I know, I know. I haven't posted in forever. It's not that I haven't wanted to, but it's just I've had a crazy few months. But now I have time to sit down and write all about the wonderful food that has filled these months! I promise that this series of updates will make the wait worthwhile. I'll start with the dinner we had for Karen's birthday in December.
We settled on Marea for her birthday. Ummm...go, go now. Everything was wonderful. It'll come as no shock to you that my sister, her husband, and I did the tasting menu. The tasting menu consists of four courses. For the first, you can choose crudo, oysters, or an antipasto. I had a mackeral crudo with butternut squash caponata and pine nuts. The thinly slice medallions of fish was so fresh and the caponata added a really nice sweetness to the naturally briny fish. My sister had the oysters (a total of six comes with the serving so she decided that she would have one of each on the menu). These oysters were so amazing that I've tried to convince a few different friends that we should take our chances for a spot at the bar just to get them. But truthfully, the most amazing thing about the oysters was that when they cleared our plates from this course they brought this little white circle on a plate. The three of us were extremely puzzled, until another waiter came over and poured hot water on top of the circle and viola. It magically grew into a cloth wet-nap for Karen to wipe her hands. Mo just kept repeating now that's class, as I sat there with my mouth open in awe as childhood memories of those little pills that became shapes flashed through my head. But don't let me get sidetracked, because the hands-down winner on this course was the lobster with burrata, eggplant, and basil. Delicately soft bites of lobster with silky burrata...worth every dollar of the $6 supplement for this dish.
The next course at Marea was the handmade pasta course. All of the pastas were extremely flavorful but had this nice, simple feeling. More importantly, each pasta had unique flavors that you wouldn't run into at your typical Italian restaurant. I had fusilli with a red sauce, octopus and bone marrow, Karen choose the rigatoni with shrimp, and Mo had the pasta with sausage and cheese. For the final savory course, we each had a different fish dish. Karen had the branzino that was cooked so perfectly and melted with buttery goodness in your mouth. I had the scallops with a chestnut ragu and porcini mushrooms. I loved the chestnut sauce with the scallops and the earthiness that the mushrooms added to the dish.
Sometimes, when a restaurant is this good, I worry that the dessert is not going to live up to the rest. Luckily, this is not the case at all at Marea. We had the Gianduja, the apple raisin bread pudding, and the pear tart. I think my favorite was the Gianduja, because I love the hazelnut chocolate combination. But, each of these desserts deserves a taste, or two, or three. After the desserts were cleared, they brought a plate of housemade truffles that were some of the best chocolates I've had in a very long time.
Since I went in December, I've been trying to come up with reasons to go back. I'm sure it won't be long before I come up with a good one. Like the oysters or the lobster with burrata or the truffles.
Feel free to help me out with a good excuse.
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