Eleven Madison Park has expansion on the mind.
The Michelin three-starred restaurant is opening a bar this fall, Eater New York reported on Wednesday. Not much is known about Clemente Bar, as the new spot will be called, but EMP’s chef-owner, Daniel Humm, announced the project on Instagram. The bar is currently hiring bartenders and line cooks, with an open call scheduled for June 11.
Along with Clemente Bar, Humm said on Tuesday during a talk in Las Vegas that he has signed a lease for a new restaurant in New York City as well. The chef is in town for the World’s 50 Best Restaurants ceremony, taking place Wednesday evening. Eleven Madison Park is one of the organization’s “Best of the Best” restaurants, after it took home the title of the best restaurant in the world in 2017.
Humm and his Make It Nice hospitality group have made moves to expand in the past, but his other concepts haven’t been able to stick. The fast-casual Made Nice closed in late 2020 after operating for four years in Flatiron. And Humm used to be involved in the NoMad restaurants within the hotels of the same name. Those eateries were operated in conjunction with the hotel owner Sydell Group, but Humm split from the company in January 2020.
Since then, he’s been focused squarely on Eleven Madison Park, which has had its ups and downs over the past few years. When the restaurant reopened after closing during the pandemic, Humm had revamped the menu to make it completely plant-based. The new dishes faced a critical backlash, which Humm acknowledged the during his talk at the World’s 50 Best event this week. Despite the rocky reception, the restaurant has still retained its three Michelin stars.
Now, though, Clemente Bar will mark the return of the EMP extended universe. The bar is being billed as a “refined-casual concept,” with a “one-of-a-kind cocktail and culinary experience,” according to the job postings. That hints that it’ll be at least slightly different from the bar program that already exists at Eleven Madison Park, where guests can dine on a limited tasting menu, small plates, and cocktails based around produce like leeks, rhubarb, and carrots.
Soon enough, Humm’s Make It Nice will have made it thrice, when Clemente Bar and the to-be-announced restaurant finally open.
