387263 Sun Apr 01 15:05:06 -0700 2007 2 18 Manhattan 0 2440900 Last night we had excellent service and the savory seafood dishes were good. This time, we were less impressed with the beef tenderloin on Bordelaise sauce dish. One major gripe - the desserts. I had the small, very small, dry pastry wedged between 2 thin white chocolates with a small dollop, about a teaspoon, of sorbet on top. My wife had the minimalist sorbet dessert. Both were un-exciting, very un-inspired in both taste and presentation, and were definitely not in the same league as the rest of the meal. The desserts that we had at this place were always hardly memorable. One would expect that for a restaurant with such lofty reputation and prices, they'd at least come up with some quality sweet stuff. In spite of the ridiculous waiting line, and just to stress my point, I had always found the concrete custard at Shake Shack to be more enjoyable. Sun Apr 01 15:05:06 -0700 2007 10578 RCC 1 2440946 Prior to Chef Humm's arrival, we had eaten many times at Eleven Madison, and I always thought the desserts created by Pasty Chef Nicole Kaplan were delicious. When Chef Humm took over, Nicole Kaplan remained for several months, and while I thought the desserts she prepared in conjunction with his cuisine were fine -- a few, in fact, were excellent -- their styles didn't quite mesh. She left toward the end of last year, and until recently, the assistant pastry chef was doing the desserts under Chef Humm's guidance. Again, I didn't find anything at all wrong with them. In fact, Chef Humm told us that his background includes time doing pastry work. In any event, I believe he has now hired a new pastry chef. Looking at the current dessert menu on the website, I don't see anything listed that is like what you had. http://www.elevenmadisonpark.com/dessert.pdf Sun Apr 01 15:29:36 -0700 2007 2440900 13867 RGR 2 2440977 Now that I'm reminded of them, one was the “Exotique”. The “bisquit” was very dry and pastry-like in appearance with some sort of icing on top, followed by a dollop of sorbet. The other was the ‘Creamsicle”. We really didn't care for both as they looked and tasted like they were invented on the fly, with the first available ingredients in the pantry and in the refrigerator, by just about anybody in the kitchen. Sun Apr 01 15:42:28 -0700 2007 2440946 10578 RCC