Eleven Madison Park’s Vegan-Only Restaurant Has a Secret Meat Room for the Rich

New York Times restaurant critic Pete Wells slaughtered Eleven Madison Park’s revamped, veganized menu in an unstarred critical review this week — but the real golden nugget from the piece is that the all-vegan restaurant, has, well, a secret beef room. According to Wells, Eleven Madison Park offers an optional beef tenderloin dish to customers in its swanky private dining room, while maintaining the much-hyped vegan menu out front. Wells writes, “It’s some kind of metaphor for Manhattan, where there’s always a higher level of luxury, a secret room where the rich eat roasted tenderloin while everybody else gets an eggplant canoe.”

The review marks yet another critical voice calling into question Eleven Madison Park’s highly anticipated vegan “innovations” — despite, as others have pointed out, the longstanding history of NYC’s meat-free fine dining led especially by Amanda Cohen of Dirt Candy. Earlier this month, Eater critic Ryan Sutton found EMP’s revamp “not a redefining of luxury, or anything close to it” and that “Humm’s flavors often feel as muted as a steakhouse crab cake.”

A guest-list-only nightclub is opening to the public (kind of)

Up until now, Nightmoves — the Williamsburg dance venue and bar attached to Michelin-starred sibling restaurant The Four Horsemen — has only been open on a guest list basis to those “in the know.” But a representative for the venue tells Eater that, as of today, the bar will be open to the public from 7 to 9 p.m. from Wednesday to Saturday. After 9 p.m., the venue will transition into a private event space with a guest list and $10 cover. Needless to say, it’s still seeming pretty darn exclusive.

NYC now offers additional mental health resources for nightlife workers

As conversations around the mental health toll on hospitality workers during the pandemic continue to swell, New York City has one plan of action. According to Gothamist, the Mayor’s Office of Media and Entertainment and the Mayor’s Office of Community Mental Health have banded together to launch Elevate, a program that provides those who work in nightlife access to therapy and other forms of mental health support.

The increase of outdoor dining sheds is not without some harrowing accidents

Earlier this week, Bar Six in the West Village’s outdoor set-up got destroyed by a garbage truck — while a customer was still inside. The truck hit the roadside patio and dragged it about ten feet down the street before coming to a halt, Curbed reports. The diner trapped inside was not harmed, a Bar Six manager tells Curbed.