Nothing sends a semi-addicted foodie to the point of no return quicker than moving to New York. It is a city where every cuisine is available in every price range, and in varied types of fabulousness. I have become so obsessed that my visits to menupages.com outnumber clicks to saks.com. Any reason to eat out becomes an opportunity to explore more uncharted gastronomic territory.
For someone so obsessed with popping restaurant cherries, there are few greater things than New York Restaurant Week! Every summer and winter, there are two magical weeks when Manhattan's best restaurants practically give away their top dollar fare. Three course lunches are traditionally priced at $24 plus a cent value corresponding to the current year (meaning this year it's $24.08 while last year's price was $24.07). Three course dinners will set you back about $35-50 (plus tip and tax). On any other day, that same moolah will only buy you an entree, so these prix fixe offers are a steal!
For Restaurant Week Summer '08, I was fortunate enough to have a proactive foodie for a co-worker. Ludette not only to booked us tables at Eleven Madison Park and Grayz, but also talked our boss into letting us go off on two 2-hour lunches in a row! Our first lunchtime escapade was to Eleven Madison Park. This ultra posh restaurant is best remembered as the scene of the crime, where Mr. Big told Carrie that he was engaged to Natasha, thereby causing her to run into servers and create a shower of foam and foie gras. Knowing this, it was hard to keep thoughts of Sex and the City off my mind. From the instant I stepped into the restaurant until our server oh-so-politely brushed the last mini baguette crumb off our table linen, I couldn't stop thinking about how very Mr. Big the place was. Carrie's Galliano-wearing butt is meant to be parked in Chelsea's Cafeteria. This is Big territory.
For Restaurant Week Summer '08, I was fortunate enough to have a proactive foodie for a co-worker. Ludette not only to booked us tables at Eleven Madison Park and Grayz, but also talked our boss into letting us go off on two 2-hour lunches in a row! Our first lunchtime escapade was to Eleven Madison Park. This ultra posh restaurant is best remembered as the scene of the crime, where Mr. Big told Carrie that he was engaged to Natasha, thereby causing her to run into servers and create a shower of foam and foie gras. Knowing this, it was hard to keep thoughts of Sex and the City off my mind. From the instant I stepped into the restaurant until our server oh-so-politely brushed the last mini baguette crumb off our table linen, I couldn't stop thinking about how very Mr. Big the place was. Carrie's Galliano-wearing butt is meant to be parked in Chelsea's Cafeteria. This is Big territory.
But I digress. On to the important stuff. I started with heirloom tomatoes with big eye tuna and olio verde. OH. MY. GOD. Sooooo good ... the finely cubed tuna was so fresh, tender and juicy. When dipped into the olio verde and topped with tomato, it was just a wonderful melange of textures and tastes in your mouth. My entree took me down from my foodie high. I made the mistake of picking roast chicken with olives and artichoke, remembering too late that a chef friend had once commented that it's quite difficult to get good chicken at a restaurant because the prep process doesn't quite lead to tender, juicy chicken. I chomped through the log of white meat, which to be fair was very tasty, but was still left underwhelmed. They won back my love when dessert came with the glazed peaches with rosemary honey and mascarpone ice cream. I am all about contrasting tastes and textures so the combination of crunchy/squishy/soft and sweet/tart/slightly savory just made me giddy. My boyfriend Mika ordered a sheep's milk cheesecake with berries and lemon verbena that was a bit more dolled up than mine (which is why I have a picture of it on top). It had lemon verbena foam, for crying out loud, and anyone who's ever been put under the spell of Top Chef thinks foam rocks above all else! (Is it just me? Tough.)
Despite my white meat fiasco, the food in Eleven Madison Park is overall quite good. And the ambience and service is just impeccable. I definitely enjoyed the experience, but I don't think it's gonna be my new hangout anytime soon. Eleven Madison Park is really more Lillian van der Woodsen than it is Serena. And why the hell would I want to be Lillian when I can be Serena?
Where: 11 Madison Avenue at 24th Street, New York, NY 10010. Tel. 212.889.0905
When:
Mon-Fri: 11:30am-2pm
Mon-Thu: 5:30pm-10pm
Fri-Sat: 5:30pm-10:30pm
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