Yum, But Then...

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11 Madison Park!

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 We had been looking forward to this!  It was named the # 1 Restaurant in NYC on "Opentable" with rave reviews from critics and customers alike!  Their executive chef, at the ripe old age of 33, has worked all over the world before settling, for the time being at least, at Danny Meyers' 11 Madison Park.  Danny Meyers, by the way, has deep roots in St. Louis, having spent his youth there with his family -- in the Central West End.  And, periodically, you can read in the St Louis gossip columns, Danny returns to his hometown to renew his Midwest side.  (Actually, while 11 Madison has become his flagship, he has a multitude of restaurants we like to visit, like Blue Smoke, Union Square Cafe, Shake Shack, Tabla, etc etc etc.  And he wrote a book a few years ago about how he became such a restauranteur when he couldn't cook!)

Anyway, we walked in the revolving door (the building itself had been an impressive bank at one time) and the greeter actually greeted

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 us by name.  Kinda puzzling.  But we have been to 11 Madison many times since we started our forays to NYC.  And it was NOT the premier restaurant at the beginning.  Danny Meyer restaurants are known for the friendly demeanor of their staff -- and that has not changed.  But the food was incredible.

We chose the 7 course tasting menu.  Each course was a little tidbit, just a taste.  But full of flavor. I knew, from the amuse bouche, we were in for a mind-boggling adventure.  To save time, we are including the menu they printed for us specially.  And, with the wine pairings, we were trying vintages from all over the world, from South Africa to Tasmania to France, of course!  But, I will emphasize, each course was 

only a morsel, just a taste, nothing more.

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And part way through the morsels, Manager Alexandra asked if we would like to see the kitchen.  What a silly question!  We were on our feet, walking there in a moment. We expected something described in "Kitchen Confidential" by Anthony Bourdain.  Something that might turn your stomach! But it was so clean, bright, open and busy. With probably 30 chefs, sous chefs, and cooks.  And each one had his specific job and title.  Eric, who brought us several courses, said he was just a "cook". The cook is the lowliest kitchen person, it seems. There are other "front of the house" people whose job it is to greet people and take them to the table.  Alexandra started as that before being promoted.  And Eric, the cook   would like to work his way up to the title of chef and then sous chef! And each one of those 30 or so men/women works on one course -- appetizer, salad, main course, dessert.  The sous chefs check each plate before it is sent out, to make sure it is a work of art.  And, as an example, one course had a glass tumbler filled with long "grass" and sticking out of the grass was a lollipop of the creamiest goat cheese enveloped by a beet covering -- looking just like chocolate with a center of ice cream!  Yum is too small a word for it!!  And, to continue the goat cheese theme, when we got our rolls, they brought us two types of butter -- cows milk butter and goat butter -- with a small dish of sea salt.  Know which we liked best?  Of course -- the goat butter!!

Chefs and All in the Kitchen

 The big mogul is, of course, the Executive Chef and he is really the "idea man", while the others take his ideas and implement them.  It isn't very often that he takes a spatula and pot and actually cooks. And, because he is so young and creative, NYC has embraced his cutting edge ideas with gusto!

In our kitchen visit, we had a little counter, covered with linen, and one of the cooks was mixing a molecular gastronomy drink for us.  Molecular gastronomy is using science, in this case liquid nitrogen, to create an "egg" that went in a fruity drink.  When we got the drink, we cracked open the"egg" and out floated some fruit to mix in.  We felt like we were on "Iron Chef" or something!!

All Clean and Bright in "Back of House" 

The evening was magical and Bos took pictures of the restaurant, the staff, each course, for you to ogle.  When we left, we were gifted with a mason jar of homemade granola for us to munch on.  And -- oh -- the gougeres!!  The first time we went to 11 Madison, probably 10 years ago, they made these little bitty cheese puffs, full of air and baked to perfection.  We loved them so much we asked for the recipe and they are so tricky to bake, we have never perfected them.  Well, this time the gougeres are BACK!  And they kept bringing them and bringing them, so we could pop them in our mouths to our hearts' content!

We have never ever been to a restaurant, anywhere in the world with world famous chefs, that was so "cutting edge" as this meal.  (No, we aren't going to tell you how much it cost.  But we will say it was worth it!)

So now we want to plan a dinner part with some of these incredible courses, IF we can figure it all out.  So wait for your invitation...  And thanks so much, everyone at 11 Madison Park!  Incredible.

Molecular Gastronomy!

Alexandria - Manager

Cow butter to left and
Goat butter to the right salt in front.

Us at the "Kitchen Table"!
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And More!

Finally, desert!