The famed New York restaurant Eleven Madison Park was named the third-best restaurant in the world last night, an honor that hasn’t been awarded to an American restaurant in — fittingly — 11 years.
“We were definitely hopeful to move up a little bit,” said chef and co-owner Daniel Humm. “It’s unbelievable, it’s an incredible honor.”
Eleven Madison Park is known for its refined, seven-to-nine course tasting menus, which are $295 excluding beverages. The restaurant was founded in 1998 by restaurateur Danny Meyer as a French brasserie, but in the years since, it has become world-renowned for elegant fine dining, earning three Michelin stars.
Eleven Madison Park follows Osteria Francescana in Modena, Italy, which rose to the top spot on the list for the first time. Francescana claimed first place from El Celler de Can Roca, which dropped to second place this year. Eleven Madison Park claimed the third spot from Noma, Rene Redzepi’s Copenhagen restaurant that ushered in a Scandinavian food craze, dropping to fifth place this year in a major upset.
The World’s 50 Best Restaurants ranking is an annual list produced by culinary professionals, food writers and other members of the World’s 50 Best Restaurants Academy, a spinoff from the UK magazine Restaurant, which used to calculate the rankings. The list itself has risen in stature over the years — some say it has even surpassed the longstanding Michelin Guide as the top-ranked restaurant ranking in the world. The awards were announced Monday night in New York at a splashy ceremony attended by chefs from around the world.
You’ll need a passport and a lot of cash to dine at the restaurants on this list. The top 50 is dominated by Spanish restaurants, which take seven of the spots, and the majority of the restaurants are in Europe. But the Unied States is close behind. Five other restaurants made the list: Chicago’s Alinea (No. 15), New York’s Le Bernardin (No. 24), San Francisco’s Saison (a first-timer at No. 27), New York’s Estela (another debut at No. 44) and Blue Hill at Stone Barns, in Pocantico Hills, N.Y. (No. 48).
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One restaurant missing from that list: The French Laundry, Thomas Keller’s esteemed restaurant in California wine country. The restaurant is the only American restaurant to have ever taken the top spot on the list, coming in first in 2003 and 2004. Last year, it was No. 50, and this year, it dropped out of the top 50 entirely, in a dizzying fall to 85. (The World’s 50 Best also maintains a “long list” of the restaurants ranked 51 through 100). That doesn’t necessarily mean you should cancel your reservations there, though. On its website, the World’s 50 Best says a decline in rank “does not necessarily represent a decline in the standards of that restaurant. It could be an indication of shifting culinary tastes, or it could also represent that a geographical area is becoming more important.”
Share this articleShareHumm attributes his rise to Eleven Madison Park’s turn toward minimalism. This year the restaurant streamlined its menu and cut the number of courses offered to provide a better experience for guests.
He was always drawn to minimalism, but “I was never able to do it, because I felt, ‘Oh it needs another sauce, or another puree, or another crispy element, or another technique to show off.’ I think over time, I’ve been able to take things off the plate rather than adding things. I believe very much that less is more. There’s no room for error, it has to be perfect and work very well.”
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He added: “As a chef, it took me a long time to find myself.”
Humm, a native of Switzerland, was impressed by the American showing in this year’s World’s 50 Best list.
“As a whole, it seems pretty fair,” he said. “To have more than 10 percent [American restaurants] in the top 50, I think it’s pretty good.” Though, “It would be nice to see a restaurant from the South. There’s such a cuisine there.”
He spent Tuesday thanking his staff, after a raucous night celebrating the restaurant’s accomplishments. At one point, he danced on top of a bar with chefs Massimo Bottura, Daniel Boulud and Alain Ducasse to music DJed by Questlove.
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