The Studio at Clemente Bar

TLDR: Remember the girl you were too shy to ask out in college because she was too cool and sweet and sexy and way smarter than you could ever hope to be? Now turn her into a vegan tasting counter. Welcome to The Studio. 

Enthusiastically recommended. 

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What I talk about when I talk about intention is meticulous and unreasonable care. It’s the difference between when your boyfriend took you to Carbone for your anniversary, and when your husband booked the Atomix reservation weeks before you told him you wanted to go. It’s the space between a Steven King novel and the David Foster Wallace one. And it’s what separates The Studio from a significant portion of fine dining around New York. 

She isn’t pushing boundaries like some, nor gliding on the defunct coattails of historic success like others – she’s carving her own mark in the perfection of The Small Things. From alchemizing beans into an indistinguishable dairy in the deserts, to creating a non-alcoholic whiskey from tea smoked with oak chips, to the owner’s personally picked playlist that had me shamelessly dancing out of the restroom, to the lighting set-up I drool thinking about, The Studio hits every note with intention. 

The Food:

You are presented a choice of an alcoholic or temperance cocktail pairing. The cocktails were spirit centered stunners with light touches of fruit, herbs, spices. The mocktails were uncanny mimics, coming as close as I have ever tasted to their alcohol counterparts. I found them subtle, complex, and well matched. Both will be more keenly appreciated by mixology nerds, but still enjoyable for your lemon-drop dates.

The vegan tasting menu took my breath away. The first bite of each course drew a gasp, grin, and giggle as I raced to make elated eye contact with the chefs. I’ve dined at most vegan restaurants with tasting menus in the country, and The Studio is clearly a cut above the rest in depth and refinement of flavor. The humble deep-fried celery root topped with black truffle was one of my favorite bites of the year, the seitan and mushroom skewer seared on a Japanese water grill burst with unbelievable amounts of smokey umami, the soba noodles soaked in a cold tomato-based broth steeped with Thai basil I couldn’t slurp up fast enough, and I wake up every morning craving their chocolate cherry sundae. If nothing else, you must come for a drink and desert at the adjoining bar lounge. Please note: all this praise is coming from someone who has seldom ever enjoyed (let alone loved) deep-fried dishes, celery root, seitan, cold soups, nor has ever had the sweet tooth required to get through a desert comfortably.

Murmurs of similar surprise wafted through the room: “I didn’t know you could get that from just vegetables,” “you can’t convince me this isn’t dairy,” “holy s**t.” The team created a remarkable evening the most experienced vegans and steadfast carnivores can rave about. 

But here’s

The Dirty Little Secret: 

She’s Eleven Madison Park’s sexier younger sister.  

Tucked away in an alcove high above the restaurant, Clemente Bar and Studio sits with a bird’s eye view of both the iconic dining room below and park across the street. It has its own dedicated kitchen, which two incredible chefs were brought up from downstairs to run: counter chef Mariana Schurt and junior sous Michael Herro. It was designed in collaboration with Francesco Clemente whose art is hand painted on walls and ceilings, so the beauty of the space pairs perfectly with the beauty of the food, pairs perfectly with the beauty of the team. Everything was orchestrated by an engaging cast who all expressed genuine excitement about what they were doing, where they were doing it, and who they were doing it for. Will Guidara’s hospitality of presence is far from forgotten here. 

Agree with the controversy surrounding EMP or not, there is something to be said about a three Michelin star restaurant ripping out its meaty roots and planting something reductive in the zeitgeist of fine dining. Agree with it or not, there has to be something worth looking at there, a kind of crazy worth biting. The Excel Spreadsheet People (non-derogatory) will understandably take issue with the EMP price tag for “just” vegetables, but with The Studio at about half the cost and inclusive of beverage pairing, I found it to be a leap of faith well worth taking. 

In the words of the man who sat next to me, “it’s stupid good.”

Cheers!

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What do you talk about when you talk about The Studio?