Help, my husband won't stop talking about the waiter from Eleven Madison Park!

Inevitably, Bruce completely loved everything about Eleven Madison Park. He loved WD~50 too, but says it was the service that really set EMP apart... particularly the "captain", who was in charge of our group of six tables. Personally, I preferred the sommelier... we both agreed that he was very dishy!

Ridiculous things that occurred during dinner:

• We were given an envelope on arrival and a letter opener - this contained two cards for us to punch out our preferred flavour (cherry, strawberry, celery or coffee). This selection determined what flavour soda accompanied the deli sandwich course and also the sauce that came with the baked alaska at the end of the meal. Turns out coffee soda is absolutely delicious.
• Each course comes with a mini speech from the waiter about what this has to do with New York. The overwhelming majority of ingredients are from New York state, with the exception of the English peas.
• They made a Waldorf salad tableside, including cutting and grating the apple (in a fancy antique grater) . This replaces the well-known (if you read all the food blogs) carrot tartare course.
• They kept bringing things out to show us... pig's bladder in which the asparagus was cooked, whole duck with all the spices and lavender, baked alaska (for tableside flaming) etc. Either they are showing the same duck to a lot of tables and secretly munching on the leftover baked alaska in the kitchen, or there's a whole lot of food waste going on here.  
• They have their own beer brewed for the picnic cheese course.
• The promised magic trick did not materialise.
• The restaurant has a complicated system of hand gestures and a designated priority/route for staff - I quite enjoyed trying to decipher this.  
• If you get up to go to the restroom, they don't just shake out and refold your napkin. They bring a totally fresh one.
• Apparently if you aren't developing a good rapport with your waiter, they will switch so you have someone else. I kind of wanted to be really difficult and grumpy with them to see if we would get a switch!
• The bill was handwritten, in the most beautiful handwriting I have ever seen.

Some annoying observations:

• Why do all fancy restaurants have oyster on the tasting menu?! I tried it at WD~50 (being brave and trying things I don't eat because I think I hate them)... absolutely horrifically revolting! At EMP, I got them to switch it for me.
• The seating at both WD~50 and EMP was nice, but my feet didn't touch the floor. It's like no one ever thinks about the short people out there... my solution would be to put a foot rest bar on the bench seating - problem solved! Someone needs to sort this out, especially when the meal takes such a long time.
• The restroom at EMP was sub-standard for the star rating. Apparently the men's was super nice, but the ladies was distinctly average. Could do better, EMP!

Bruce already wants to go back. At least we have an Alinea reservation for July... which means we will have eaten at four of the top ten restaurants in the world (Dinner and The Ledbury in London being the other two).