Today’s N.Y. Post
Typical NY Post article. I think it is ballsy move for him to go all veg. As long as his investor(s) is behind him.
I do think it is funny watching him try to dress fashionable…he needs a stylist!
What was he thinking with the outfit he wore at Paris fashion week!
Glad i got to experience EMP before all this nonsense happened.
It used to be one of my favorite restaurants, but I have no interest in an all vegan menu at that price
He needs to stop dating vegetarians.
2 Likes
As the soup Nazi would say, “Next!!!”
Didn’t this news come out a long time ago?
Hence the reason it is a ballsy move. You have to be really great to convince people to eat an all vegetable meal.
Personally I loved what I tried in the bar menu and am very interested to go back.
It is much harder to cook 3 star level food without meat than with.
I remember Dan Barber saying he would lose money on every vegetarian diner because it is hard to impress without meat.
1 Like
My most memorable meal ever was at l’Arpège *** and was completely plant based as well, so I guess it is actually possible to go full vegetarian/vegan. Of course, Alain Passard has 3 farms on different soils across France so the veggies were nice and fresh 
1 Like
In hindsight it was indeed vegetarian rather than vegan. Still, tasty veggies!
Arpege was a fantastic experience… it did have 2 meat courses at the end tho… (at least it did when i dined there). but it is preceeded by 10+ courses of pure veggie awesomeness…
A great experience, but I did need the meat at the end. I might go if it were vegetarian, but almost impossible without milk and eggs.
As for EMP, I would go again if they at least incorporated them.
Tried to go there last fall, could not get in.
I am curious on the protein front. Are they incorporating beans, nuts, legumes, etc?
I’ll have to try it at the bar, good to know
It is 6 courses and there were lots of steals on the list so a low risk way to check it out.
Technically they are correct. ![[snort.gif]](/uploads/db3686/original/2X/b/bdc3944606213c4dca6c1169cf0a166c8bc4f8c9.gif "snort.gif"){kind=small}
George
I went expecting to hate it but tried to keep an open mind. I thought it was fabulous and that the food was inventive, delicious and very much worth experiencing. It is hard to create a dinner that people traditionally think of as luxury without any animal products, but they do so with the luxury of the time it takes to create each dish. And when you are willing to dedicate an unlimited amount of time to a single dish you can create something pretty spectacular, even if it doesn’t contain animal product. And of course the wine list is incredible and priced fairly. My only quibble is that there is quite a bit of salt and that sticks with you for a day.
2 Likes
A completely damning article came out today about Humm and EMP:
It basically says Humm is more concerned with cultivating his own image while the restaurant actually wastes food (calling it “farm to trash” due to all the waste) and pays workers substantially less than other similar restaurants.
Paywall
Here are some choice quotes from the story:
“ Despite Humm’s grand aspirations, current and former employees say he’s spent more time off-site curating his image than actually working in the kitchen. Humm is regularly seen out and about hobnobbing with power players: He met with Eric Adams during Adams’ New York City mayoral campaign in August; spoke at the 2021 UN Climate Change Conference in Glasgow, Scotland, in November; and sat front row at his friend Gabriela Hearst’s fashion show this past March. Even the women he dates are high profile, including the billionaire philanthropist Laurene Powell Jobs and his current girlfriend, Demi Moore.”
“ In the tight labor market of 2021, most New York City restaurants were forced to raise wages to try to retain talent; Eleven Madison Park stubbornly kept its starting pay at $15 an hour….
… A current employee said many employees quit to work at “lesser restaurants” that lacked Eleven Madison Park’s prestige. But at their new jobs, the person said, “they were making more money — a lot more.” One former employee said many people left for Danny Meyer’s restaurant The Modern, where starting pay was said to be about $22 an hour and Meyer had already ended his famous no-tipping policy.”
“ Three former employees said even family meals — preservice staff meals once so delicious that New York magazine wrote about the sous-vide shawarma, fresh gnocchi, and toasted coconut-cream pies at EMP’s sister restaurant The NoMad — took a beating. Overworked chefs had little time and ingredients to make meals that properly sustained workers, three people said. Meals had to be vegan to satisfy Humm, a former employee said, even though the famous chef himself eats meat. A former employee recalled eating cauliflower and beets day after day. After their shift, some employees would get Sticky’s fried chicken or a burger at McDonald’s, another former employee said.”
“ In reality, most vegetables were sourced from delivery services like Baldor instead of farms or local markets, Yerves and another former employee said. Both former employees, who quit in late 2021, said workers regularly trashed entire green boxes of produce from Magic Farms. Vegetables that weren’t the right size or that had even a slight blemish went in the garbage, along with any unused produce.”