Damn it, yes they can!! Patty, Mary (our guest this time) and I started our evening off at the bar; me with a glass of bubbly and them with the house rose. We were seated a few minutes before our 5:45pm reservation in the middle of the main dining room. Being one of the first parties seated we were able to see how quickly this hot spot filled up around us. No empty tables by 6:30pm could be found. Our fourth, and founding member of the MLDC, Gianne, arrived a few minutes after we were seated.
Our format for the evening was decided upon; a course of six crudo bites, a shared round of antipasti and then pasta. For the crudos we chose Scampi (pacific lanougstines with Murray River pink salt); Sparnocchi (Canadian side striped shrimp with lemon and black lava salt); Ono (wild pacific Wahoo with red grapes and oregano); Tonno (big eye tuna with oyster crema and crispy artichokes); and Astice (Nova Scotia lobster with sun dried tomatoes and olives).
Before the first course arrived we were presented with our selected bottle of champagne (Egly-Ouriet, non vintage brut) and an amuse bouche of chilled soup that I honestly can't remember what was in it...other than it was light green in color and there were red grape segments that stuck to the bottom of the little shot glass. Hopefully someone else remembers. Nice, light and refreshing.
The first course was served! Gorgeous, aren't they? The Scampi served on the slice of cucumber was the group's least favorite simply because it had the least amount of flavor although still clean with a great texture. These one biters continue to be pretty amazing if you like raw fish...in this case the Ono, Tonna and Sparnocchi really stood out and go so nicely with champagne.
The pasta course came up next... Patty and I both ordered the dish that Marea has become known for (and possibly the single best pasta dish of all time), the fusilli with red wine braised octopus and bone marrow pictured first. Gianne opted for the rigantoni with shrimp, sepia, squid ink and pecorino. Mary ventured to the right side of the menu and selected the Mare risotti (risotto of shrimp, lobster and scallops).
The fusilli remains the king of dishes...it is perfection. The squid ink dish was a little less flavorful and felt like something was missing. Not sure what, but it didn't have the completeness of the fusilli or other pasta dishes we've had here in the past. The risotto was one the dish I was most intrigued by since no one that we've dined with yet had ordered a risotto. It looked great but it too came up a little short in my mind. It was creamy, yes and cooked to the correct level of al dente. But I didn't feel the seafood came out enough to identify it as a Mare course. Don't get me wrong, really good but it could have been phenomenal and my expectations were high. Every bite of all four dishes got finished.
We decided to skip dessert, being full from three courses - but our attentive and friendly server brought us out this dish to split and finish our evening. I remember basically nothing about it other than the sorbet was wickedly yummy with a deep fruit flavor - maybe black cherry? Really good.
All in all, another wonderful meal at Marea and the highest caliber dinner to date of our dining club. I think we've raised the bar with this one! It'll be interesting to see where we end up for our December dinner.
Jenn's rating: 90
Michelin: 2 stars
Zagat: 28-26-26
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