This fall, the Michelin-starred Eleven Madison Park will change up its menu and MO. In addition to cutting its $125 menu option -- the cheapest menu is now $195 before beverages, tax, and tip -- they also want to make the restaurant more theatrical and will feature artisanal made-in-New York products. There will be smoke, there will be magic tricks, and there might be cheesecake served in a snifter.

What are your thoughts on a) the price change b) this new focus on entertainment and showmanship? and c) their need to constantly evolve. Is the move as risky as the people quoted in the Times piece make it out to be?

It's really kinda sad -- one of the best regarded resto in town goes all Broadway, and with ridiculous prices to match.

True. But the precious, specially tailored, Broadway style uber tasting meal is where the upper echelon of the fine dining world is going these days. The interesting thing about EMP is that they're attempting to do it on such a grand scale ...

The price point is fair; Eleven Madison Park has been charging $195 for its tasting menu for close to two years; it's the elimination of the shorter $125 that's raising my eyebrow. Then again, focusing on one menu, as Mr. Platt mentions, is the prevailing trend of the world's best restaurants.

Noma recently eliminated its shorter menu option; there is now only a 20 course menu at lunch and dinner (just as EMP will serve the same menu during both services).

The Fat Duck, which offered a 4 course menu during my trip precisely four years ago this month, is now tasting menu only as well, at lunch and dinner. And we all famously remember the 5-course menu at Per Se, which was dropped to focus on the 9-coure chef's and vegetable tastings.

Then again, let's recall that Per Se, in the wake of the Great Recession, brought back a shorter, $185 menu during lunch (the $295 "tip-included" menus are available during both services). Will be curious to see whether Eleven Madison Park does the same, for those who don't necessarily want to engorge themselves to such a degree in the afternoon hours.

You know, it might be theatrical, but that doesn't mean it will be "Cats." I think we're going to see something much more elegant and thought-provoking.

These guys are the princes of reinvention, which is a very New York thing, and I'm looking forward to seeing what they do.

As for price, if their websites are accurate, Alinea currently charges $210, and NOMA charges the equivalent of $248, so EMP's pricing is a relative bargain.

Agreed. The price point sounds fine to me, esp given what, say, Brooklyn Fare is charging across the river. And, frankly, Humm and his partners have earned to right to do whatever the hell they want, especially now that NoMad (where the price points are fairly ridiculous) is throwing off $$$ at high speed. The interesting thing is their audacity. Big money NYC chefs tend to be a cautious breed. They don't usually decide to blow everything and up and start fresh when they're at the top of their game.....

Regarding the price, are we approaching an age where $200 base is the minimum people must pay to have a four star dining experience? Look at Blanca, Brooklyn Fare, and now EMP. Many fine restaurants (including Blue Hill at Stone Barns) include an entry-level low $100 menu, but will those remain?

You are CORRECT, Betsy Andrews, but recall that European restaurants are inclusive of service & VAT. Eleven Madison Park, after tax and 20% tip, is $251, just a few dollars pricier than Noma at the prevailing exchange rate. There's your headline "EMP is more expensive than Noma!!!" Then again, I think we all agree the pricing is relatively fair (especially given that Eleven Madison Park doesn't charge supplements for foie gras, like Per Se).

Well, if we're saying this is some sort of milestone moment, are we not talking about sushi? Masa's prix fixe was $350 back in 2004.

Danny Meyer's take: "I can go to my favorite neighborhood joint that cooks well, and doesn’t demand a lot of me from an entertainment standpoint, once a week, twice a week, three times a week...the more theatrical it gets, there does come a point when you just can’t see that play another time."

This is true on the one hand, but their fan base may be strong enough to cancel out the risk of scaring off the regulars.

That's a great point by Danny Meyer. Yes, economically, some people will be marginalized by the new $195 entry-level price. Restaurants always lose clients even when they raise the price even by a dollar.

But the bigger change in clientele will be b/c of the length of the meal. I'll conjecture that the number of hours one sits for a meal is inversely proportional to the number of regulars you have. So, the longer the meal, the fewer the regulars.

That's not necessarily a problem, as Humm & Guidara have been open about their goal of making EMP the "best restaurant in the world," and so it goes EMP is likely becoming more of a global destination or a pilgrimage rather than a place where New Yorkers might want to eat four times a year.

I'd speculate that NoMad has freed them up to think more boldly about EMP and make it a more particular, intense, challenging experience, something singular, because NoMad is so crowd-pleasing, so open to all takers. So they have that market satisfied, and now they can up the ante on their showcase restaurant. Makes sense to me.

If I might humbly quote Will Guidara from a short interview I did with him late last year, regarding how his clientele changed after he raised the entry-level price to $125 in 2010:

"To be honest, where we’ve lost guests has less to do with price than it has to do with time. As our restaurant has evolved, the dining experience has gotten longer at lunch as well as at dinner, and some guests simply don’t have the time. The clientele that we have gained because of this are the people that are not just here for a meal; they are here for an experience." (via bit.ly)

Is it cynical to say that this is also another way to stay relevant and present in the eyes on the food media and the public? When it relaunches, presumably Adam, Ryan, potentially Robert, and other critics will review the restaurant again. And there will be features in Bon Ap, in Food & Wine, etc. etc.

I actually think Humm wants, as the NYT piece said, to keep evolving, and like Betsy says, the success of NoMad frees him up to do that. Clearly, as Ryan says, they also want to make the restaurant into a global destination (in my book, it already is). But unlike, many places where the "Top 100" restos reside, there are already lots of global destinations in this town. New York restaurants tend to live and die on the patronage of New Yorkers, and despite all the hype and glamor, this has always been a relatively conservative, meat and potatoes dining town. Just ask Wylie at WD50 ....

Mr. Platt makes an interesting and accurate point. New York, while a global culinary capital without a doubt, isn't quite the hotbed of avant-gardism that other cities are. I love WD-50, I think it's one of NYC's best restaurants. But New Yorkers haven't embraced the modernism or progressivism of Wylie the same way that Chicagoans have embraced the chemistry-experiment of a restaurant known as Alinea. And Chi-Town also has Grant Achatz's Aviary & Next too boot, as well as the Michelin-starred Moto, and the uber-creativity of Graham Elliot.

And it can't be a coincidence that Jose Andres has his high-end, wacky concepts like Minibar, Saam and "e by Jose Andres" in Washington, Los Angeles & Las Vegas but not New York.

That's all another way of saying Eleven Madison Park's willingness to get a bit more creative than it already is now is a bit refreshing.

Here, here. Agree, Ryan.

One thing that comes to mind when I hear "magic tricks" is staff training. Wondering how all this is going to be for the staff; sounds challenging but potentially positive because you need to keep the staff excited, too.

Good point, Ms. Andrews, re: training & magic tricks. The same routine can get tiring every night, especially for the staff.

If someone at EMP asks me to "pick a card," there better be a good gosh darn reason for it (i.e. redeemable for 50g of Iranian caviar).

I don't see how such an experience could retain regulars, but that's by dint of the vaudeville and the investment of time—not, in my opinion, the price point. If you're the kind of New Yorker who can afford to be a regular at $125 a head, I doubt a $70 bump will threaten your coffers. But I am curious how and if the bar experience will change.

Certainly the Times piece contained some gimmicky red flags and brow-raising details. But we know that there's a precedent of reinvention at EMP. And we know that with each shift the place became all the more (deservedly) exalted.

Given all of that—and indeed that Humm and Guidara are two of the most tasteful guys in the business—I'd like to think that they have earned the chance to gamble a bit.

More likely it's this new version of EMP will sound another small death knell for the Age of Foodism, when to get the cash flow they need to mount ambitious menus, restaurateurs must add non-culinary elements. Does this mean I need to bring a theater critic with me on a restaurant visit? And will this mean the noise level is even higher? I want a calmer dining experience, not a louder and wilder one. And which do I pay attention to, the foie gras remoulade or the magician doing card tricks at my elbow? Here's what I want in an expensive restaurant: A calm place with good unobtrusive service where food and only food is in the forefront.

Sorry, have been having technical issues. This is really me, Robert.

As this is winding down, we'll add this question from @mattbuchanan: "why do EMP—and other 'destination restaurants' feel like THAT is the way forward?"
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