Exclusive: Daniel Humm to Open New Clemente Bar Upstairs From Eleven Madison Park
The Famous Restaurant and Its New Sister Bar Will Share an Address and Entrance.
Patrons of Eleven Madison Park, the celebrated fine-dining destination in Manhattan, will not have far to go to visit Clemente Bar, chef Daniel Humm’s highly anticipated new bar space. It will be located at the same address, 11 Madison Avenue, upstairs from the restaurant, representatives of Eleven Madison Park told The Mix. Opening is slated for fall.
The matching address notwithstanding, Chef Humm and Beverage Director Sebastian Tollius intend Clemente Bar to have a personality all its own, offering a more relaxed interpretation of seasonal fine dining fare, with a markedly different interior design and ambience.
This is the first new space Humm has opened since taking over the helm of the 3-Michelin-starred restaurant in 2019. Clemente Bar, which will also have the same entrance as EMP, will have eight bar seats and thirty additional tableside seats.
Visitors will get to choose their adventure at the new watering hole. They may opt for a four-course prix-fixe tasting menu at the eight-seat space dubbed the Alba Counter, where the kitchen will collaborate on food-cocktail pairings with Tollius (price to be determined); or, if they prefer, patrons can take a seat at the bar where they can choose from various bar snacks and a selection of new cocktails.
Tollius has developed a reputation for inventive and intricate cocktails at EMP. The Clemente cocktail menu will have at its core classic New York cocktails, each with a creative twist. For example, there will be a Negroni Colada, the latest example of the classic cocktail mash-up drinks that has recently become the rage in New York. Also on the list will be a pear-and-coffee cake-flavored Old-Fashioned and a Martini inspired by fruit gushers.
The cocktails will have a sleek, elegant look highlighted by some distinctive glassware by John Jenkins and Sugahara. Tollius is after a “fun, relaxed and intimate vibe, with the hopes of becoming a regular bar for locals,” according to publicity materials provided to The Mix. Richie Millwater will be the bar manager.
The space will feature artwork by artist Francesco Clemente—hence the bar’s name. Clemente is an Italian-born, New York-based neo-expressionistic artist who has exhibited at The Tate, Guggenheim and MoMA. Clemente and Humm have known each other for years.
The Alba Counter—which will be in a separate, smaller room next to the Clemente Bar—is named after Clemente’s wife and longtime muse, Alba. The Alba Counter will also feature art by Clemente.
When it opens, Clemente Bar will enter the small circle of cocktail bars to be named after and feature art by the same artist. The most prominent example in New York is the Bemelmans Bar inside the Hotel Carlyle, named after Ludwig Bemelmans, whose fanciful murals still adorn the space.
Odds and Ends…
Koloman’s series of “Martini Residencies” will continue this week with a stay by designer Peter Som, from July 9 to July 14. From 4 to 6 p.m., Som’s special Martini, a collaboration with the Ten Mile Distillery, will be served. Fifty percent of sales will go to City Harvest. Som himself will be on hand on Wednesday, July 10 … The Simonson Dog, my hot dog collaboration with Crif Dogs, ended its month-long stay at that eatery last week, but the hot dog will continue to be served next door at the cocktail bar PDT indefinitely… I wrote in Vinepair about Nomad’s new standing at New York’s hottest cocktail neighborhood. Tucked into the article was the scoop that Charles Joly, the esteemed Chicago barman, will be opening his first New York bar, The Riff Raff Club, inside the Virgin Hotel at 30th and Broadway. It will open later this summer… While we’re talking about scoops, Le Veau d’Or, the classic old French restaurant on East 60th Street in Manhattan, which has been dark since 2019, will finally reopen on July 16 under the guidance of the team from Frenchette and Le Rock. Sarah Morrissey will be the bar director and David Moo will be one of the bartenders. I wrote about the coming rebirth for Grub Street… Isolation Proof has released its annual limited-edition summer gin, a Strawberry Rhubarb Gin… Sip & Guzzle, the new Greenwich Village, has a new drink, the Mirepoix Gibson, on the menu of its downstairs Sip bar. The savory drink is inspired by the classic French mixture of onions, carrots, and celery; it features carrot eau de vie, and salts on the rim flavored by each of the three vegetables. The price is $31…The Heirloom Tomato Schnitzel, a classic seasonal dish at Olmsted, is back on the menu at the Brooklyn restaurant… KC Connolly, a New York bartender, wrote an essay in Newsweek about how the new bad behaviors of young barflies are ruining bar culture. He’s not wrong. A sample: “If you want the bartender to charge your vape device, turn around, exit the bar and direct yourself into oncoming traffic. By the way, it is still illegal to vape indoors. Stop acting like some spiteful barkeep masterminded this law as we sat in Albany on our day off.”… The latest monthly regional burger special at Hamburger America is the Theta burger from Johnnie’s Charcoal Broiler in Edmond, Oklahoma. It will be available beginning Thursday… Adam Demerath, currently bartending at 53, the high-end Asian bar in Midtown Manhattan, and formerly a bartender at Sunken Harbor Club in Brooklyn, will soon move to California where he will be the head bartender at a soon-to-open new branch of Marea in Beverly Hills. (By the way, if you’re a Manhattanite lonesome for Sunken Harbor Club drinks, but don’t want to journey to Brooklyn, head to 53, which features several Demerath creations hatched at SHC.)
Love the “Mixclusive”!!!!!!!
$31 Gibson? in your opinion, is it worth the expense?