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“Eleven Madison”

Occasion:	Cuisine:	Area:	Cost:	Rating:
Night Out	New American	Flatiron	Break the Bank	Great

MY DINNER AT ELEVEN MADISON

Restaurants can sometimes make me feel a certain way. Some places make me feel cool, or like I might at least be cool for one night. Places like Freeman’s, Five Ninth, and The Spotted Pig. Others make me feel like I’m at home. I’d put Five Points, Tia Pol, and Little Owl in this category. The other night when I had dinner at Eleven Madison Park, I felt something I don’t often feel. I felt like a grown up. How rare. But that’s what happens whenever I dine there, or spend a night at the bar sipping on one of their sophisticated cocktails often garnished with Greenmarket fruit. I feel like a real honest-to-goodness adult. The next day I return to my usual mental state, somewhere in my teens, in my standard daily outfit of cargo pants, a t-shirt and a hoodie. Add braces and a skateboard and I could be a thirteen year-old. But when I pushed through the sturdy old revolving door of Eleven Madison last week, I was transformed into a civilized, put-together, and moderately educated and productive adult. Poof! It was a nice change.

The other nice change at Eleven Madison is its chef. Earlier this year, Eleven Madison’s original chef, Kerry Heffernan, was replaced by a young transplant from Europe by-way-of California—a 29 year-old chef named Daniel Humm. And Daniel is not messing around. He’s revamped the menu, taking every ounce of brasserie out of site, and infusing it with European elegance, sharpened with a bit of New York style.

While the kitchen has gone through a makeover, the room is still grand, with sky-high windows reaching up to vaulted ceilings stamped in rose and gold Art deco patterns, spacious tables draped in layers of creamy white linen, and walls lined in sumptuous espresso-toned tufted leather banquettes. Up at the bar, a snug but comfortable space up a few steps from dining room, there are comfy high back seats and cozy banquettes perfect for unwinding after work, or imbibing before or after dinner. The night I had dinner at Eleven Madison, I met my friend Erica for a cocktail, and found the bar in full swing, packed with bundles of corporate types taking the edge off the week, sipping assorted cocktails in clear, brown and rose colors. We snuck into the one empty banquette that remained, ordered a few house Negronis and felt the stress of ... [more, click below]

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Posted: October 9, 2006

Other restaurants in Flatiron :
+ Suenos   + Amuse-- Closed   + Dos Caminos   + Lucy-- Closed   + Gramercy Taver   + Veritas   + Fleur De Sel   + Bolo -- CLosed   + City Bakery   + Shake Shack   + Kalustyan's Cafe   + Devi   + BLT Fish   + Sugarcane   + BLT Prime   + Barca 18-- CLOSED   + Beppe   + Barbounia   + Boqueria   + Eleven Madison   + Lonesome Dove-- CLOSED   + Hill Country   + Olana   + Wildwood   + Primehouse   + Allegretti   + Bar Breton   + Aldea   + SD26 by Bao Ong   + ABC Kitchen   + Ciano   + The NoMad   

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