We Ate Eleven Madison Park’s $335 Vegan Menu, and Here Is What It’s Like

The refrigerated cases in Eleven Madison Park kitchens are once again fully stocked. This time, instead of flocks of hanging ducks, there are rows of ceramic pots, each filled with aging beets, with leafy green tops sticking out. You could be in a florist shop.

But you are not. You are in one of the most famous restaurants in the world, and there’s a waiting list of 15,000 to watch those pots get broken tableside, before the beets are carved up, wrapped in mustard leaf kimchi, and served with red wine jus. The beets, which have been dehydrated, then rehydrated, smoked, cured, and otherwise alchemized over the course of three days, have a remarkably chewy, almost meaty texture. Their dirty sweetness is transformed into a rich, roasted masterpiece of a dish, the excitement of which wafts alongside the charred aromas as the pots are wheeled throughout the dining room.