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I’ve just returned from New York City, where I enjoyed a wonderful 4-hour lunch at Eleven Madison Park. As a rule, I don’t do restaurant reviews on my site. And what could I possibly say about EMP, except that it lived up to – and exceeded – my very high expectations? The food was creative, [...]

When I did my big 6-course dinner party last month, I had originally invited my friends Laura and Mike, but they had to bow out at the last minute to deal with a sick child. Enough time has passed since then that I felt able to work up another menu of restaurant-level dishes for them. [...]

I got a lot out of participating in last week’s Eleven Madison Park tribute dinner in Ottawa, but all of it was in intangible form. Really, there was only one tangible thing I wanted to take away, and I didn’t even manage that: a jar of Eleven Madison Park granola. The story goes that every [...]

It’s always nice when a happy confluence makes it convenient to participate in several great activities in a short period. Such was the case on my recent trip to Ottawa. My husband wanted to go in order to do some research and celebrate his birthday, I wanted to go for dinner at Atelier (especially in [...]

I’ve wanted to make veal stock for a long time. I’ve probably wanted to make veal stock ever since I first read The French Laundry Cookbook. I definitely wanted to make it after reading some of Michael Ruhlman’s writings on it. And, recently, reading the Eleven Madison Park cookbook and seeing some of the recipes [...]

Even after the meal was over and the positive reviews were in, my trouble with the Eleven Madison Park gougères continued to bother me. Gougères are just pâte à choux (similar to the pastry used for cream puffs and éclairs), with the addition of some grated cheese. I’ve made pâte à choux several times before; [...]

When I said I would be cooking out of the Eleven Madison Park cookbook “soon,” I neglected to mention that it would be as part of another “tribute” dinner, this time hosted by chef Murray Wilson of Atelier. Murray’s affinity for “EMP” dates back to 2008, when he dined there. That meal, and a subsequent [...]