MyWorldReviews.com

Eleven Madison Park

New York, New York, United States

Eleven Madison Park is a 3 Michelin star restaurant and rated among the top restaurants in the world. The menu is a fixed price chef's tasting menu that seems to be mostly fixed with some variations on a day to day basis. The food was world class, the service was friendly, and the decor and atmosphere was modern - simple yet elegant. Although the menu is fixed, there are some choices and they are willing to accommodate any food aversions or preferences.

Although admittedly it has been several years since our visit to Per Se, it was hard not to compare this experience with our only previous experience with a 3 Michelin star restaurant. By comparison, the food was a similar experience of detailed presentations, interesting flavors, and rich tasting and fresh foods.The service was good, but lacking the customization we experienced at Per Se. Everyone was friendly and focused on giving us an enjoyable evening, but there was no custom menu, recognition of our anniversary celebration or other personalized touches. One nice custom touch came at the end of the evening when they send you home with a personalized menu listing the items you selected.

Dress

The dress code was not strict about jackets required, although almost all men were wearing a jacket.

Cost

The tasting menu is a fixed price that includes tip, but not tax.

Reservations

Reservations are mandatory and taken 30 days in advance. Call at 9am when the phone line opens and wait for an answer to guarantee a dinner seating.

Items Ordered

Black and White

Savory cookie with apple and cheddar

The first dish of the evening awaits you at your table when you arrive. Sitting in a box tied with string is a twist on the traditional New York black and white cookie. Instead of a sweet cookie, this is a savory appetizer that mostly tasted of the crispy toasted cheddar cheese.

Appetizers

Peekytoe crab salad. Fava Bean Croquette. Morel with Rye Crisp. Widow's hole oyster with caviar

The appetizers arrive in a box tower. Four trays are laid out in front of you featuring a different appetizer in each. The morel mushrooms were hiding in a layer of creme freche and placed between two thin crispy crackers. A delicious little crispy bite. The crab salad was covered with roe. You mixed it with some bread crumbs and wrapped it in a thin sliver of radish to make a mini flavorful taco. The croquettes had some bacon in them and lightly fried. The oysters in creme freche were surprisingly delicious for someone who doesn't normally like oysters.

Caviar

Benedict with corn and ham

We were told this dish was a bit of breakfast for dinner. It was a variation of eggs Benedict made from a quail egg and topped with caviar. The ham and corn flavors were quite strong in this dish. There were mini English muffins brought out to make mini open faced sandwiches, which were really good but there wasn't enough bread to make it all into sandwiches.

Bread

The bread was made with organic flour and was really light and airy - almost like a croissant. It came with a local cultured butter topped with crispy toasted cheese, and local salt. The combination of the butter, cheese, and salt on the bread was just divine.

Fluke

Marinated with peas and grapefruit

The fluke came on a pea patty and had a very strong citrus taste without being sour. It had a very refreshing taste.

English Peas

With garlic and yogurt

The peas and garlic sauce were just a little warm. The peas were sitting on top of a small amount of yogurt sauce. The peas were very sweet and fresh tasting. The mild tasting sauces let the fresh taste of the peas stand out.

Lobster

Butter-poached with citrus, daikon, and fava beans

This dish had a light citrus taste. It had a hint of sweetness and a lot of buttery.

Chicken

Roasted with beans and garlic

This was one of my favorite dishes of the evening. The chicken was cooked perfectly, moist with a crispy skin. On the side, there was a circle of long beans around a brown toast covered in yogurt sauce. Although the beans were just a little over salted, they were amazing with the yogurt and bread. Although the two parts of this dish didn't really complement each other they were both among my favorite flavors of the evening.

Asparagus

Braised with potato and black truffle

This dish was all about the presentation. The asparagus is cooked table side inside a pig bladder. Although kind of gross, it comes with a bit of a history lesson on this technique of cooking which steams your asparagus. The asparagus tastes pretty normal but is served with a delicious black truffle sauce and a spoonful of black truffle and mashed potato.

Broth

Before your entree course arrives, you are served a cup of warm broth from the meat you have selected. Although intriguing, and delicious for one sip, the broth was way too salty for me to enjoy a whole cup of it.

Beef

Dry-aged ribeye with eggplant

The beef was aged 140 days. It had a nice taste but was also a bit tough. It had a thin slice of something pickled on top which I thought was a little overwhelming. I preferred to put this off to the side and enjoy the taste of the meat and sauce.

Duck

Honey and lavender glazed with spring onion and rhubarb

The topping off honey and lavender on the duck added a nice sweet and crunchy texture. There was a nice combination of sweet and sour in this dish with the rhubarb slivers and puree.

New potatoes

Variations with flowers

The potato side came with the entree and was another favourite dish if the evening. There were three forms of potato - pureed, whole, and fried crisps. The puree was really creamy.

Morel

Custard with spring garlic

These little mushrooms were in a creamy mild tasting custard that allowed the mushroom flavor to stand out.

Hudson valley camembert

With rhubarb and sorrel

I'm not a fan of blue cheese but camabert is one of the milder ones. It was melted inside little buns and went well together with the sauces.

Srawberries

Poached with vanilla and elderflower

The desserts were both light and not overly sweet, which was nice after a big, heavy meal. The fresh strawberries were small and delicious. This dessert was a variation on a traditional strawberry shortcake but the elderflower foam was unique. It had a very strong taste of the fruit and just disintegrated in your mouth.

Sassafras

Ice cream with banana, vanilla seltzer, and caramel

The banana cake was a little crunchy and spongy. The ice cream had a unique taste, but otherwise a light traditional dessert.

Chocolate

"name that milk"pretzel with sea salt

This part of the dessert was a game. We were brought 4 bars of chocolate each with a different leaf from their logo shaded in, and told they were each made from milk from different animals. We each got a card to fill in our guess and at the end of the evening they brought the answers. The tastes were only subtly different and it was hard to tell which was which milk.

The final course of the evening was a chocolate covered pretzel that was actually pretty good. It was served with a bottle of apple brandy so you could top up your own glass. For the non-alcoholic, they brought a sparkling apple cider.

As a final gift before heading home, they brought out gift bags with a hat off their home made granola and a paper menu that included all this dinner selections. The granola made for a nice breakfast the next morning.