Of the many radical reinventions that have made Eleven Madison Park an object of fascination for food lovers around the world, one of Daniel Humm’s earliest controversies happened just after he started the job. “People were revolting,” the 46-year-old remembers with one of those rare, downturned smiles reserved for nostalgia. Though the so-called “French fry incident,” like many of the others, was certainly not as funny at the time.
The restaurant originally opened in 1998 as a classic New York brasserie in the former storage space of the art deco Metropolitan Life North Building on the southwest edge of Madison Square Park. When owner Danny Meyer, the hospitality mogul responsible for the likes of Union Square Cafe, Gramercy Tavern, and Shake Shack, poached Humm from San Francisco’s Campton Place a near-decade later, the young Swiss chef had a different direction for Eleven Madison Park in mind—and a new menu to boot. Eighty-sixing the fries, which were crisped so much they left a painterly trail of oil across their paper cone container, was Humm’s first executive decision. “People sent letters to Danny saying, ‘This restaurant is going to close, you’ll never make it,’’ he says. “I didn’t actually want to get rid of them, but there was no room for French fries for where I wanted to go.”
A quarter of a century later, Humm has finally gotten there. Seated on a velvety French blue banquette in the lavish dining room of the Eleven Madison Park he always knew it could be—the restaurant he joined as chef de cuisine in 2006, that he purchased from his boss-slash-mentor in 2011 with Will Guidara, the business partner whom, to much surprise, he then bought out eight years later—today he is happy, proud even, if he lets himself admit it.
Humm spent the first two decades of his life training to become a pro cyclist, and still maintains the rigor of an athlete striving for perfection, of which he’s come near-close. Now the sole proprietor of the restaurant, Humm is more than just a chef who moved from the line to the back office. He is the lifeblood of the Eleven Madison Park brand, and his progressive menu has set the standard for American fine dining again and again: first as a choose-your-own-adventure style pre-fixe with an inventive take on haute cuisine—his honey lavender duck has become a topic of fierce debate among imitators on Reddit, as has his pig bladders-braised celery root—and now, notably, as entirely plant-based. All this has earned Humm 11 James Beard Foundation Awards, three Michelin stars, the coveted top spot on The World’s 50 Best Restaurants, and more—plus loyal patronage from the likes of Billie Eilish, Angelina Jolie, and Gabriela Hearst. The chef has also launched Eleven Madison Home, co-founded the food equity non-profit Rethink Food with his former Chef de Partie Matt Jozwiak, and authored a handful of books.
“I’ve spent more hours in this place than anywhere else over my entire lifetime,” says Humm, nodding to an artwork on a chalkboard that the Hungarian painter Rita Ackermann made for the restaurant’s largest renovation in 2017, one of the restaurateur’s many chapters of reinvention. It’s surrounded by other site-specific commissions by artists like Daniel Turner, Rashid Johnson, and Olympia Scarry. “They’re all very personal,” says Humm. “Some of them are challenging, even. The overall idea was about changing direction—about respecting the past in order to go forward. It’s about erasing, creating.” As Eleven Madison Park hits its 25th anniversary this fall, the sentiment could not be more true.
To mark the milestone of the brand that has become an extension of himself, the chef is celebrating as he knows best: in a multitude of ways. First up is Eat More Plants, a new book with German publisher Steidl. Unlike Humm’s past tomes, which opened up his professional kitchens to the general public, this coffee-table book peers into his soul.
The 184-page release features vibrant paintings, delectable drawings, and reflective annotations taken directly from the personal journals Humm made during the pandemic, when he converted Eleven Madison Park into a commissary kitchen to produce over 3,000 meals per day for New Yorkers in need. “What is luxury in food today? It is our privilege and responsibility to see these answers,” Humm writes in the book, meditating on food equity and the industry’s impact on the planet. “We reached the summit when we became the best restaurant in the world, I felt in truth that there is something more.”
The pages of the new book document Eleven Madison Park’s transition to meatlessness, and the ethics that Humm holds dear—a journey that foodies will be able to taste firsthand in a special edition anniversary tasting menu, launching October 3. Representing the restaurant’s past, present, and future, the six-course menu will be available at Eleven Madison Park for six weeks, with the first booking reservations going live next week. The actual experience begins like many others do at Eleven Madison Park: with a savory black and white cookie. It’s a nod to the restaurant’s New York roots, only unlike the original apple and cheddar dish that Humm once served, guests will enjoy a surprise new interpretation. They’ll also dine on revisited classics from the past 25 years, including carrot tartare (“a plant dish we had before we knew were plant-based,” says Humm), avocado tonburi vegan caviar, and other menu favorites. To top it off, the restaurateur will add three meals for every anniversary month diner to its 1,000-plus monthly meal donation to Rethink Food.
“Vegetables are not scary,” adds Humm, who has been outspoken about the fact our current food system is unsustainable, even speaking about its environmental effects at the United Nations Climate Change and the Global Citizen Summit. “I’ve always tried to have an open mind and to challenge ourselves—to change traditions—because many of them don’t make sense anymore. I think if we can all be a bit more open, we’ll realize how beautiful and delicious life can be.”
