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Daniel Humm has two words for the critics who roast him after ditching meat and fish for an entirely vegetarian menu: Beetroot!
The chef and owner of Eleven Madison Park has achieved gastronomic glory over the past 19 months by turning his NoMad restaurant into a vegan shrine — and it’s not just because of overwhelming support from the press.
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When Hamm first told diners his 10-course, $365 meal would no longer include duck, lobster and caviar, customers were furious, he confirmed. Meanwhile, critics took him to task for serving what they called pricey but predictable vegetarian fare.
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Most famously, New York Times critic Pete Wells said The beetroot dish “tastes like a lemon wedge and smells like a burning joint.”
Hamm, 48, declined to comment specifically on the tough coverage. But he admitted that, in the beginning, concocting an entirely plant-based menu proved to be a bigger challenge than he expected.
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“In the beginning, we were like, ‘What’s the main course?’” Hamm said. “We didn’t know. There was no playbook that told us how to do it.”
In the end, Hamm says he was forced to rethink the dining experience. The accolades and retainers returned, and EMP was awarded three Michelin stars in October – a vegetarian first. The prestigious Restaurant Guide praised Hamm’s “zealous dedication to culinary precision” and called her all-plant menu “a bold approach to luxury dining”.
“The freshly baked, delicately crunchy vegetarian roll presented with faux butter is a magical creation,” said the guide. “A quenelle of tonburi, an imitation of caviar, plated with horseradish cream and a radish tostada with a swipe of pumpkin seed butter is simply amazing.”
According to Hamm, instead of using seasonal vegetables with animal proteins, the season itself became the story.
“I thought we would be limited but it turns out we were limited before because we were cooking seasonal spices for meat and fish. Today we are cooking completely out of season. All the dishes are in season.”
Although it’s no longer impossible to get a reservation, the mood in the dining room is “almost euphoric and of course it’s because it’s plant-based,” Hum said, adding that the diners are younger and more diverse.
“Earlier, by the time people got to the main course, the energy was crashing. People were full, sleepy and wanted to go home,” said the Swiss-born chef. “Now it’s the exact opposite. As the night wears on, the energy in the dining room all kicks up.”
The pandemic was a major driver in forcing Hamm, a former professional cyclist, to shift gears. They closed the restaurant and turned it into a commissary with Rethink Foods, founded by EMP alum, and where we serve as a founding board member. He said that during the 16 months after the EMP was closed, 10 lakh people were served food from the community kitchen.
When it came time to reopen the restaurant, Hamm said, “It was clear that I needed to use the language of food because the pandemic not only exposed food insecurity, it exposed a lot of broken systems, And I felt I had a responsibility and a unique platform to be really honest about what I’ve seen as a chef.
Now, Hamm said his focus is solely on taking vegan food to its rightful place at the culinary table.
“I wanted to use my language to show that you can have incredibly delicious, beautiful, magical food without animal products,” he said. “I am more convinced than ever that we are on the right side of history.”
Today, part of EMP’s $365-per-person tasting menu (for 8 to 10 courses) and its $195-per-person bar tasting menu (6 courses) goes toward the cost of 500 meals a day that EMP cooks provide to the city. Cook and serve for. Food unsafe from their truck. Hamm said the one-time meal at the restaurant provides five free meals to food insecure people.
Hamm said it is also a way of reproducing food waste – countering criticism in the press to the contrary. He has also been dogged by reports of paying an unlivable minimum wage to employees, which he declined to address when asked by Side Dish.
Away from the kitchen, the divorced father of three – who dropped out of school at 14, left home at 15 and had his first child at 18 – has been linked to billionaire philanthropist Laurene Powell Jobs, who was the widow of Apple founder Steve Jobs, and actress Demi Moore. (His love life was yet another topic he refused to delve into.)
Hamm’s passion for plant-based cuisine has made him a poster child for those who have started the new year with “Veganary” – a global campaign where people pledge to follow a vegan lifestyle for 30 days.
“Restaurants are embracing Veganuary like never before, from corner bodegas to Michelin-starred restaurants like Eleven Madison Park,” said Wendy Matthews, the US director of the nonprofit campaign.
Launched in 2014, just 3,325 people pledged to become vegetarian for a month. Mathews said that number rose to 400,000 during the pandemic and reached 629,000 last year.
we listen … There’s still time to cram in the best of the city’s holiday season from some of the city’s most creative chefs and restaurateurs. Pop-ups abound and holiday decorations are everywhere, including the Moxy Hotel’s Magic Hour rooftop lounge with its Instagram-savvy après-ski carousel and the Maccabee Bar for Hanukkah in the West Village.
Chef Daniel Humm’s all-vegan menu at Eleven Madison Park blossoms after rough patch
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