A Classic New York Evening at Eleven Madison Park

With only a few weeks left until Baby B gets here, the Hubs and I have been preparing like mad: bassinet-check, baby clothes-check, stroller-check.  Of course, its not all work.  We put a few things on our list to do that we thought would be fun for us and probably not as easy to do once we had a tiny human on our hands.  We made a point to go on a babymoon last month, this month we decided to visit some restaurants that have been on our wish list for a long time.

This weekend we decided to go to Eleven Madison Park.  Let me tell you, this restaurant is not just the best restaurant in NYC nor the best restaurant in the U.S., it’s the fourth best restaurant in the world!!   We decided that bringing a new life into this world was really worth celebrating so we threw practicality to the wind and decided to make a reservation.

This is the type of restaurant where reservations are made available 28 days ahead of the date at 9am and you call at 9am only to wait on hold for 30 minutes to grab the prime dining time of 5:45 pm.  Well, to be fair, we had the option of 9:45pm but I think my 9:45pm dinner days are long gone.  Good thing we went with the 5:45pm.  By the time we left it was about 10pm!

Now, if you haven’t heard of Eleven Madison Park, you may well remember a certain scene from Sex and the City when Carrie goes to meet Big and he tells her he is engaged!  The scene occurs at a restaurant, which is none other than this lovely establishment!

Despite our early reservation, we scored a prime table at the back facing the restaurant.  Plus we got to sit next to each other, which I always love! 🙂

Now, most fine dining restaurants approach service with a certain level of formality and while there is certainly formality at Eleven Madison Park, there is also a sense of lightheartedness and fun.  In fact, when we arrived at our table there were two items already there for us: an envelope and a box.

Inside the envelope was a card with four flavors; Maple, Cranberry, Apple and Celery.  We were instructed by our served to select the flavor we were most excited about.

Inside the box was the classic NYC black and white cookie–a little welcome from the restaurant.  Although this cookie wasn’t sweet at all.  In fact, it was a savory play on the classic version of the cookie made up of cheddar cheese and apple.

When you go to this restaurant, you have to be prepared to let go of any control issues you have because you don’t even receive a menu besides a wine and cocktail list (which, PS, they had some fabulous mocktails!  I favored the Jangles: pineapple, agave, jalapeno and sparkling mineral water and also the Madison Parksider: cucumber, basil and sparkling mineral water). Although the restaurant will definitely take into consideration any dietary restrictions you may have, like, no raw protein or cured meats or smoked fish or unpasteurized cheeses.  I was surprised to find out that this dinner actually featured all of those things, which were all substituted for me!

 This restaurant is big on themes, so we were given one choice for an entree that we needed to both agree on.  When faced with the option of duck or venison, it was an easy choice for the Hubs, whose favorite protein is duck.  This was a great choice because after enjoying our first bite cookie, we were treated to bread made from local flour with duck butter and a side of duck broth.  It may not sound that appetizing, but let me tell you, it was one of the best things I’ve ever had!  

I had no idea how many courses we had in store for us, but I knew that I was going to have to be really picky about what courses I actually finished. Our menu looked like this:

Kabocha Squash with roasted pear, chestnut and radicchio 

Hudson Valley Foie Gras with seared blood sausage, cranberries and kale–This was one of my favorites!

A play on the traditional NYC sandwich: Pastrami open faced sandwich with rye, leek, potato and apple and a soda featuring our most excited flavor: Maple soda for me and Apple for the Hubs!

Long Island Seafood- halibut, kale and apple salad, marinated blue crab with pickled radish and vichyssoise with caviar (so good!)

Atlantic Halibut served with a almond milk and potato soup, which was amazing!

Lion’s Mane Mushrooms served in their own broth.  One of the kitchen staff members brought out the mushrooms before they were cooked to show us.  I found a photo to show you how insane they look!

(Source)

Compare with how they look cooked:

Chacruterie Plate, which for me was actually parsnip

Finger Lakes Duck- dry aged for two weeks, with apple, rutabaga and fall spices including lavender, honey and schezuan peppercorn.

Cheese plate with conserved plums and pretzel roll

Whey- sorbet with caramelized milk and milk foam (this was so good!)

Baked Alaska, which was set on fire in front of us with rum and salted caramel and here, my maple flavor was incorporated again!

A chocolate covered pretzel with an apple brandy for the Hubs and a pinot noir juice for me, which was kind of exciting! 🙂

And at the end, they gave us another black and white cookie to take home with us.  This time it was actually the sweet version.

Oh and because they didn’t want us to feel hungry when we awoke the next morning, they gave us breakfast: two jars of housemade granola.  Now that’s service!

Readers, what flavor are you most excited about: maple, cranberry, apple or celery?  Do you have a restaurant on your bucket list?  What’s your favorite way to celebrate a special occasion?