Eleven Madison Made Me a Liar
This meal actually happened a couple weeks ago. I'm a little behind but it was so fatastic I needed to share it with the world:)
In my previous post about Park Avenue Summer, I said it was the best Restaurant Week meal I had ever had.
And it was...until two days later when I went to Eleven Madison Park and got my socks knocked off.
Now I have been to Eleven Madison twice before for dinner, and while I enjoyed it, it never blew me away. I mean the crispy pork was always amazing of course, but that's all I really remember being fabulous.
Well now I can say, Eleven Madison blew me away AND it was during restaurant week!
It was the last day of restaurant week and Mr. T and I had the day off of work. We decided we would try to get in one more RW lunch. We started out by going to the Tavern room at Gramercy tavern.
We walked up and were greeted by about 20 people crammed into the front room waiting for a seat.
We turned around and headed straight for Eleven Madison. I was scared they would be packed as well but we were able to score a seat at the bar.
Unfortunately we had our backs to lovely dining room and beautiful windows overlooking the park, but I turned around a couple of times during my meal and that made it a little better :)
We started off our meal by ordering some beers. Mr T got the Kostritzer, Schwarzbier and I got the Professor Fritz Briem, which is a Berliner Weisse from Germany.
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With Berliner Weisse beers, due to their fermentation process they are very strong in lactic acid. Many times people add fruit syrup to the glass in order to reduce the sharpness of the beer.
I enjoy the beer on its' own but the bartender had some really neat flavors so I decided to try them out.
.jpg)
He gave me three different syrups a strawberry, pomegranate and honey lavender.
The Honey Lavender was my favorite by far. The sweetness of the honey really mellowed out the tart flavor of the beer and gave it a silky feel.
I still prefer my beer 'au natural' but it was nice to try something new.
And I have to say, being a total girl right now, it was kind of fun having those cute mini pitchers to pour into my beer!!
The restaurant week menu here works the same way it does everywhere else. You pick an appetizer, main course and dessert for $24.08.
For my appetizer I ordered the Big Eye Tuna.
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The presentation was beautiful and the tuna itself was tender and delicious. It was covered in a fantastic olive oil and complemented with rolled up pieces of kiwi, watermelon and mango.
I honestly didn't care for the fruit with the tuna. I thought it was so good on its own the fruit just took away from the flavor.
I asked for a copy of the menu when we left and realized that the dish was different than I had ordered. On the menu it was supposed to come with Heirloom tomatoes not fruit. I wonder if the kitchen ran out of tomatoes last minute and whipped us this idea!
Luckily they didn't run out of anything for Mr. Trekker's appetizer the Sweetbread Ravioli with Sweet Corn, Lime and chorizo.
.jpg)
Oh my Word! This dish is permanently in my list of the five best things I have ever eaten in my life!
I took one bite and I felt my eyes roll back into my head. The sweetbread had a rich creamy texture and the light eggy ravioli was covered in a corn foam that was utterly delightful.
Words cannot describe how good this dish was. I wanted to take my piece of bread and soak up every last drop of that corn foam. Good thing sweetbreads aren't available in every restaurant. I think I would be about 500 pounds!
For my main course I ordered the Seared Skate with Cauliflower, Lemons and capers.
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I was wowed once again. And by skate!
The skate was cooked perfectly so that the outside has a great crispy crust but the inside was moist and flaky.
The cauliflower and capers tasted like they were caramelized in butter almost and sprinkled with a little lemon for some acidity.
Simply wonderful!
Mr. T ordered the Colorado Lam Sausage with Eggplant, Tomato Confit and Roasted garlic.
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I'm not a huge sausage eater but this dish rocked. The roasted garlic and tomato confit added a slightly sweeter flavor to the spicy sausage.
My favorite part of his dish though was the mashed potatoes.
Gramercy tavern has my favorite mashed potatoes in the world and these were almost identical.
Super creamy and smooth they were almost like a milky potato puree. Yum!!
We were both very happy with our entrees and I don't think we left anything on our plates. We were stuffed but of course the best part about restaurant week is that dessert is included!
Who cares if you feel like you might explode!! Dessert is on the way!
I got the Araguani Chocolate Custard with Passion Fruit Sorbet.
.jpg)
The dish was almost more like a custard tart with a scoop of sorbet on top and passion fruit syrup on the bottom.
The sweet custard and sour passion fruit worked well together and I ate the whole thing in about two seconds flat.
Mr T ordered the Sheep's Milk cheesecake with Summer Berries and Lemon Verbeana.
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The cheesecake had a light airy texture and the berries and lemons gave it a crisp refreshing flavor.
An excellent way to end our meal!
So there you have it. Without drinks our total for the meal was $48.16.
We kind of laughed a little because the other times we have been here we have dropped a LOT more money and never experienced this level of deliciouness.
I was truly wowed by this meal and the marvelous talent of Chef Humm.
All I know is next restaurant week this will be on the top of my list to get a reservation. Hopefully this time at a table so I can enjoy the room a little more.
I'm sorry Park Avenue Summer. Your meal was great, but I lied. It wasn't the best I have ever had. Eleven Madison swept me off my feet. It is truly in a league all of it's own.
Simply wonderful.
Eleven Madison Park
In my previous post about Park Avenue Summer, I said it was the best Restaurant Week meal I had ever had.
And it was...until two days later when I went to Eleven Madison Park and got my socks knocked off.
Now I have been to Eleven Madison twice before for dinner, and while I enjoyed it, it never blew me away. I mean the crispy pork was always amazing of course, but that's all I really remember being fabulous.
Well now I can say, Eleven Madison blew me away AND it was during restaurant week!
It was the last day of restaurant week and Mr. T and I had the day off of work. We decided we would try to get in one more RW lunch. We started out by going to the Tavern room at Gramercy tavern.
We walked up and were greeted by about 20 people crammed into the front room waiting for a seat.
We turned around and headed straight for Eleven Madison. I was scared they would be packed as well but we were able to score a seat at the bar.
Unfortunately we had our backs to lovely dining room and beautiful windows overlooking the park, but I turned around a couple of times during my meal and that made it a little better :)
We started off our meal by ordering some beers. Mr T got the Kostritzer, Schwarzbier and I got the Professor Fritz Briem, which is a Berliner Weisse from Germany.
.jpg)
With Berliner Weisse beers, due to their fermentation process they are very strong in lactic acid. Many times people add fruit syrup to the glass in order to reduce the sharpness of the beer.
I enjoy the beer on its' own but the bartender had some really neat flavors so I decided to try them out.
.jpg)
He gave me three different syrups a strawberry, pomegranate and honey lavender.
The Honey Lavender was my favorite by far. The sweetness of the honey really mellowed out the tart flavor of the beer and gave it a silky feel.
I still prefer my beer 'au natural' but it was nice to try something new.
And I have to say, being a total girl right now, it was kind of fun having those cute mini pitchers to pour into my beer!!
The restaurant week menu here works the same way it does everywhere else. You pick an appetizer, main course and dessert for $24.08.
For my appetizer I ordered the Big Eye Tuna.
.jpg)
The presentation was beautiful and the tuna itself was tender and delicious. It was covered in a fantastic olive oil and complemented with rolled up pieces of kiwi, watermelon and mango.
I honestly didn't care for the fruit with the tuna. I thought it was so good on its own the fruit just took away from the flavor.
I asked for a copy of the menu when we left and realized that the dish was different than I had ordered. On the menu it was supposed to come with Heirloom tomatoes not fruit. I wonder if the kitchen ran out of tomatoes last minute and whipped us this idea!
Luckily they didn't run out of anything for Mr. Trekker's appetizer the Sweetbread Ravioli with Sweet Corn, Lime and chorizo.
.jpg)
Oh my Word! This dish is permanently in my list of the five best things I have ever eaten in my life!
I took one bite and I felt my eyes roll back into my head. The sweetbread had a rich creamy texture and the light eggy ravioli was covered in a corn foam that was utterly delightful.
Words cannot describe how good this dish was. I wanted to take my piece of bread and soak up every last drop of that corn foam. Good thing sweetbreads aren't available in every restaurant. I think I would be about 500 pounds!
For my main course I ordered the Seared Skate with Cauliflower, Lemons and capers.
.jpg)
I was wowed once again. And by skate!
The skate was cooked perfectly so that the outside has a great crispy crust but the inside was moist and flaky.
The cauliflower and capers tasted like they were caramelized in butter almost and sprinkled with a little lemon for some acidity.
Simply wonderful!
Mr. T ordered the Colorado Lam Sausage with Eggplant, Tomato Confit and Roasted garlic.
.jpg)
I'm not a huge sausage eater but this dish rocked. The roasted garlic and tomato confit added a slightly sweeter flavor to the spicy sausage.
My favorite part of his dish though was the mashed potatoes.
Gramercy tavern has my favorite mashed potatoes in the world and these were almost identical.
Super creamy and smooth they were almost like a milky potato puree. Yum!!
We were both very happy with our entrees and I don't think we left anything on our plates. We were stuffed but of course the best part about restaurant week is that dessert is included!
Who cares if you feel like you might explode!! Dessert is on the way!
I got the Araguani Chocolate Custard with Passion Fruit Sorbet.
.jpg)
The dish was almost more like a custard tart with a scoop of sorbet on top and passion fruit syrup on the bottom.
The sweet custard and sour passion fruit worked well together and I ate the whole thing in about two seconds flat.
Mr T ordered the Sheep's Milk cheesecake with Summer Berries and Lemon Verbeana.
.jpg)
The cheesecake had a light airy texture and the berries and lemons gave it a crisp refreshing flavor.
An excellent way to end our meal!
So there you have it. Without drinks our total for the meal was $48.16.
We kind of laughed a little because the other times we have been here we have dropped a LOT more money and never experienced this level of deliciouness.
I was truly wowed by this meal and the marvelous talent of Chef Humm.
All I know is next restaurant week this will be on the top of my list to get a reservation. Hopefully this time at a table so I can enjoy the room a little more.
I'm sorry Park Avenue Summer. Your meal was great, but I lied. It wasn't the best I have ever had. Eleven Madison swept me off my feet. It is truly in a league all of it's own.
Simply wonderful.
Eleven Madison Park
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