Marea, the Three-peat

This past week was another get together of the Manhattan Ladies Dining Club. The MLDC decided to up the ante after a mediocre showing by Porterhouse by making this month's reservation at the double Michelin starred, Marea. Located on Central Park South at Broadway, this Michael White restaurant has already captured my time and attention with their incredible pasta dishes and phenomenal one bite crudos. But could they repeat this fantastic track record a third time?


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.

For our next course we picked three antipasta dishes to share; Astice (Nova Scotia lobster with burrata, eggplant al funghetto and basil); Uovo (poached egg, spring garlic, bone marrow, baby eel, passatelli and barley bordo); and a blue crab salad.

These three were standouts...the poached egg was amazing with such incredible balance of tastes - the running yoke, creamy sauce and saltiness from the eel. And the lobster with burrata; fantastic!

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.

With our main course we went with the sommelier's recommendation for a red: Palari Faro, an Italian medium bodied, berry / cherry nosed with moderate tannins, it was a 20o6 vintage from Sicily that was priced mid-range and was quite enjoyable. Heartier than a pinot but not anywhere close to a cab, it fit the dishes well.

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

Porter House, NYC

Last night Patty, Gianne and I had our third official Ladies Manhattan Dining Club (LMDC) get together. This go around we made a reservation at Michael Lomonaco's Porter House New York in the Time Warner Center. Opened in fall of 2006 and located on the 4th floor, it shares this illustrious location with power hitters Per Se & Bouchon Bakery (Thomas Keller), Masa & Bar Masa (Masayoshi Takayami), A Voce (Missy Robbins) and Landmarc (Marc Murphy). Patty choose Porter House mainly because of a growing obsession with Debragga, New York's popular butcher and the one partnering with Porter House.

While the three of us make up the LMDC, we decided from the onset that our reservations should be made for four people allowing us to bring guests, friends or anyone we thought would enrich our evening. For this evening out we invited Susan (of AfterTaste blog fame) to join us and what a wonderful addition she made! Susan might just find herself included in more LMDC evenings out if she's not careful.

Our reservation on this particular evening was a very respectable 6:30pm. Leaving Bound Brook, New Jersey at 4:30pm, with Susan in tow, should have left us not only plenty of time to make the drive into the city but allow for pre-dinner drinks at the bar. Unknown to us and our advanced planning was the idiot who felt it necessary to get into a car accident INSIDE the Lincoln Tunnel. So an hour of sitting dead stopped in traffic and we had to make peace with the fact we were going to be late. Luckily Patty was there early ~ having drinks, making friends with the bartender and holding our reservation for us. Hell, we were so late even Gianne made it there before us (said with love Gigi)!

But we made it, close to 7pm. Upon entering the restaurant you got a sense of warm and chic...Here's the decor as described on the restaurant's web site...

With spacious seating for 140, the room is as ample as the food is in its sense of welcome and luxurious modern casualness. Created by Jeffrey Beers, designer of Daniel Boulud Brasserie at the Wynn Hotel in Las Vegas, Daniel Boulud's DB Bistro Moderne in New York, and Jeffrey Chodorow's Ono at the Hotel Gansevoort, the dining room has been critically praised for its handsome, polished design and panoramic views of Central Park. Dominating the entry is a long, sleekly gleaming cherry wood bar. Deep butter-soft leather banquettes range along the opposite wall with comfortable caf é seating in-between. The wide-grained wood floor runs the length of the bar into the formal dining room. Diners relax beneath beams of warm, slatted cherry wood and mellow, meal enhancing lighting. Wooden tables are draped with crisp white tablecloths and encircled by big, roomy arm chairs that mix American clubhouse with American opulence. The private dining room seats and additional 50, and can be divided into two more intimate and quiet spaces, providing a perfect venue for a variety of events and activities.

They settled us into a table smack in the middle of the dining room. I thought, these poor people have no idea what they're in. Wait until they realize we're loud, funny and not at all censored during our meals together. But there was a mild din permeating the restaurant that I think damped anyone's ability to listen to closely to our conversations. A good thing, I'm sure!

A disjointed and boisterous discussion ensued over the topic of how many courses, which courses and who was ordering what kicked off the evening while also trying to pick wines and ensure our waiter that we weren't nuts and we would eventually place an order. Where we netted out - a shared platter of oysters, a round of appetizers and then two porterhouse steaks to be shared amongst the four of us. To kick off the evening, we ordered a bottle of Pierre Peters Blanc de Blanc Brut, NV. This was after asking the sommelier if he could tell us a bit about the other bottle that we didn't know anything about, the La Caravelle Brut Rose, NV. During his monologue describing this champagne we were unfamiliar with he did proceed to tell us that, "it's a rose, so that means it's pink in color". We stopped him right there and ordered the Pierre Peters.

I'm going to ask Susan to weigh in on the tasting notes...I honestly was more wrapped up in the conversation and less paying attention to the bubbly. I know it was easy to drink, bright in flavor, short on the finish, medium golden color with a nice if not deep bouquet. It went well with our first two courses and seemed like a very nice choice for the $110 price point.

The first course, a tasting platter of a dozen oysters arrived. The wait staff set the iced platter up on one of those wire racks in the center of the table. The issue? The rack was so tall that the oysters were literally higher than our eyes...you couldn't see what you were eating. After some chatting we decided to take matters into our own hands and remove the rack, sitting the platter on the table, on a napkin. Seeing what we intended to do, a waiter (not our head waiter) with a deep scowl yelled at us! "STOP, I'll do that in a minute when my hands aren't full" is what he admonished us with. Luckily our head waiter must have overheard, came right over and moved the offending wire rack. Here's a picture of the oysters, down where they belonged, easily accessible to four starving young women.

Not unusually, I have forgotten the types of oysters they presented us with except Pine Island. And something I found interesting...there were four of us, we asked for a dozen oysters with some variety. Don't you think you'd make the platter up of three different kinds, four of each? That way everyone gets to try each kind. But alas, no...we got three of four different kinds so even if one type was a complete standout, someone missed out on trying it. This and being yelled at was a pretty good indictation of how the service was going to pan out all evening long.

The oysters themselves were very good...pretty large overall. Patty didn't like the "fishy" ones that much but I loved the briny, saltiness of all three I tried. They were served with a traditional cocktail sauce, lemon and a mignonette that was bright and acidic with that strong vinegar taste that goes so well with oysters.

Next up was the appetizer course. When our waiter told us they had a special that evening and it was a chilled lobster salad made from the meat of a one pound lobster and served with greens, asparagus, avocado and citrus...well, my mind was made up. I never pass up lobster salad...it's a favorite. This dish was the hit of the evening. A wonderfully large portion with the sweetest lobster meat and a gorgeous green champagne, avocado vinegrette that just made everything come together in salad heaven. The dish got passed around and kudos from all.

Susan, after much discussion with Patty, ordered the roasted beef marrow bones with herb salad and toasted country bread. I'm not sure if I've ever had bone marrow actually IN the bone. Susan performed some surgical procedure to remove each delectable morsel out and spread it lovingly onto toast points. I tried some, since there were sounds of happiness coming from her side of the table and have to say...I'm not sure I'm the biggest bone marrow fan. I've no doubt that this was very good marrow since Susan's palette has been honed to near perfection over the years...but it didn't resonate with me specifically. The bread on the other hand was fabulous.

Next up was Gianne's pan seared sea scallops with caper brown butter and creamy celery root. Winner! The scallops were warm and cooked just past translucent. The caper, brown butter was both salty and rich giving a depth to the dish. And let's face it, creamy celery root is a wonderful, wonderful thing. Great appetizer and for me, the number two star dish of the evening.

And finally, Patty's appetizer, the wild Italian arugula salad with roasted peppers, pecorino cheese, Sicilian olives and grape tomatoes. Very pretty, but just a salad, we all admit. I think I owe Patty an apology. When listening to her and Susan debate the various appetizer choices and hearing them talk about the bone marrow and the filet mignon steak tartar, I tossed out a little dig of, "what, no greens for you two"? I certainly hope my joke wasn't what diverted her away from the tartar (because I LOVE tartar) to go with the rather plain salad. Nothing special going on with this dish unfortunately.

On to the main event...eating at a placed called Porter House, how could we NOT order the porterhouse? In fact, we ordered two of them to split between the four of us. And we asked for them to be cooked medium rare... the only appropriate way to cook a steak. With the steaks, we got three of their lovely sounding side dishes...the truffled mashed yukon gold potatoes (oh, baby), the baked macaroni and cheese and the pan roasted field mushrooms.

To go with this course we ordered and had opened ahead of time a bottle of the 2006 Littorai 'Cerise' Anderson Valley. Can I just say - damn, that's an amazing bottle of wine. One of the best Pinot Noir's I've ever had. Alan, honey...if you're reading this...we need to stockpile. :)

On my plate above you see that I'd served myself up pieces from both the filet and rib eye side of the PH and added a nice tasting of the mac & cheese and mashed potatoes. The good news first? Holy frigging awesome mashed potatoes!!! Another shining example of taking something great and adding truffles to make it spectacular! Wonderful, fabulous, incredible...ahhhh....yummy. This sentiment was shared by all. The baked macaroni and cheese was very nice as well and we debated what cheese was used since it had a nice bite to it...something in there was sharp and made the dish work. I did not try the field mushrooms this evening...just wasn't feeling it.

Now, the porterhouse. It was cooked about medium rare and the flavor was nice. But it lacked that succulence that we've achieved at home (at Susan's home actually, with Rich manning the grill) and take a look at the amount of fat on the rib eye. Having to cut away a third of every bite from fat didn't make it any more endearing. While it would have been easy to do from a quantity perspective, we didn't finish the porterhouses; either one of them. The leftovers made their way back to Bound Brook to make an appearance as either pureed dinner for Connor or steak and eggs for Rich.

And finally, for dessert we decided to put one dish in the middle of the table. That dessert? Old School Ice Cream sundae of both vanilla and chocolate ice cream, hot fudge, nuts in caramel, cherries and whipped cream. And a plate of assorted Porter House cookies that they brought out with compliments from the kitchen. The sundae was yummy as were the cookies. The total bill was reasonable, we agreed, all said and done. The company and conversation was fantastic, a great ladies night out. The restaurant, we collectively gave a 6 out of 10. Good, not great...would try other places before going back.

Jenn's rating: 82

Zagat's rating: 24-25-24

Nougatine, NYC

Susan & Rich knew they'd be coming into the city on the 30th for an appointment and asked if we'd like to join them for lunch. Never ones to pass up a meal, we were looking forward to trying Nougatine, Jean-Georges Vongerichten's bistro in the shared space with his namesake restaurant. They share a kitchen and a bar which I didn't realize until we were being seated.

But before we get to lunch, both Rich & I had some time to kill before the reservation waiting for Susie to finish her appointment. We decided to go grab a drink around 5th and 59th, settling on the champagne bar in The Plaza. We ordered a Veuve Clicquot Rose - a half bottle poured generously between our glasses.

One of the really cool things about drinks at The Plaza besides watching the crazy tourists come into the lobby just to take pictures of themselves is that they always bring you snacks when you're drinking. Last time Alan and I were there it was spiced nuts and peppery popcorn. This time it was a trail mix assortment of nuts, sunflower seeds and chocolate covered almonds. Yum! The Veuve was very nice - floral bouquet, dark pink color, nice finish and a high acidity that goes nicely with salty snacks.

Time to go to lunch!! We walk from The Plaza over to Columbus Circle where Nougatine is - in the Trump building actually - and are seated within a few minutes of arriving. This is when it dawns on Susan, Rich and I that we'll be literally in the outer room of the famous Jean-Georges restaurant that we all ate at back in September, 2010 when Susan was pregnant with Connor.

The menu was lovely - an a la cart side and a bargain $28 prix fixe. We decide to go that direction since the two sides of the menu are pretty much the same. We decided to get an appetizer, an entree and dessert - - being us, that's actually not enough so we also ask to throw in a burger course in between!

For the appetizers: Rich ordered the fried calamari with basil, salt and citrus chili dip that looked like a citrus foam. Very good. Susan ordered the shrimp salad with avocado, tomato and champagne vinegar dressing - also very good. I ordered off the a la cart menu requesting they swap in the peekytoe crab cake on greens. This was good but not great. I really couldn't taste the crab. Alan ordered the watermelon salad with goat cheese, olive oil and cracked pepper. Depending on the bite of this you tried it either had an overwhelming amount of pepper or was too oily. The consensus at the table was that it was a disappointing course but I actually liked it and swapped my crab cake for it. I liked the tang of the goat cheese against the sweet crispness of the watermelon.

For our middle course we asked for the cheeseburger with crispy onion rings and Russian dressing to be quartered for all of us to share. Being rather obsessed with burgers, we were looking forward to trying this one. I had dreams of something akin to the reigning best gourmet burger of all time - the one from Wolfgang Puck's Postrio in the Venetian in Las Vegas. However this one did not even come close. First - it was overcooked. Second - it was small. Third - the onion ring and Russian dressing didn't add any depth of flavor or even some crunch to make it interesting. It was a pretty boring burger overall.

For our entrees, Rich and I both ordered the skate over an asparagus / bean puree. It was as delicious as it was beautiful.

Susan ordered this lovely fish dish of which I can remember absolutely nothing about. But she liked it!

Alan got the organic chicken with chopped green beans in a broth of cinnamon, coriander and other spices usually associated with fall flavors. Alan didn't think it was a particularly summer dish.

For dessert, Susan, Alan and I all ordered the warm chocolate cake with vanilla ice cream while Rich got the Lindsor tort. The chocolate cake was like a souffle, all melted happiness inside. Very good. Rich liked this tort but I don't remember any of the details.

All in all it was a nice lunch because of the four of us being together, playing hookie in the city and doing what we love the most - eating and drinking. But the food didn't blow me away and I didn't get to experience the excitement of a new place with a cool or interesting ambiance. Jean-Georges was sitting at the table next to us with three guests...so we've seen him both times we've been there. The service was well orchestrated and blended in nicely - always attentive but never overwhelming. I'm not sure I'd go back there for lunch...dinner in the main dining room is a fantastic experience that overshadows Nougatine.

Jenn's Rating: 88
Zagat: 27-23-25

Benoit NYC

I’ve been to Benoit three times now…once when I left HRG in 2008, once in 2010, and in 2011. It’s a recreation of a famous French restaurant that was converted from a pharmacy into a bistro, and owned by the Alain Ducasse restaurant group. The restaurant has three distinct areas…the bar, which has outside seating, the main dining room, and private rooms upstairs, which look like you walked into an old school pharmacy. (By the way, you have to take a very small elevator up to the private rooms, but it’s worth asking about taking a peek at them).

The evening started in the bar with an unremarkable glass of Chenin Blanc from the Loire valley. That was followed by a much more interesting glass of Lanson Brut Rose Champagne. This was a lighter style rose clearly meant as an aperitif. I hate to categorize champagnes that way as I believe them to be incredibly versatile, but I could not see this holding my attention with food, and there are too many other champagnes that I like better. Grade of C.

My dining partner, Sean, and I were greeted at the bar by Andre, the current Sommelier. Sean has known Andre for years, but I met him originally at Alain Ducasse’s signature restaurant in NY, called ADNY. He’s a terrific Somm, and a nicer guy. After ADNY, I also had the pleasure of seeing him at meals at Adour, and now at Benoit. If you go, and have any questions about wine, spirits, or general liquids, don’t be afraid to ask Andre. He’s that good, and his recommendations are spot-on.

As I was picking out the wines for the meal, and Andre knew Sean, he brought us over the Reserve wine list. This is a ledger style book where the pricing is hand-written for all the wines, of which there are many. Unfortunately for me, the Reserve list was a bit too Reserve for me (read expensive), so I asked for a recommendation. As per our normal, Sean and I were looking for a white to start, and a red with the entrees. We finally decided on two wines, the 2009 J. Mellot le Montarlet Sancerre from the Loire and the 1996 Paul Jaboulet Aine La Chapelle Hermitage.

I didn’t have any expectations on the J. Mellot. I was just looking for something to go with the appetizers, and something that wasn’t overly heavy. What we got was a terrific wine, and a very good value. Sauvignon Blanc often times has a grassy/hay nature, along with a characterization often referred to as “cat urine”. I hate saying it, much less thinking about it or tasting it. However, this wine was bright, full of acid (but not overly so), had lovely citrus flavors and mineral notes. Terrific…Grade of A- based on delivery versus expectation.

Then came the Hermitage. I’ve never had a Jaboulet, much less an aged one. Professional notes on this wine say it has great potential, but is quite backwards and tannic and thus may never really open. We didn’t have that problem with this bottle. The wine was a deep red color and had a bouquet that was actually quite fragrant and floral, with clear notes of red fruit. On the palate the wine was a nice combination of concentrated fruit, showing both smooth tannins and some acid, with flavors of dark berry cassis, grilled meats, pepper and spice. Showing quite well and open, it matched with the food well. A solid experience for me as I usually don’t like syrah-based wines, but the Rhone valley is really a different animal from California in this regard. Grade of B+.

On to the food. Benoit has a lot of starters to choose from, but what caught our attention was a small piece of paper and a golf pencil on the table with our menus. On this paper were about 9 appetizers, and you had the choice of either selecting 3 or 5 choices. Think of it as an Appetizer tasting menu, or a selection of Amouse Bouches (at least in terms of size). I choose a Crab cocktail with avocado & grapefruit, Egg mayo, and the Crispy Pied de Cochon (mostly because I didn’t know what it was).

The Crab cocktail was very good. The sweetness of the Crab was offset by both the smoothness of the avocado, as well as the tartness of the grapefruit. The Egg mayo was one egg split and prepared two different ways. The first was like a deviled egg. I don’t like deviled eggs, but this was quite good. The second was like a hard-boiled egg, but covered in a semi-hard shell made of what seemed to be hollandaise sauce. It was more interesting than great.

Lastly was the Crispy Pied de Cochon. As I mentioned, I didn’t know what this was, but I knew that it would be crispy, which means fried and I like fried, and that it came with tartar sauce. I honestly was thinking that it was fish based. Well, not exactly. Pied de Cochon is actually pig trotters, or to further translate, pig’s feet. I didn’t find this out until I got home and looked it up. All in all, I’m glad I got it, although not because it was great. They were very good and interesting, but the experience was more valuable.

For my entrée I ordered the Duck breast with daikon radish. For those of you who know me, I love duck. Additionally, my personal opinion is that you always get the best duck dished in authentic French restaurants/bistros. When in France, if Duck confit is on the menu, I’m all over it. In any case, this course furthers my theory. The dish was two strips of duck breast, each about four inches long, 1½ inches wide, and 1½ inches thick, served with triangles of daikon radish. The duck had been cooked medium in the center, with the skin still on and crispy. Yum is all I will say.

While I don’t remember what Sean ordered for his appetizers, he ordered the steak frites as his entrée. I expected the steak to be a hanger steak, but it looked like a rib-eye when served. It was done to perfection (ordered medium rare). The frites, which came out in a big bowl, where also excellent. Honestly, not as good as the ones at DBGB the prior week, but still very good and we finished every last frite.

While Sean and I don’t typically do desserts when we dine together, Alain Ducasse’s restaurants often have one of Sean’s favorites…Rum Babba. This is a moist piece of cake smothered in fresh cream, and Rum. At ADNY, when you ordered the Rum Babba, they brought over to the table a Rum cart that would rival any cheese cart for its number of selections of Rum. Not being the fan of Rum that Sean is, I ordered a Chocolate soufflé. I must say that I really enjoy Chocolate soufflé, or soufflé of any type actually. This one was served with vanilla ice cream, but no sauce poured into it. Good, but not great.

Overall, Benoit is a cool place. Not cheap, but the food is top notch French bistro fare. Keep it in mind if you are in mid-town.