The One Who Keeps the Book New York
How To Get Into Clemente Bar, From the Team Behind Eleven Madison Park
Eleven Madison Park, chef Daniel Humm’s temple of plant-based fine dining, has a new sister. That in and of itself would be news no matter what, and the fact that it’s a craft cocktail bar right upstairs from EMP has made it one of the city’s most coveted reservations. Humm was inspired to open Clemente Bar and Studio after its namesake, contemporary artist Francesco Clemente, and the intimate bar and lounge has the look and feel of an artist’s studio, coupled with the luxurious, handcrafted skills of Humm’s team of chefs and bartenders.
Clemente Bar has two main areas: a lounge area with 38 seats where you can order food and drink à la carte, and the studio, or tasting counter, which only has nine seats and is where they serve a 90-minute, five-course menu with carefully selected cocktail pairings.
And while it can be a tough Resy to snag for both the lounge and the studio, that’s where we come in. We sat down with the general manager Gabriela Sosa to find out everything you need to know about scoring a seat — and what to order when you do.
What You Need to Know
Clemente Bar and Studio
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Plan Ahead:
Reservations drop three weeks in advance at 10 a.m. -
The Layout:
You’ve got two options– the lounge, where you can order a la carte, or the nine-seat tasting counter, at which you can only do the five-course menu (with cocktail or non-alcoholic drink pairing). -
Walk on In:
They save about 20% of the space in the lounge for walk-ins, but try to do so later in the evening, after 9 p.m, or right when they open at 5 p.m.
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What to Order:
In the lounge, go for the agedashi tofu dog, espresso martini float, Clemente Martini, or the Army Brat cocktail. And don’t leave without trying the dark chocolate mousse for dessert. -
Pro Tip:
The bar seats are the way to go here, so you can really see the artistry of the bartenders up close and personal.
Resy: When do reservations drop?
Gabriela Sosa: It’s three weeks in advance, and they drop at 10am.
How quickly are they usually filling up?
I mean, they’ll fill up pretty quickly for the lounge and for the studio. The prime slots, like the 5, 6, and 7 p.m. could all fill up within a day after they drop. We don’t have that large of a space; as soon as [the reservations] drop, we pretty much get filled up.
Are you saving any room for walk-ins?
Yeah! We do about 80% reservations for the lounge, and then we reserve about 20% for walk-ins.
How many seats are there inside?
At the lounge we have 38 seats, including the bar. For the studio, we have nine seats.
Tell us about the difference between the bar and the studio.
I’ll start with the studio. The studio is a really unique experience. It’s a five-course tasting menu with a cocktail experience as well. You can do a non-alcoholic cocktail pairing or a regular alcohol pairing, and the experience lasts about 90 minutes. It’s really cool, because you get to interact with the chef and the bartender.
It’s only nine seats, so it’s really very intimate. It’s almost a classic omakase-style kind of service, so you’re watching the chef and the bartender do everything in front of you.
The lounge is more of a cocktail scene, and it’s all à la carte. You can do drinks, you can do snacks, you can do a full dinner if you want.
What’s your go-to order in the lounge?
I love everything that we have. On the savory side, I think the agedashi tofu dog is really cool. It’s like our play on a hot dog, and it has this black truffle ginger relish, pickled mustard seeds, and it gets dusted with mushroom powder. There are a lot of flavors there that you wouldn’t necessarily expect.
I think a lot of people sleep on them, but we also have amazing cute desserts.
We have a nice play on an espresso martini; it’s an espresso martini float. It’s espresso ice cream topped with the espresso martini and maraschino cherries. That’s really fun. We also have a dark chocolate mousse. When you eat it, you wouldn’t think it’s plant based. It’s absolutely ridiculous with hazelnut and vanilla cream. If you like bananas, we have a dessert called the Banana Icee, which is banana three ways. There’s banana cake on the bottom, banana ice cream, and then banana granita, and caramelized bananas on top as well. We have a little bit of everything for everyone.
What about to drink?
[The cocktails are] all super different. The Clemente Martini is one of the most popular ones. It was made especially for Francesco Clemente, [the Italian contemporary artist for whom the restaurant is named]. It’s vodka and gin with green curry and saffron notes. It’s super savory and different. If you want something more fun, the Army Brat is super cool, too. It also has gin, yuzu sake, and a little papaya disk on top. It’s just refreshing and nice.
Are you using the Resy Notify feature right now?
When we have cancellations, we always try to use the Notify list.
How long does the Notify list usually get?
It depends on the day. It could be anywhere from 100 to 300. Today, for example, we’re up to 300.
What’s the best piece of advice you could offer someone who’s hoping to get a table?
If you can’t get a reservation, you can always try to walk in. We do open right at 5 p.m., and we start taking names right then. That’s the best way. Or you can make friends with us!
We always have a waitlist running, if you can’t get a reservation.
Set the scene for us. What’s it like during those prime times?
The room itself is super intimate. There are very sexy dim lights, and the music is upbeat without being crazy. In prime time, all you hear is people talking, and the bartender shaking. It just feels like a very “New York” bar. It’s intimate but in a very sophisticated way.
Where would you sit, if you had a choice?
I have two favorite tables. I love the corner tables, and the bar seats are awesome because you can really see the bartenders doing their craft. I think any bar seat is a great seat. Any of the tables is great, but the corner tables are a little more intimate and special.
Tell us about you! How’d you end up in this role?
Well, I’ve been in the industry for a very long time. I used to work at The NoMad [also helmed by chef Humm] back in 2018 and I worked at Eleven Madison Park as well. I left after the pandemic, then came back again, then left for a little bit to be the associate general manager at Ci Siamo. When this opportunity came to my door, I was super excited to come back to the company and open this concept.
Clemente Bar is open daily from 5 p.m. until 1 a.m.
Ellie Plass is a freelance writer based in Brooklyn. Follow her on Instagram and X. Follow Resy, too.
