Eleven Madison Park’s $335 New Vegan Menu has a 15k Waitlist
The iconic Three-Michelin-Star restaurant in New York now has a 15,000 person waitlist after switching to an entirely plant-based menu.
Credit: Eleven Madison Park
When Eleven Madison Park, one of the most famous restaurants in the world, recently made the bold decision to switch to an entirely vegan menu when it reopened post-pandemic, it sent shockwaves through the world of fine dining.
Co-owner and Chef Daniel Humm admitted “it wasn’t clear if guests would come", but a month later, it seems the choice to remove meat, and put vegetables centre-stage has paid-off, with the restaurant attracting a 15,000-person waitlist ahead of its June 10 reopening.
The Michelin star restaurant offers an eight-to-ten course seasonal tasting menu at $335 USD per person. On top of that, every dinner purchased at Eleven Madison Park now helps to provide five meals to people experiencing food insecurity in its home city: New York.
“It is time to redefine luxury as an experience that serves a higher purpose and maintains a genuine connection to the community,” said Humm. “A restaurant experience is about more than what’s on the plate. 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.”
The new plant-based menu showcases dishes like summer squash with grilled tofu and lemongrass and sweet pepper with Swiss chard, a far cry from the restaurant’s famed butter poached lobster and lavender honey glazed duck.
The move to switch to a vegan menu comes after the pandemic inspired a change-of-heart in Hamm: “In the midst of last year … we realized that not only has the world changed, but that we have changed as well”, Hamm said in a statement posted on EMP’s website. “We have always operated with sensitivity to the impact we have on our surroundings, but it was becoming ever clearer that the current food system is simply not sustainable, in so many ways”.
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