I haven’t handed out many four-star ratings as a food critic, said Frank Bruni in The New York Times. And my initial feeling for Danny Meyer’s Eleven Madison Park, when it opened in 1998, was not love at first sight. Yet seeing this restaurant improve over the years has provided “a sweetness all its own.” In 2006 Meyer brought chef Daniel Humm on board. The restaurant has since graduated in the Times’ ratings from two to three and now to four stars.
Chef Humm’s French-based cuisine has given the menu the kind of sparkle it needed. Soon after he arrived, “city gluttons were atwitter” over Humm’s suckling pig, served as a dense brick of confit under an awesomely crisp sheet of crackling. Another indication of the chef’s inventiveness is the “gourmand” dinner: Patrons are served 11 courses without knowing in advance what they will be. Even if you don’t go “gourmand,” there are plenty of add-ons—a five-piece amuse-bouche perhaps, or a cup of “sea urchin cappuccino.” In this frothy indulgence, a cauliflower mousse is combined with peekytoe crab salad, sea urchin roe, and sea urchin foam made with cream and cognac. I was also crazy about the lavender honey-glazed duck for two, and a lobster dish made with curried granola. For dessert, try the popcorn-flavored ice cream.
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