Eleven Madison Park to Add Meat Back to Menu

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Eleven Madison Park, the three Michelin starred restaurant in New York City known in recent years for its vegan menu, will once again serve dishes containing meat. Chef Daniel Humm says the decision is rooted in an attempt to bring more diners into the restaurant.

“I very much believed in the all-in approach, but I didn’t realize that we would exclude people,” Humm told the New York Times. “I have some anxiety that people are going to say, ‘Oh, he’s a hypocrite,’ but I know that the best way to continue to champion plant-based cooking is to let everyone participate around the table.”

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The move back to meat is in part an effort to raise revenues, as bookings for private events have been “particularly sparse,” the Times notes. “It’s hard to get 30 people for a corporate dinner to come to a plant-based restaurant,” Humm said.

Eleven Madison Park introduced an all plant-based, vegan menu in 2021, when the restaurant reopened after shutting down during the COVID-19 pandemic. During the pandemic, the restaurant turned into a community kitchen to produce meals to distribute through Rethink Food, a non-profit focused on reducing food insecurity. “One thing became clear to me,” Humm told T&C in 2021. “I’ve been so lucky and our restaurant has been awarded with so many things, but I’m still very young. What I’ve realized through the pandemic is that food is my voice, and we have a platform to inspire change. The more people who are talking about it, the more people who are inspired to do this work, the more things will actually change.”

Meat will be back on the menu starting in October. “To me, that is the most contemporary version of a restaurant,” Humm said, explaining his decision. “We offer a choice, but where our foundation continues to be plant-based.” He added, “When people come in and maybe they had one fish or a lobster or the duck but they also had 80 percent vegetable dishes, they might even like the vegetable dishes more.”