OK I’ll say it. Good luck with that.
I had them penciled in next time I go to my penthouse. No more.
Note that the price will remain at $355.
Well, I didn’t try it back when in the day - we were going to go and I’d have loved to, but I really didn’t want to pay $1000 or whatever the price was up front. Now I don’t need to go.
My mistake. it’s “only” $335 not $355 :). Can’t edit my post anymore.
Plus the bar bill
It should be quite interesting to see the results. However, 335 $ Usd is quite alot of money for a totally fish and meat free carte … I wish Daniel Humm the best of luck however, veganism is not my cup to tea.
These comments remind of the scene from “Working Girl”
When Joan Cusack is looking at some of Sigourney’s wardrobe as Melanie/Tess searches for the right dress to wear, looks at the price tag on a dress and utters the classic line in thick Staten Island accent:
“Six thousand dollars? It’s not even leather!”
I’ve been to the prior iterations of EMP a half a dozen times or so. First time it was interesting. Got this little grid and you made a few choices. By the end and the various changes, it had become tiresome. Humm’s conceit had IMO become full of itself. The made up little stories and vignettes that went with every course were very trite. Service and cooking were stellar, but spare me your lessons. I’ve also grown tired of 3+ hour tasting menus. Best part of the meal was when they gave you the bottle of granola for the next day’s breakfast.
I’m not sure what going vegan is supposed to demonstrate. The restaurant sources the “finest” ingredients. They may be local but I expect many ingredients come from all over the world shipped by air. I can tell you that not much in the way of fresh local vegan sustainable products are available in the winter in NYC. That meal in January will have traveled further by air than most people would in a year.
Fair point. I’ll back that up from experience.
Having a winter CSA (Community Supported Agriculture) share this season showed me that greenhouse-grown spinach, kale, and (weather permitting) baby salad greens are the mainstays of what one might expect for freshly picked produce in the Northeast. Cultivated mushrooms when available.
Other items we received have been storage crops: beets, turnips, winter squash, potatoes, carrots, parsnips, cabbage, onions, and apples. Various dried beans would be possible too (though we don’t get them as part of our CSA).
I’ve been mostly good with that limited wintertime palette as a home cook. But even for me, 100% local is tough in winter. I buy tomato, avocado, and citrus—decidedly not local—to brighten things up. And I should note that we do include dairy/eggs/animal protein in our diets.
I too wonder how the locally sourced part could scale for a fine-dining restaurant in NYC. Is there enough locally or regionally grown produce available in winter? And would diners pay the price point? Hmmm.
With you on that one.
My metro area has recently had a restaurant awarded a Michelin star. First time in something like 30 years. It’s a long, long tasting menu. We’ve been putting off going for a year but have now made a reservation. In truth, it’s more because we’ve moaned about the lack of starred places in the city and feel we’ve just got to try it, than through any real sense of expectation.
Isn’t that one of the nice parts of a dinner to have a great night and a relaxed, long time with great food and company.
Yes, absolutely. But the dinner doesn’t have to come in 18 parts with explanations coming with each. I’m there to enjoy a meal with those sitting at the table. Not get a lesson from the server.
Another +1
Last time I was at EMP, it was close to 5 hours.
I started getting hungry in between courses.
I’m with you on this. I don’t think there are many people that really want to eat local and seasonal unless they happen to live in SoCal. If one were to really stick with such a diet, it would become pretty dull. No fresh greens until spring, then a flood, no tomatoes until Aug/Sept then you’re making sauce and gazpacho until you can’t stand it.
As to those willing/able to pay the tariff, its NYC. There will be takers. I might even try it once if I can convince my wife. She has grown even colder on the place than I have. The head fake on the baked alaska dessert was the last straw for her.
While I try to prioritize local and seasonal produce, I don’t have the time, discipline, or even the desire to feed us that way exclusively.
I should also add that when we have been to nicer restaurants in NYC, often the “local” seafood has been sourced from New England somewhere. Which means it may have traveled more miles than we have driven from Massachusetts.
Guessing that for produce the notion of “local” may turn out to be similar.
I got into soem disagreement with a front of house manager. It had been a very long night and we had to be up early to catch the ferry to France. There had been what we considered to be inordinate delays between each course (over 15 minutes from dirty crockery being collected to new course being served). It all added up over the many courses. It got to the point where I had to raise the matter to be told that chef thought this was the right time lapse. I told him in no uncertain terms that chef was wrong and they either bring me dessert or bring me the bill. We got dessert a couple of minutes later. They are no longer in business
Same here.
Barcelona is in the North-east on the Mediterranean however, we have snow storms and long winters.
We also have to purchase some types of fruit from the southeast and southwest and the 7 Canary Islands. Since we are a Port, we have access to alot of produce (fruits) from Tarragona, Valencia and Alicante and Murcia and Almeria, the whole east coast.
I’ve been to Almeria and was suprised at the “plasticultura” there - very large areas given over to agriculture under plastic sheeting (sa a cheap alternative to glasshouses). I remember coming over a hill and seeing what I first thought was a lake spreading out as far as you could see. Only when we got closer it became clear that it was plastic sheeting. The UK buys quite a bit of those crops - the products that we can’t grow on our small cold wet island.
