The owner of Eleven Madison Park here in NYC announced that the restaurant will reopen as a plant based vegan restaurant. The restaurant, which once served main course menu items such as foie gras, dry aged veal, suckling pig confit and honey lavender duck, is scrapping ALL of that and creating a completely meatless menu.
Chef Daniel Humm, owner of the three Michelin star restaurant, has kept his 3 Michelin stars even though the restaurant is making a switch to an all vegan menu. Who said that vegan and vegetarian restaurants can’t have the honor of being Michelin rated? There are less than two handfuls of Michelin starred vegetarian restaurants around the world and Eleven Madison Park is now one. However, this number may rise as more restaurants begin to see the vision for the future. Michelin guides awarded Eleven Madison Park another three star rating after Chef Humm made the announcement. Michelin guide, Gwendalle Poullene expressed that the restaurant is embarking on an exciting new chapter in catering to a varied customer base. He believes it is “a way to please the customer while exploring new avenues.”
Prior to the pandemic, the restaurant had a $335 tasting menu and plans to continue offering the menu with vegan foods. Entrees that could be featured may include previous vegetarian dishes like:
Whole Roasted Curry Cauliflower
Honey Roasted Squash with Oma Cheese
A dish featuring a blend of dehydrated, pickled and roasted carrots with creamed nettles, mustard flowers, and lemon thyme.
Eleven Madison Park is well known for their Milk and Honey dessert which is already a vegetarian dish.
The change in menu comes after the restaurant partnered with Rethink Food to serve foods to homeless New Yorkers and also from having been on the verge of bankruptcy. The pandemic has shuttered and shattered the restaurant and hospitality industries and Eleven Madison was affected. Chef Humm was inspired by the partnership and began to rethink food in a new way. He said:
“This time last year, we had to lay off most of our team, and I didn’t know if there was going to be an EMP (Eleven Madison Park) any longer. But we kept a small team employed, and with their remarkable effort, alongside, @rethinkfood, we prepared close to a million meals for food insecure New Yorkers. I saw the magic of food in a whole new way and I also saw a different side of our city.”
EMP's change to a vegetarian menu was also to become more sustainable and to also give back to the local community. They plan to incorporate a new business model where the purchase of a dinner will allow EMP to provide 5 meals to food insecure New Yorkers.
“Our practices of animal production, what we're doing to the oceans, the amount we consume, it is not sustainable,' Humm said. 'If Eleven Madison Park is truly at the forefront of dining and culinary innovation, to me it’s crystal clear that this is the only place to go next” said Humm. And the way we have sourced our food, the way we’re consuming our food, the way we eat meat, it is not sustainable. And that is not an opinion. This is just a fact,” Humm expressed to How I Built This Podcast.
He believes that the future of the restaurant industry lies in veganism. We applaud this revolutionary chef for going against the grain and operating his business in a way that is conscious of the environment and our planet.
In his announcement on IG, Chef Humm stated:
"It is time to redefine luxury as an experience that both serves a higher purpose and maintains a genuine connection to the community. We are thrilled to share the incredible possibilities of plant-based cuisine while deepening our connection to our homes: both our city and our planet."
Eleven Madison Park will be joining the ranks of other vegan and vegetarian restaurants around the city like Dirt Candy, Seasoned Vegan, Jungle Café, Xilonen, Xyst, and etc. Listen, there can never be enough restaurants that cater to the vegan and vegetarian lifestyle in New York. Welcome, Eleven Park Madison, who is now the only vegetarian Michelin starred restaurant in New York. Nix was another Michelin starred vegetarian restaurant in New York but unfortunately, it permanently closed last year due to the pandemic.
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