6.06.2008

Eleven Madison Square (New York - Union Square)

1 Madison Avenue
New York, NY 10010
212-880-0905
http://www.elevenmadisonpark.com/
Executive Chef: Daniel Humm

On our last day in NYC, we made reservations for an early lunch at Eleven Madison Park. They have a prix fixe "Market Menu" for $38 (appetizer and entree). This is the entrance of the restaurant with its rotating doors to a former bank in the MetLife building.
The art deco interior and high ceilings are accompanied with hanging lanterns, glass panels, leaf patterns, and grand centerpieces of flowers and shrubbery.
Here is my selection of the multi-grain bread and olive bread....
We both order the Market Menu. We started with a nice tomato soup with poached quail egg, basil, and bread pieces, finished with a drizzle of olive oil.
Our next course was a crusted lamb with sweetbreads, over turnip puree. The puree was smooth and creamy and complemented well with the lamb and sweetbreads. The lamb was perfectly tender and I enjoyed every bite of it. I'm fairly new in tasting sweetbreads (which are thymus glands of veal, young beef, lamb and pork), but these were very flavorful and had a soft, but plump texture. I'm not sure it's my favorite just quite yet.
Although the food was quite exquisite and tasty, the service was not up to par. Good service and timing is so important in these kinds of establishment. We had to wait a long while before getting our orders taken... and when our food came out.. we waited for another long while because we didn't have any utensils and our server didn't even notice us since he was standing at the counter, dazing off somewhere, while our food was getting cold! And plus he was a bit haughty and cold..(brought out the dessert menu without saying a word or smile). Thumbs down on service! But the food was excellent!

No comments: