Eleven Madison Park Coming to Caruso’s in Montecito

One in all New York Metropolis’s most celebrated — and controversial — eating places is taking on the kitchen at Caruso’s within the Rosewood Miramar this weekend, when Chef Daniel Humm of Eleven Madison Park involves current his vegetarian fare on June 30 and July 1. 

The winner of three Michelin stars — the Michelin Information’s prime designation, solely earned by 142 eating places in 2022 throughout the globe — Eleven Madison Park made waves by shifting to a vegan menu in 2021, buying and selling standout dishes like duck and scallop carpaccio for roasted beets and Japanese cypress seeds referred to as tonburi. The dramatic shift in technique received blended evaluations at first, however Humm stayed the course, retaining the three stars and changing into the primary plant-based restaurant on this planet to realize as a lot. 

He sees widespread floor with Chef Massimo Falsini of Caruso’s. The seaside Montecito restaurant received its first Michelin star final yr and was additionally named as one in all solely 12 “Inexperienced Star” eating places within the nation, a designation for sustainably minded approaches. Humm and Falsini labored collectively to develop this weekend’s menus, and there’s discuss of Falsini doubtlessly heading to New York Metropolis for a Caruso’s takeover of the EMP kitchen someday later. 

Humm answered a number of of my questions through e-mail this week. 

From what I’ve learn over the previous yr, the plant-based menu shift at Eleven Madison Park endured some ups and downs earlier than retaining three Michelin stars within the fall. How’s it going at the moment?  

Our restaurant was well-known for its lavender-roasted duck and suckling pig, however initially, this variation felt limiting and scary. Nonetheless, over the previous yr and a half, we have now found the alternative: simply how liberating it may be to cook dinner towards a extra stunning, sustainable, and scrumptious future. Though it was a difficult transition, I’m pleased with my workforce for committing, and I’m honored by our friends’ perception in us. 

The opposite night time, I used to be within the eating room, and the vitality felt effervescent, from the same old sounds of laughter and clinking glasses to a bar that was full to overflowing. Nevertheless it felt completely different, and at that second, I noticed that the majority of our friends had been a lot youthful and extra various than I had seen within the final 15 years. This menu has attracted a major shift in our viewers. This offers me hope {that a} plant-based menu has a spot within the canon of high quality eating and can encourage different eating places to include extra plant-based choices.

When even award-winning eating places are shifting towards extra informal settings, the place do extra classical high quality eating locations like EMP and Caruso’s match into the trendy eating scene? 

We’re difficult the notion of high quality eating and redefining what constitutes luxurious and rarity. EMP has at all times strived to push ourselves and excel in our craft. All the pieces we do on the restaurant is geared toward enhancing the friends’ expertise or making it extra gratifying. On the coronary heart of eating out is being with mates, household, and family members, and our objective is to reinforce that have in the whole lot we do.

How did the reference to Caruso’s occur? 

Their dedication to sustainability is spectacular, from sourcing components from their very own backyard to their initiatives to attenuate waste and extra.

The place does Santa Barbara stand from an trade standpoint?

I was lately speaking concerning the pop-up with our wine director, Gabriel Di Bella. The dialog turned towards California and the way Santa Barbara is one in all California’s most dynamic wine scenes. We’re trying ahead to being a part of it.

What do you hope to showcase through the pop-ups at Caruso’s?

A lot of what we eat is part of our identification, and we’re excited to share our language of meals. Our objective is to turn out to be a changemaker in international high quality eating, utilizing culinary creativity as an artwork type to showcase the fantastic thing about greens and a extra acutely aware, thought-provoking method to upscale delicacies.

Click on right here for Caruso’s Restaurant and see elevenmadisonpark.com for extra.