"In San Francisco I was on top of the game,"chef Daniel Humm said the other day. "But I have so much energy. On top, you're not pushed and I love the challenge."At the jewel box restaurant Campton Place, in the San Francisco hotel of the same name, Mr. Humm was one of only seven chefs to receive a four-star rating from the San Francisco Chronicle last year, sharing the list with Thomas Keller and Alice Waters. In 2004 the Chronicle named him a rising star. In 2005 Food & Wine Magazine named him one of the best new chefs of the year. At 29, he'd become one of the top chefs in the Bay Area, which, via critical extrapolation, made him arguably one of the best chefs in the country.
So it came as a surprise when he announced in December last year that New Year's Eve would be his last night, and that he would be heading for New York City to Eleven Madison Park."I thought I had nothing to lose," he said, reflecting on the decision. "If I don't like it, I can always go back."
"New York has always had a powerful magnetic attraction to achievers in every field. Everyone is here by choice," Danny Meyer, whose Union Square Hospitality Group counts Eleven Madison Park among its 11 restaurant holdings, said of Mr. Humm's move. The restaurant, which opened in 1998, is a historic New York building on a large scale. Metropolitan Life once held their morning assemblies in what is now the dining room. It was the grandiose size and decor of the space that inspired Mr. Meyer to open a brasserie there. The restaurant is not a traditional French spot, but it has the brasserie spirit in that it's a large restaurant that makes great dishes made for daily eating. Eight years later, "we're taking a look at everything," Mr. Meyer said."How do we realize the full potential of Eleven Madison Park?"
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