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Looks like meat’s back on the menu, boys!
In August, Daniel Humm, the chef and owner of Eleven Madison Park, announced that meat was returning to his vegan restaurant’s menu after four years. That same day, my friend Gary He — an E.M.P. superfan who had been eagerly awaiting the return of its dry-aged duck — texted me inviting me to “opening night.” He handled the reservation. I dry-cleaned my best suit. We both filmed. Everything was exactly as I remembered. The stratospheric ceilings, the servers gliding between tables with carts of vegetables, and the many, many staffers stationed around the room whose jobs I couldn’t begin to guess. It seemed so much like before that I started to think we’d gotten the wrong day, until our server began explaining the menu and finally said the word “meat.” He couldn’t help but smile. None of us could. The kitchen still offers a completely vegan tasting menu, but diners can swap in poultry or seafood — such as the poached lobster or dry-aged duck, two of the restaurant’s most beloved dishes — for a few of the vegan courses at the same price: $225 for five courses and $365 for around eight, before drinks and tip. The restaurant was busier than I’d seen it in years: I saw friends of friends, colleagues of colleagues. I saw someone with Jack Nance’s haircut in “Eraserhead.” I didn’t see Humm, either in the dining room or when we walked through the kitchen, but everywhere I looked, people were eating duck: blush pink, freckled with peppercorns and slightly glossy from its honey and lavender glaze. The duck was the main character of the night — there’s no arguing that. And I wouldn’t think of talking you out of ordering it since it’s been so long. But the most complex dishes, the ones we had the most fun dissecting over dinner, were from the plant-based menu, such as the squash bathed in lemongrass curry, an alternative to the lobster, and the maitake mushroom skewer. The mushroom was threaded with slats of seitan brushed with the most addictive maple glaze and a dead ringer for chicken skin yakitori. The switch back to meat has gotten some criticism — look no further than the comments section in Kim Severson’s story from August — but now that Eleven Madison Park has given diners what they seemed to want, will the restaurant reclaim its position atop the fine dining pedestal, or was the lack of meat never the real issue?
THE RESTAURANT REVIEW SpagoIt may delight you to know that on one of Tejal Rao’s visits to the flagship Spago in Los Angeles, its famed chef and owner Wolfgang Puck “appeared at every table with the wide, unwavering smile of a man who’s been making the rounds for decades.” Incredible given the fact that the charming 76-year-old has some 28 restaurants worldwide. But is charm enough? Read the review → OPENING OF THE WEEK BabboOK, it’s not technically opening until next week, but we promised we’d let you know as soon as we knew: Mark Ladner and Stephen Starr’s Babbo is actually really finally opening on Monday, Oct. 27. There’ll be minestrone that “needs 49 days to mature” and Ladner’s famous 100-layer lasagna. Passers-by and diners might also see an inflated Scabby the Rat and protesters representing the Washington-based union Unite Here Local 25, which has picketed restaurants owned by Starr since January over allegations of unfair labor practices, according to Eater. (Starr and his restaurant group declined to comment on that story.) More restaurant openings →
THE OTHER SECTIONS “She likes a challenge. She is very driven. She works very hard and expects everyone else around her to work just as hard.”That’s Michael Flutie, a Jean-Georges regular, in a recent Styles section profile on Lois Freedman, the co-chief executive and president of Jean-Georges Vongerichten’s restaurant group. The Queens native met Vongerichten in the 1980s while working in the kitchen of Lafayette and then followed him to Jo Jo in 1991. (Fans of reading old reviews will want to check out William Grimes’s three-star review of Jo Jo from 2002.) Sixty restaurants later, Freedman is still hiring staff, overseeing renovations and décor, and opening new Jean-Georges projects here and abroad. Read the story → WE HAVE QUESTIONS Would you like alcohol with your olive brine?Today we have a story from Maggie Hennessey on the increasingly high-brine world of dirty martinis. Bartenders insist plain old olive brine just isn’t cutting it anymore. Now fat-washing, citric acid and white vinegar are getting involved, and customers love it. Read the story → UPDATES The food fight at FoodTuesday “Where to Eat” loyalists will recall that a few weeks ago we highlighted the opening of Food, the artist Lucien Smith’s reimagining of a 1970s-era artist-owned restaurant in SoHo. Last week, Grub Street reported on Food’s “hectic first month in business,” including a brawl, operational and financial troubles and other issues. In an Instagram post, Smith and the Food team wrote off the story as “capturing the chaos of opening a restaurant,” adding “our team is still having a great time.” Thanks for reading and see you on Thursday. Read the story → Have New York City restaurant questions? Send us a note here. Follow NYT Food on TikTok and NYT Cooking on Instagram, Facebook, YouTube and Pinterest.
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