This rainy March Monday, my mother and I had our monthly mother-daughter meal, sometimes a lunch/sometimes a dinner, it depends. Today we went to Marea, Michael White's Italian seafood restaurant located on Central Park South just east of Columbus Circle. A simple elegant dining room with touches of the sea -- silver glazed shells and the such, it was decently crowded for a 12:15 lunch on a Monday but not overly crowded that you felt like you were in a sea of business men in suits.
Although they have a prix fixe lunch of two courses, chosen from either their crudi and antipasti options and then their pasta and fish and meat sections, we opted to split four of their antipasti for a lighter meal.
We started with their insalata - a white balsamic beautifully dressed fluffy and light mixed green salad tossed with french breakfast radishes and other seasonal vegetables. This was a salad about the fresh crispness of the vegetables and the lettuces and giving them the opportunity to shine! Next up we had their Pulpo -- grilled octopus, smoked fingerlings and purple Peruvian potatoes, pickled red onion, chillies, and tonnato. This was one of the best preparations of octopus I have had recently -- the traditionally tough sea creature was prepared in the most amazing fashion -- silky, sleek, sumptuous, earthy, and all around fabulous. After this octopus, it'd be quite hard to eat the chewy tough version. Next up we had their grilled Spanish mackerel that was served atop a balsamic glaze with hen of the woods mushrooms, chickpeas, pearl red onions, crushed grapes and nebbiolo mostarda. A truly unique combination of flavors, rustic yet refined. And lastly we had their nova scotia lobster, burrata, cherry tomatoes, eggplant all funghetto, and basil dish. The most wonderful combination of lusciousness, vegetal and bright notes with that classic melt in your mouth feel of the burrata. This was the sort of dish that was a special occasion sort of indulgence, so incredibly fabulous!
I thought their lunch was lovely and would most certainly go back. We had just the perfect amount of food, not too much that you couldn't enjoy each morsel. This was haute Italian cooking done right. A great treat / special occasion sort of place.
Marea
240 Central Park South
NYC
Footnote: I know the past few blogs have been dining out blogs, I promise we will have some cheese spotlights and recipes coming up and of course full coverage of my trip to Iceland later this week! Curious about Icelandic cheese? I know I am!
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