Hospitality on the menu

I’ve spent a good part of my career working in restaurants and have always kept an eye on the trends.

So when one of the world’s best restaurants, Eleven Madison Park, reopened after the pandemic serving only a plant-based tasting menu, my interest and appetite were piqued.

Eleven Madison Park, or EMP, has had 3 Michelin stars, the most possible,  since 2012. It was ranked number 1 in 2017 on the coveted World's 50 Best Restaurants list.

The restaurant originally opened in 1998 and was owned by restaurateur Danny Meyer. His book Setting the Table is something of a memoir, but has since been considered a textbook for many corporate structures.

In 2006, Chef Daniel Humm and general manager Will Guidara began working at EMP, and in 2011 they purchased it from Meyer.

Will Guidara’s recent book, Unreasonable Hospitality, is about his philosophy on hospitality through the service industry and mostly recounts situations from EMP about how to provide guests with more than they expect, the true cornerstone of hospitality.

Guidara and Humm ended their business relationship in 2019, at which point Humm became the sole owner.

Then COVID.

When the restaurant reopened with a plant-based tasting menu at $350 USD a head, it was met with mixed reviews. Pete Wells, then The New York Times’s restaurant critic, said “Some [dishes] are so obviously standing in for meat or fish,” he wrote, “that you almost feel sorry for them.”

However, for four years, the menu remained plant-based.

So I was surprised this past week when I heard that Chef Hume will be introducing meat back on to the menu.

The reasons are few, but understandable. From a financial perspective, it makes sense to include meat for some who might otherwise choose not to eat there. And for a restaurant such as EMP that relies on the business of larger private parties, a group of 30 might not all look forward to a plant-based meal.

But while I read the press release, the one thing that stood out for me the most was the sentiment that it was exclusionary not to provide meat to those who might want to eat it.

Whatever one’s thoughts and values on eating meat, it was truly a lesson in hospitality to read this from Chef Hume.

Alas, it is equally inhospitable not to consider plant-based diners, a fault of so many restaurants.

I can’t tell you how many chefs tell me that they can’t make food taste great without fat from animals. Try harder I say. Stop resting on your laurels and be more open to other ways of eating.

Being 100% plant-based is not for everyone, but neither is eating exclusively meat. Steakhouses are as equally exclusionary as a $350 plant-based tasting menu.

To fully include everyone at the table, there needs to be not only acceptance of all who take a seat, but an embracing of the diversity of diners so that all are welcome, and all experience a sense of belonging. Grilling meat in a beautiful dining room does not make one a chef or a leader in hospitality.

Creating space for everyone with kind, open consideration does.