If there’s one thing chef Daniel Humm of New York City’s Eleven Madison Park knows, it’s that the key to a person’s heart is most easily accessible through their stomach. And there’s nothing more romantic than that.
The three-Michelin star restaurant Eleven Madison Park has been a Manhattan institution since 1998. And ever since Chef Humm turned the menu fully plant-based in 2021, it has become one of the most exciting destinations for climate-conscious, ethical diners. Eleven Madison weathered the pandemic storm, it turned its cheek to the blowback for removing meat and dairy from the menu, and it has since expanded its footprint with a wine club and Eleven Madison Home products that ship nationwide.
The restaurant’s culinary team is constantly fine-tuning recipes in the kitchen and from the bar, as well as its range of cooking essentials in the Eleven Madison Home collection — from oils and vinegars to granola, and its house-label non-alcoholic vermouth. It collaborated with Bill Couig of Furthurdesign on unique candle votives for the Eleven Madison Park dining room that it’s now also offering to customers through the collection. The votives are hand-blown in Couig’s Brooklyn studio, scented with lavender and sage soy wax, and hand poured by Enly candles.
While Eleven Madison Park serves a must-experience two-hour, six-course tasting menu in the restaurant, Humm says meals at home don’t have to be nearly as complicated to be good — or romantic. “Your intention and the ingredients are what should shine through,” he told Ethos via email. “The best meals at home, whether it’s for Valentine’s Day or any other day with loved ones, are the ones where you keep it simple,” he says. His top tip? Using the best quality ingredients you can find from your local farmers market. Not only does this bring you the freshest options, but also the most sustainable as local food is key to reducing our carbon footprints.
For the rest of it, there’s the Eleven Madison Home collection, which Humm says was created “to help bring a small slice of our experience to people cooking at home.” He says the collection offers solutions for those who are celebrating Valentine’s Day or any other special meals at home where the restaurant’s pantry essentials can be used to help elevate a dish or special dinner experience, “whether that’s a drizzle of our infused oils and vinegar to finish off a salad or pasta, or even our granola trio for a delicious breakfast in bed the next day,” he says.
While a bottle of wine or champagne has long been the romantic dinner accompaniment staple, Humm says his restaurant’s guests have been eager for more moderate drinking options in recent years, and nonalcoholic options can be just as sexy and just as delicious as alcohol. “Our beverage team, led by Sebastian Tollius, has been so innovative with the development of our non-alcoholic bar program,” Humm says.
Eleven Madison Park has been offering a zero-proof vermouth to diners for years. It’s made seasonally with a base of different fruits, corresponding with the tasting menu — apricot in the warmer months, citrus in winter, and orchard fruits in the fall — and infused with almost 30 different herbs, spices, and roots. “Our current variation is crafted with Niagara grape juice and infused for 24 hours with aromatics such as wormwood, angelica root, and gentian, creating a complex, yet versatile flavor profile,” he says.
You can skip the alcohol for your romantic dinner, but Humm doesn’t recommend skipping the dessert. Desserts are a very personal thing, says the chef. “[Y]ou could either recreate a favorite family dessert or incorporate a game or playful touch that makes the most sense to you personally,” he says. But Humm says you can’t go wrong with a chocolate dessert.
“At Eleven Madison Park, we have added in an element of magic and fun to some of the desserts we’ve served over the years. On Valentine’s Day, we always serve a plant-based take on a Baked Alaska, which is lit tableside, and for our 25th Anniversary menu last year, we brought back our ‘Name That Milk’ chocolate guessing game,” he says. “[I]t’s the thoughtfulness and the idea of quality over quantity that is so important when creating any dish, especially a sweet finale.”
Shop the Eleven Madison Home collection here.
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