodated my request (phew!).

I still stand by my original declaration - the Ricci is incredible. It is something you must try if you like sea urchin. Just imagine - luxuriously creamy chunks of uni wrapped in paper thin sheets of lardo sitting on top of a perfectly toasted crostini.  Serious perfection on a plate.

SPAGHETTI fresh cut semolina pasta, crab, santa barbara sea urchin, basil

The pastas at Marea are all excellent. It's really hard to choose a favorite! Having said that, I do think this "Spaghetti" is one of their best dishes. The homemade pasta is beautifully al dente and the rich flavors of the sea urchin blend beautifully with the crab and tomato sauce.

FUSILLI durum wheat pasta, red wine braised octopus, bone marrow

Another favorite is the fusilli with octopus and bone marrow. The bone marrow adds a layer of richness that deepens the flavors of the red wine braised octopus sauce. We all loved the al dente chewy texture of the thick fusilli, which also picked up the thick sauce really well!

GNOCHETTI ruby red shrimp, controne bean puree, rosemary

I ordered the gnochetti with ruby red shrimp (new for me this time) and I absolutely loved it! I had wanted something a little lighter, and the waiter recommended this dish. The texture of the homemade gnocchi was just the way I liked it (chewy with a bit of spring) while the sauce was very flavorful without being too salty or heavy. I easily ate the entire thing.

NOCCIOLA PRALINATO hazelnut, dark chocolate, lemon, mint 14

The business lunch did not include dessert, so the three of us decided just to share one dessert, which was excellent.

 
Mignardises! Biscotti!

Marea is definitely one of the best Italian restaurants we've tried in New York. Their pastas are phenomenal, and I personally really like the wide assortment of crudos as well.

If you like sea urchin, I would definitely highly recommend the Ricci as well as the Fusilli with red wine braised octopus and bone marrow sauce. If you want something lighter, the gnocchetti with ruby red shrimp is really, really good. Seriously, all the pastas are good. I personally think you can't go wrong with them - every single one I've ever tried has been phenomenal.

For a more complete review discussing many, many more dishes, check out the post I wrote when I had dinner there.

Related Posts
Marea (dinner)
Eataly
Peter Luger Steak House
Eating in New York (again)

Marea
240 Central Park South
New York, NY 10021

Eataly

Eataly is a dream come true for any Italian food lover.

What is Eataly?

Oh, just the largest artisanal Italian food and wine marketplace in the entire world. The first one opened in Turin, Italy two years ago by a fellow named Oscar Farinetti. This past summer, Farinetti teamed up with Mario Batali, Joe Bastianich, and Lidia Matticchio Bastianich to build a second one in New York City.

This new one occupies 50,000 square feet of space in the former Toy building at 200 Fifth avenue. Inside, you'll find all sorts of hard-to-find Italian specialties, a number of Italian restaurants, wines, cheeses, and even various types of classes and cooking demonstrations.

It's every food lover's dream, which would explain why the place is always packed like a mad house.

I guess coming on a Saturday afternoon is always a bad idea. It gets so crowded that you may have trouble walking around comfortably. Forget eating at one of the restaurants! (or at least we did!)

There is a huge selection of various types of cured meats, many of which hang right above the counter. Check out those huge prosciutto legs!

They stock a beautiful assortment of cheeses from all over the world, including Italy (of course), France, and even Indiana! Of course there's a selection of local New York cheeses. There is even "Il Laboratoria De La Mozzarella", a place where fresh mozzarella is made right in front of you. If you're lucky, you might be able to catch a demonstration.

So this is where you get speck, porchetta, and pancetta! There are so many types of cured meats here, it's mind boggling. Bryan's super food-loving cousin told us this was among the best cured meat she'd ever had in her life.

Check out the fresh seafood from all over the US and Canada (yum, razor clams! PEI mussels! Oooh, Wellfleet oysters!) One could ooh and ahh forever here.

A wonderful bakery that makes fresh bread continuously throughout the day. Check out all those lovely rustic loaves!

Want dried pasta? You have aisles and aisles from which to choose! There are popular Italian supermarket brands (like Barilla), as well as many artisanal choices. So hard to decide!

Of course, if you're like Bryan, you'll opt for the many fresh pasta choices! Countless raviolis, a green spinach pasta, and "noodles" of all different widths.

So many cheese wheels!

Venchi specialty chocolates

This place is really a sight to behold. Its sheer size as well as the endless options of absolutely delicious Italian goods can be downright overwhelming (in a good way!)

Though we did not have a chance to dine at his restaurant, we are pretty confident that the food quality will be high here. We've always loved anything from Mario Batali. His pastas are absolutely incredible (even the recipes I've tried at home). His steak is the best I've ever had. Even his casual dining spots are perfectly enjoyable.

This place is crazy popular but definitely worth a visit. If you are on the lookout for interesting Italian imports, I can't imagine a place with more options.

If you do want to come, try to avoid coming on weekend afternoons, where it's truly a madhouse.

Eataly
200 Fifth Avenue
New York, NY 10010