Restaurant ditches all-vegan menu after 'unintentionally' excluding people

Eleven Madison Park (EMP), a New York restaurant known for having won three Michelin stars with its all-vegan menu, has decided to revamp its menu with a new meat-inclusive section.

Daniel Humm, Chef-Partner at the restaurant, said its four-year run of serving multi-course, vegan-only dishes was coming to an end.

“It became clear that while we had built something meaningful, we had also unintentionally kept people out. This is the opposite of what we believe hospitality to be,” he said.

“Starting October 14th, we will integrate our new language into a menu that embraces choice. We will offer a plant-based menu, of course, but also select animal products for certain dishes.”

EMP's menu has been vegan-only since 2021 (Eugene Gologursky / Stringer/Getty Images)

With restaurants facing huge pressures thanks to increased ingredients costs and soaring rents, along with a reported decline in veganism’s popularity in recent years, it’s likely that EMP’s move is financial rather than philosophical.

“It’s hard to get 30 people for a corporate dinner to come to a plant-based restaurant,” Humm told the New York Times.

While EMP has become known for its vegan-only menu over the past four years, the restaurant has been in operation for 24.

It was first opened in 2021 by Danny Meyer’s Union Square Hospitality Group, marketing a a fine dining establishment amidst Art Deco stylings and with a view over Madison park.

Under Chef Kerry Heffernan, the then-omnivorous menu became a critical darling. Heffernan hired Humm as a potential successor, and later sold the restaurant to him and partner Will Guidara. The latter, who left the business in 2019, had attempted to loosen up the restaurant’s high-class atmosphere with stunts including pouring clams onto a newspaper midway through a nine-course meal.

When EMP reopened in 2021 following COVID closures, Humm said: “The current food system is simply not sustainable, in so many ways.”

Reflecting on this time, Humm recently said: “My team and I felt liberated and cracked open. The journey proved richer than any before. We created a new culinary language: mille-feuille without butter, meringue without eggs, almond-milk ricotta, sunflower butter, koji stocks, whipped cashew cream, even ‘land caviar.’”

This switch to full veganism raised several eyebrows in the culinary world, with many wondering if the $335 (£247) nine-course vegan menu had legs. It’s now priced at $365 (£270) before tax and tips.

The doubters were soon proven wrong, with tables booked up weeks in advance and three Michelin stars soon following. It was the first restaurant in the world to win three stars with a fully-vegan menu.

Daniel Humm hopes integrating meat back into EMP's menu will make the restaurant feel more inclusive ( Eugene Gologursky / Stringer/Getty Images)

However, with significant pressures affecting restaurants big and small, Humm has decided to call it quits on the vegan-only setup.

“The all-or-nothing approach was necessary to develop our expertise, but that, too, comes with its own limitations,” he said.

“As a chef, I want to continue to open paths, not close them. Eating together is the essence of who we are, and I’ve learned that for me to truly champion plant-based cooking, I need to create an environment where everyone feels welcome around the table.”