Review

Is Food No Longer What Makes a Great Restaurant Great?

Spectacle can make up for uneven courses, even in highly decorated dining rooms like Eleven Madison Park in New York.

A quiet moment at Eleven Madison Park, before service animates the room.

Photographer: Evan Sung

It’s become a well-documented fact that people dining out want a memorable experience, whether it’s eating in a fashion boutique or having an AI-chef prepare your meal. But the full-on obsession with spectacle had not been so apparent to me until a recent dinner at the world-renowned Eleven Madison Park in New York City.

It started with a potato.