What happens when a three-Michelin-starred chef decides that dinner needs to be easier? Apparently, you get Riff, a new line of noodle and pasta kits from Daniel Humm, the chef behind New York’s legendary Eleven Madison Park.
And no, this isn’t a reservation at a restaurant where dinner takes three hours and requires serious financial planning. Riff is designed for the other 364 nights of the year.
Launched in September 2026, Riff meal kits are priced at $6.99 and are available at Target locations nationwide and directly from the brand. The promise is simple: restaurant-inspired dinner in one pot and about 20 minutes.
The initial lineup includes Creamy Parmesan Cavatappi, Spicy Tomato Rigatoni, Garlic Lemon Rotini, Sesame Ginger Noodles and Coconut Curry Noodles. Each box comes with pasta or noodles, a chef-designed seasoning mix and a crunchy topping.
The name is part of the idea. Humm wants cooks to “riff” on the kits by adding whatever happens to be hanging around in the refrigerator—vegetables, herbs, leftover chicken, steak or basically anything that needs rescuing before Thursday.
That flexibility is what separates Riff from the traditional meal-kit model. There’s no delivery window, no sad bag of vegetables slowly becoming a science experiment in the refrigerator and no 17-step recipe requiring a culinary degree.
Instead, it’s one pot, roughly 20 minutes and dinner.
Of course, putting Daniel Humm’s name on a $6.99 box of noodles creates some pretty lofty expectations. Critics have already debated whether Riff delivers on its restaurant-quality promise, making this one pantry experiment worth trying for yourself.
Still, the concept is undeniably clever: take a chef’s approach to flavor, put it in the pantry and let home cooks take it from there.
Because sometimes the best restaurant in NYC is your kitchen—and the chef is you.
