Eleven Madison Park is one of the top restaurants in the world, and when it reopens post-COVID, it will be ~vegan. elevenmadisonpark.com
This is just inconceivably daring to me—expectations for this echelon are already impossibly high, competition already intensely fierce.
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I'm not vegan, but I've been amazed how much progress has been made in the past decade towards making that choice feel tractable, or like not a huge sacrifice. I think this is how we'll get there eventually, if we do—rather than through old-school guilting. Wizard vs prophet.
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Even before I became vegan I judged restaurants based on their creativity & execution of non-meat dishes. Steak & chops aren’t exactly dishes that require much of either, I’ve never understood why we pretend like those are the benchmarks of culinary excellence.
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Right. In general, I don't think such places are judged for steak/chops; but courses they *are* judged for usually do involve animal products. (e.g. EMP is famous for a lox-inspired smoked sturgeon canape and for creative foie gras presentations)
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Yeah sorry my rant was less about ultra high end and more about steakhouse culture in general.