We are big fans of Bizarre Foods with Andrew Zimmern. Though his personality sometimes rubs us the wrong way, we do enjoy living vicariously through his food adventures around the world. Luckily, he sometimes does episodes here in NYC which means we could potentially try the restaurant ourselves. One such instance: an episode where he cooked at Marea, a delightful Italian seafood spot at the southern tip of Central Park.
It's hard not to love Marea from the moment you walk in. Though the decor and location are very upscale, everyone who greets you is extremely friendly and completely unpretentious. It seems like a place where you'd need to dress up, yet plenty of the diners arrived in jeans. (Though perhaps the fact that we went at lunch time played a part. Certainly the dinner crowd might up their game a little bit.) The decor is crisp, bright, and modern with plenty of light streaming in through the windows surrounding the dining room. We could have hung out in there all day!
For appetizers, DJ decided to try the Granchio (peekytoe crab, honeycrisp apple, celery,
fresh horseradish, chervil)...
and Mel went for the Polipo (grilled octopus, smoked potatoes, pickled red onion,
radish, chilies, tonnato).
Both were so delicious we literally wiped our plates clean with the fresh olive focaccia generously offered whenever our bread plate looked empty.
For our mains, DJ was on a mission to try the dish that Zimmern made on his show: Fusilli (durum wheat pasta, red wine braised octopus, bone marrow). It was every bit as delicious as it looked!
Mel went for the Funghi (acquerello risotto, wild mushrooms, parmigiano reggiano) - so good she almost licked the plate!
We closed off the meal with a bit of sweetness: Bomboloni (doughnuts, rosemary, chocolate sauce, spiced honey). Fresh, warm, and beautifully reminiscent of doughy confections at Italian street fairs.
There is no doubt why people rave about this place; it is a superb dining experience in every way. Before we left, we were already thinking of who else we'd like to invite to try it.
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