The Big Restaurant That Failed Veganism

Mint

a day ago

(Bloomberg Opinion) -- To atone before god, the book of Leviticus prescribes choosing two goats, one of which is slain as sacrifice and the other set loose to bear the sins of the people of Israel into the wilderness. That did not mean the animal was home free. Tradition states that the 'scapegoat' was pursued and dashed to pieces as it was driven off a cliff. Such is the origin of our modern-day, secular practice of placing blame on others for the mistakes we've committed ourselves.
There is an actual goat involved in a preeminent restaurant's decision to put meat back on its menu after four years of veganism. In an interview with the New York Times, chef Daniel Humm of Eleven Madison Park in Manhattan relates that he had an epiphany during a trip to Greece earlier this year.
He and some colleagues traveled into the mountains to watch a shepherd slaughter a goat. 'It's very moving and there's such respect,' he said. 'If you had seen the whole cycle, of course you would never waste a bite of this.' He spent the next several months thinking about that...
Apart from having a goat to blame, Humm has other reasons for returning to meat (which is to be served only upon request and in relatively small portions with the new menu that launches in October). Among those related to the New York Times, he was no longer comfortable with carnivores feeling excluded from EMP; inspiration for fresh vegan dishes had grown sparser; and, finally, he told the newspaper: 'It's hard to get 30 people for a corporate dinner to come to a plant-based restaurant.' And so EMP's famous honey-lavender-glazed duck will be resurrected, even as the chef clings to the principles of the restaurant's vegan period.
Humm told the newspaper that he expected to be excoriated for his decision to revive the omnivore roots of the 27-year old restaurant. And he was prophetic. I'm doing it right now. The most biting (and hilarious) parody of Humm's official statement is on restaurateur Eli Sussman's Instagram account (@thesussmans): 'We will still offer a plant based menu in a purely performative manner to pander to media and vegans… What I've learned is that to champion plant based cooking, I need to accept that the best plant based cooking involves meat.' The killer line: 'We need food to survive and for $395 a person I need to make sure you feel like it's sort of worth it.'
First, let me say that I am not a vegan. But I do not believe that plant-based cuisine leaves little room for fresh inspiration. A visionary chef can create food that even carnivores can enjoy. That's the case with Plates here in London, the soul-stirring project of Kirk Haworth that's just over a year old. He works with a kind of molecular magic but with the comfort level dialed way up. So much so that you think he's cheating by sneaking in real ricotta (its cashew-based) and ice cream (oat milk). And a course of sourdough laminated with whipped coconut and olive oil can only be disliked by people who think bread must be, well, bready.
All of his creations can be categorized as plant-based or vegan — but he doesn't use the words. That's because he's come up with a cuisine of his own — a culinary philosophy that's the result of preparing food to help him heal from a yearslong bout with Lyme disease. The offerings at Plates may not be the most Instagram-friendly, but the flavors and vibrant intellect that inspired them are oh so satisfying. With its quiet pyrotechnics, Haworth's Plates speaks from the heart.
EMP's food can be gorgeous. Nevertheless, the scuttlebutt among restaurant folks is that a lot of its inspiration is rather liberally borrowed. Big-time kitchens have a lot in common with the Big Tech companies that re-engineer chips or software to replicate a function already patented by rivals but different enough to claim a patent of its own.
One of the more remarked upon dishes at the vegan EMP was a painstakingly prepared beet that was baked in an elaborate clay pot that was then cracked open at tableside. In 2021, Peter Wells, who was then the New York Times restaurant critic, sniffed that the result smelled of lemon-scented wood polish. He noted that a much more successful (and edible) version had been produced by the Icelandic chef Gunnar Karl Gislason at his restaurant Agern, in Grand Central Station, just 18-blocks north of EMP. Agern had closed the year before EMP became plant-based.
Humm has a chameleon habit of changing his restaurant's colors every few years or so, as if responding to trends. In 2012, EMP took on a New York City theme, including waiters emulating three-card monte sharks and a carnival atmosphere, with a four-hour tasting menu. (Tickets by Albert Adria in Barcelona, which had a comparable circus-like approach, opened the previous year.) Seven years later, Humm switched from city slicker to minimalism (with a simplicity echoing some of the dishes in Rene Redzepi's resurgent Noma, which had reopened in Copenhagen the year before). In 2021, he turned EMP vegan, as some critics noted, just as plant-based cuisine was becoming a social trend. This year, as beef and even tallow make a comeback, meat is returning to his restaurant. EMP started off serving French brasserie food before Humm took over the kitchen in 2005.
Despite all this snark, when I lived in New York, I'd sit in Eleven Madison Park if given the opportunity, even if it was at the bar and I had to pay enormous sums for a bejeweled snack and a glass of champagne. Had I not learned my lesson from the hundreds of dollars spent on a meal that immediately after had me looking for a hot dog cart in midtown because I was famished? What was the appeal?
The space. With the opulent exception of the Villard in the New York Palace hotel, Eleven Madison Park is an immensity where you can let your make-it-here-make-it-anywhere fantasies fly. The interior was magnetic before Humm took over the kitchen and remains exhilarating even after a 2017 renovation. It is a perennial reminder of New York's perpetual gilded age, a pampering dreamscape kept up by an impeccable front-of-the-house staff and a kitchen of perhaps 50 detail-obsessed culinary artisans. All it needs is honest food.
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This column reflects the personal views of the author and does not necessarily reflect the opinion of the editorial board or Bloomberg LP and its owners.
Howard Chua-Eoan is a columnist for Bloomberg Opinion covering culture and business. He previously served as Bloomberg Opinion's international editor and is a former news director at Time magazine.
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