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21st Century Limited
September 28, 2012

A Night in the Kitchen During Alinea’s Eleven Madison Park Takeover

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Photo: Jed Egan

It’s an hour before the evening’s first customers will arrive at Eleven Madison Park. The regular dining room music has been turned off for service, and Grant Achatz, a chef whose restaurants are 800 miles away, walks through the dining room with a large steel bowl filled with dark cinnamon sticks balanced at his waist. Achatz crouches over a lineup of pumpkins at the entrance and arranges the cinnamon into the top compartment of a thin, rectangular metal box. He lights a dozen small votive lamps and arranges them into the space beneath the tray. Immediately, the cool air is pumping with spice smells. “It takes an incredible amount of trust to do this,” says Daniel Humm, watching from the side. “I don’t know if there’s even another chef or team we could do this with.”

This, as you probably know, is Alinea’s temporary residence at Eleven Madison Park. Last November, Humm and Achatz decided Alinea would bring its kitchen and floor staff to Eleven Madison Park for five days in the early fall, and then they’d switch. The chefs and their business partners gave the culinary supergroup a name, 21st Century Limited. They filmed a promo video and sold out a small amount of fixed-price tickets within in a matter of days. The first half of the experiment, with its five nights of wafting cinnamon, started on Wednesday.

“We asked ourselves if we were too busy to even try, and we realized we are always going to be working on many things,” says Daniel Humm, the chef who opened the NoMad earlier this year and finished overhauling most every aspect of Eleven Madison Park just a few weeks ago. “Now,” he says, smiling, “is the perfect time for this.”

Humm and partner Will Guidara, who runs front-of-house at both restaurants, were on their Eleven Madison Park book tour last November when they first teamed up with Achatz and his business partner Nick Kokonas for a one-off hors d’oeuvres and cocktail party at Aviary. Even this event was a logistical challenge for teams from both restaurants. “But as soon as it was over,” says Guidara, “we started asking each other how we could do it more often. We’re really all such great friends.”

Tonight, Eleven Madison Park’s white roses and precision topiary have been replaced by hay bales and a few hundred pounds of oak and maple leaves trucked in from Michigan, the state where Achatz was born. “The trees change color sooner there,” says Kokonas, who adds he bought two rakes from the Home Depot down the street for easy cleanup but wishes he could have rented a gas-powered blower to clear out the dining room, suburban-dad-style, after service.

Around the same time the 21st Century Limited ticket sales went live, Achatz’s team set up a password-protected blog containing ingredient diagrams, menu progressions, and even video demonstrations of the restaurant’s plating techniques. This was set up and circulated to Eleven Madison’s cooks. Achatz decided to include some of the dishes that made Alinea famous in its early days, swooping, wiry constructions that made it seem like a crispy piece of bacon had gotten caught and fried in some overhead lines.

Eleven Madison sent kitchen blueprints, measurements, and technical specs like the base height and diameters of the dining room tables. Alinea sent an advance team to take hundreds of photos and measured the traveling times between the salamanders and blast chillers, for example. It was like something from a bank-heist movie. “We cased the joint,” Achatz says.

That was just the beginning of the advance prep that went into the project. Another example: Because they couldn’t bring Alinea’s artwork, but still wanted to evoke its décor, Achatz devised a way for the tablecloths to be peeled away mid-meal to reveal an acrylic on canvas painting that also matched the color schematic of a corn-and-huitlacoche course that would be served at the same time. Cooks took lessons from the artist Thomas Masters and would come into work on their days off to paint the tablecloths, the same way they’d paint a plate with sauces. That’s twenty or so food components for that one course, a custom glass plate, hours of art instruction, a lot of the cooks’ free time, and 30 or so limited-edition tablecloths. All for a salad that may take four minutes to eat.

A few cooks drove a 45-foot-long U-Haul for two days filled with enough appliances and custom serving pieces to feed 23 courses to 80 people a night for five nights in a row. “Everything that was Alinea we packed up,” says Achatz. That includes the restaurant’s chef de cusine, Matt Chasseur, and sous chef Simon Davies. Rene De Leon, the sous chef at Next who had worked as Alinea’s expeditor, was asked “to come out of retirement” and work the pass for the 21st Century Limited’s New York leg. Most of the staff flew into JFK, and Will Guidara booked the team a block of rooms at the NoMad hotel.

Their first night together, Guidara treated both teams to dozens of pizzas from Grimaldi’s, Lombardi’s, and Artichoke Basille’s to cap off Tuesday’s sixteen-hour training session. When a run-through finished at 2:30 a.m. the next night, it was Nick Kokonas’s turn. “Bring up enough Champagne and glasses, and let’s all have a toast,” he said. A line cook told Kokonas they weren’t allowed to drink at work. “Ah, but tonight you are,” Kokonas said. “It’s our restaurant for a week.”

We spent a night in the kitchen seeing exactly how it all came together. Check out our slideshow, straight ahead.

Related: In the Kitchen on Opening Night, Next El Bulli Menu

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1 / 39 Photos
Humm and Achatz at the pass. Humm and Achatz at the pass.

Humm and Achatz at the pass.

Rene De Leon, sous chef at Next, expedites at the pass. Rene De Leon, sous chef at Next, expedites at the pass.

Rene De Leon, sous chef at Next, expedites at the pass.

Apple cider that is served to guests as soon as they're seated. Apple cider that is served to guests as soon as they're seated.

Apple cider that is served to guests as soon as they're seated.

Butternut squash with pepper and finger limes: second course, first person shooter-style. Butternut squash with pepper and finger limes: second course, first person shooter-style.

Butternut squash with pepper and finger limes: second course, first person shooter-style.

Seaweed and driftwood. Seaweed and driftwood.

Seaweed and driftwood.

Humm and Achatz putting together the Cloud Atlas of raw bars with plenty of crab, urchin, lobster, and other fruit de mer squared. Humm and Achatz putting together the Cloud Atlas of raw bars with plenty of crab, urchin, lobster, and other fruit de mer squared.

Humm and Achatz putting together the Cloud Atlas of raw bars with plenty of crab, urchin, lobster, and other fruit de mer squared.

Humm works on a garnish. Humm works on a garnish.

Humm works on a garnish.

On the other side of the kitchen, cooks work on the yuba course. On the other side of the kitchen, cooks work on the yuba course.

On the other side of the kitchen, cooks work on the yuba course.

Razor clam, oyster, and urchin. Razor clam, oyster, and urchin.

Razor clam, oyster, and urchin.

Free-form brulée. Free-form brulée.

Free-form brulée.

A stick of fried yuba twirled with slightly cooked prawn was like a pen in an inkwell, except that's miso instead of ink in the bottom there. A stick of fried yuba twirled with slightly cooked prawn was like a pen in an inkwell, except that's miso instead of ink in the bottom there.

A stick of fried yuba twirled with slightly cooked prawn was like a pen in an inkwell, except that's miso instead of ink in the bottom there. 

Humm at the pass. Humm at the pass.

Humm at the pass.

Scottish woodcock, lingonberry, and shallot, with some autumnal leaf burning on top. Scottish woodcock, lingonberry, and shallot, with some autumnal leaf burning on top.

Scottish woodcock, lingonberry, and shallot, with some autumnal leaf burning on top.

The woodcock is on fire. The woodcock is on fire.

The woodcock is on fire.

Achatz, working on seven things at once. Achatz, working on seven things at once.

Achatz, working on seven things at once.

Waiting for huitlacoche. Waiting for huitlacoche.

Waiting for huitlacoche.

Humm. Humm.

Humm.

Otoro with Thai banana and kaffir lime. This course is currently on the menu at Alinea. Otoro with Thai banana and kaffir lime. This course is currently on the menu at Alinea.

Otoro with Thai banana and kaffir lime. This course is currently on the menu at Alinea.

Corn with huitlacoche and sour cherry. Corn with huitlacoche and sour cherry.

Corn with huitlacoche and sour cherry.

EMP chef de cuisine James Kent and Alinea's chef de cusine Matthew Chasseur plate the trout with maple, sage, and bourbon. EMP chef de cuisine James Kent and Alinea's chef de cusine Matthew Chasseur plate the trout with maple, sage, and bourbon.

EMP chef de cuisine James Kent and Alinea's chef de cusine Matthew Chasseur plate the trout with maple, sage, and bourbon. 

Brook trout with sage, bourbon, maple, and nasturtium. Brook trout with sage, bourbon, maple, and nasturtium.

Brook trout with sage, bourbon, maple, and nasturtium.

Served on a cross-section of tree and fir branches, the matsutake mushroom course includes pork belly, mushroom purée, hazelnuts, pine shoots, zest, purslane, juniper skins, and huckleberries. Served on a cross-section of tree and fir branches, the matsutake mushroom course includes pork belly, mushroom purée, hazelnuts, pine shoots, zest, purslane, juniper skins, and huckleberries.

Served on a cross-section of tree and fir branches, the matsutake mushroom course includes pork belly, mushroom purée, hazelnuts, pine shoots, ...

Served on a cross-section of tree and fir branches, the matsutake mushroom course includes pork belly, mushroom purée, hazelnuts, pine shoots, zest, purslane, juniper skins, and huckleberries.

At 7 p.m. At 7 p.m.

At 7 p.m.

Pull the pin: Hot Potato, another of the Alinea originals, a combination of hot potato soup with truffle, parmesan, cold potato, and cold butter. Pull the pin: Hot Potato, another of the Alinea originals, a combination of hot potato soup with truffle, parmesan, cold potato, and cold butter.

Pull the pin: Hot Potato, another of the Alinea originals, a combination of hot potato soup with truffle, parmesan, cold potato, and cold butter. ...

Pull the pin: Hot Potato, another of the Alinea originals, a combination of hot potato soup with truffle, parmesan, cold potato, and cold butter. 

Lamb five ways: neck, belly, shank, loin, and tongue. Lamb five ways: neck, belly, shank, loin, and tongue.

Lamb five ways: neck, belly, shank, loin, and tongue.

On the left, a plate containing 64 separate garnishes for the lamb. On the left, a plate containing 64 separate garnishes for the lamb.

On the left, a plate containing 64 separate garnishes for the lamb.

Black truffle explosion, an Alinea classic. Black truffle explosion, an Alinea classic.

Black truffle explosion, an Alinea classic.

Ready for service. Ready for service.

Ready for service.

A (nonedible) serving preparation that the team calls, logically, "ice and rocks." A (nonedible) serving preparation that the team calls, logically, "ice and rocks."

A (nonedible) serving preparation that the team calls, logically, "ice and rocks." 

De Leon controlled the flow. De Leon controlled the flow.

De Leon controlled the flow.

In the middle of everything. In the middle of everything.

In the middle of everything.

More yuba! More yuba!

More yuba!

Five distinct variations of ginger. Five distinct variations of ginger.

Five distinct variations of ginger.

Eleven Madison Park's Angela Pinkerton plating a multifaceted dessert, based around coconut and carrot flavors. A warm carrot tea is poured into the center of the glass serving piece. Eleven Madison Park's Angela Pinkerton plating a multifaceted dessert, based around coconut and carrot flavors. A warm carrot tea is poured into the center of the glass serving piece.

Eleven Madison Park's Angela Pinkerton plating a multifaceted dessert, based around coconut and carrot flavors. A warm carrot tea is poured into the c...

Eleven Madison Park's Angela Pinkerton plating a multifaceted dessert, based around coconut and carrot flavors. A warm carrot tea is poured into the center of the glass serving piece.

Caramelized honeycomb was also part of the dessert. Caramelized honeycomb was also part of the dessert.

Caramelized honeycomb was also part of the dessert.

Flowers and herb garnishes. Flowers and herb garnishes.

Flowers and herb garnishes.

This balloon is helium-filled and tastes like green apple. This balloon is helium-filled and tastes like green apple.

This balloon is helium-filled and tastes like green apple.

It gets a "ribbon" made of apple, too. It gets a "ribbon" made of apple, too.

It gets a "ribbon" made of apple, too.

Humm will take his team to Chicago next month for five days, completing the first run of the 21st Century Limited. Humm will take his team to Chicago next month for five days, completing the first run of the 21st Century Limited.

Humm will take his team to Chicago next month for five days, completing the first run of the 21st Century Limited.

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Tags:

  • 21st century limited
  • 21st century limited
  • eleven madison park
  • grant achatz
  • matt chasseur
  • nick kokonas
  • rene de leon
  • simon davies
  • will guidara
  • slideshow
  • More

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