Marea - Worthy Of The Hype (New York City)

Marea

Late last year, while preparing my "to eat" list for New York City, I was gathering advice from fellow bloggers and websites to add onto the list. First I was told to eat at Marea by Sam Kim of the LAist, then I read the post by Gourmet Pigs, and after reading links about Marea like this this and this, my addition of Marea pretty much cemented in stone.

Dining Room

I had planned to eat at Marea with a friend from New York, but due to scheduling conflicts, I had to change it into a solo business lunch. Usually I'd hate eating solo, especially at a fine dining establishment like Marea armed with a dSLR, albeit I was on a "foodcation," so the show must go on!

"The Marea"

Even though it's midday, but since I was on vacation, I asked for the cocktail menu and ordered "The Marea." A grappa based drink with flavors of wild hibiscus and passion fruit, The Marea was quite a nice start to my meal. The recipe for "The Marea" can be found here.

Astice - nova scotia lobster, burrata, eggplant al funghetto, basil ($8 supplement)

The lunch menu at Marea was pretty straightforward. Pick any 2 courses (1 from Primo section, 1 from Secondo) for $38. For the quality and the ingredients of the food served at Marea, it's actually quite a bargain.

For my first course, I went with the ever popular Astice. Think sweet, succulent lobster (from Nova Scotia) matched up with a generous portion of burrata cheese. Despite not being a fan of cheese as a whole, I appreciated the creaminess of the burrata along with its soft texture. The marriage of the burrata and the lobster went better than I expected. Thus, I must say this is a must order dish. Get it!

Tagliata - creekstone farms prime sirloin, bone marrow panzanella, braised romaine

Even though I had planned on ordering the Fusilli, the famous dish that most critics seemed to love, I was craving beef, and the Tagliata was more appealing to me at the moment. Thus the Fusilli will have to wait for my return visit to Marea.

The two pieces of sirloin were cooked to perfection (medium rare) and the portions were quite generous. The side of bone marrow panzanella was quite divine. Think croutons cooked in bone marrow. The richness of the panzanella went quite well with the sirloin. Delicious!

Petit Fours

Since I had a tasting menu planned at Per Se later that evening, I passed on the dessert menu and was given a nice set of petit fours to munch on.

All in all, the experience at Marea was fantastic. I personally thought the meal here was actually better than at Alto, another one of Michael White's NYC Italian eateries. There were lots of menu items to choose from, from the aforementioned fusilli to Marea's crudo tasting. Will I come back? The answer is an obvious yes! Though the next visit, I plan on coming back for dinner and see what other magical dishes Michael White could dish out. Can someone say Ricci on my next visit??

Marea
240 Central Park S
New York, NY 10019-1457
(212) 582-5100
Official Website