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Eleven Madison Park Plans a Makeover and a Summer Pop-Up

posted onFebruary 21, 2017

Article snippet: The restaurant’s ratings are as good as it gets: three stars from Michelin and four from The New York Times. But for all the success of Eleven Madison Park, its owners, Will Guidara and the chef Daniel Humm, are about to start a major overhaul. They plan to close the Manhattan restaurant on June 9 to renovate the kitchen and the dining room, and to ship the operation and staff to a more casual, temporary setting in the Hamptons. If all goes well, they expect to reopen in mid-September with a new look and a revised menu with some new dishes. “It’s time for a change,” Mr. Humm said. “We’ve been at the restaurant for 11 years, and it’s been open for 20 years. We’re still using Danny Meyer’s brasserie.” Mr. Humm was referring to the restaurant’s original owner, who sold it to them in 2011. Back then, they considered closing and renovating but held back because they thought it was more important to establish their footing. So they made only small changes over time to their stately dining room, with its Art Deco geometry and soaring casement windows overlooking Madison Square Park. The kitchen is also nearly 20 years old; its renovation will require closing the restaurant. Mr. Humm has already ordered a Molteni stove from France, a Rolls-Royce of cookery with a comparable price tag. But he does not plan to outfit his kitchen with lots of cutting-edge electronic gear. “We cook in a pretty traditional way,” he said. The partners are entrusting the redesign, which has not... Link to the full article to read more

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