Three years ago, Francesco Clemente was in his Manhattan studio speaking with a friend, a devoted vegetarian, by phone. “She was asking me if we should go have a meal at Daniel’s restaurant,” recalls Clemente, meaning the much-acclaimed and then newly plant-based Eleven Madison Park, helmed by chef Daniel Humm. “I said to her, ‘I don’t know Daniel.’ And then the bell rang, and Daniel was in the room.”
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Humm, consistently recognized as one of the best and most innovative chefs in the world, was tagging along with the gallerist Vito Schnabel, a mutual friend, who had some business to attend to with Clemente before he and Humm continued on to the US Open. To Clemente, this was no coincidence. “I’m very good at not second-guessing anything that happens,” he says. “That is my only compass.”
A deep friendship blossomed from there. During their many shared dinners in New York, the two men, of disparate backgrounds and generations (Clemente, 72, was born in Italy; Humm, 47, in Switzerland), bonded over their mutual love of art and the immigrant city that embraced them. This fall, their kinship manifests as a new cocktail lounge called Clemente Bar, perched one floor above Eleven Madison Park in a former private dining space. Beyond bearing his name, the bar will feature three luminous murals by Clemente, all in the painter’s dreamlike, figurative style—an aesthetic that made him an art world star after he moved to New York in 1980. (An exhibition of new work by Clemente will also be on view at Lévy Gorvy Dayan gallery later this fall, opening October 29.)
“Art was always important at Eleven Madison Park,” Humm says. The restaurant, which boldly switched to an all-vegan menu in 2021 after winning the top spot on the World’s 50 Best Restaurants list in 2017, features commissions from Rita Ackermann, Daniel Turner, and Rashid Johnson—all friends of Humm’s. “Clemente Bar is just continuing this story,” the chef says.
The cocktail program, led by Eleven Madison Park beverage director Sebastian Tollius and bar manager Richie Millwater, delivers surprising riffs on classics with a dose of nostalgia. There’s a Negroni–piña colada hybrid; a take on a boulevardier inspired by Samoas, the beloved Girl Scout cookie. All of the drinks, including the nonalcoholic options, went through months of testing, and many components, like a cacao miso, are made from scratch in-house. “We’re treating time like an ingredient,” Tollius says.
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They’re also having fun with it, dialing the formality of Eleven Madison Park down a notch. As with EMP’s 2017 renovation, Brad Cloepfil of Allied Works led the design for Clemente Bar. Textured walnut paneling, dark marble surfaces, and a cushy vintage couch create a warm, intimate setting. Cocktails are garnished with something far beyond the lowly lemon wedge. The Negroni-colada features an iced Campari coin, which adds a tint of pink as it melts. A mini churro adorns an old-fashioned made from raicilla, an agave spirit from Jalisco. An inventive menu of light bites and a tasting counter inspired by Clemente’s wife, Alba, will offer a more accessible way to experience the three-Michelin-starred cooking from downstairs.
It’s fitting that beverages made with equal parts fun and consideration will be served beneath Clemente’s murals. Both the drinks and the artwork have a surface-level whimsy that plays out atop layers of complexity. Clemente’s two paintings in the main bar room use the same earthy palette of brick red, gold, and black, and as a pair they tell a story. “It’s a pilgrimage,” Clemente says in his charming Neapolitan accent. There are lovers, fish, giant eyes, a camel—all symbols recognizable to Clemente fans and moving in their emotional heft. “Every time you look, you see something different,” says Humm. Clemente’s third mural is an Eden of plants painted in gold. Among the gilded grapes and pomegranates is a sunflower, reminiscent of the first watercolor the artist ever made for Humm, of the inaugural meal he had at Eleven Madison Park following their auspicious meeting. Since then, it’s clear Clemente was right: “It’s always good to have someone ring your bell out of nowhere.”
