I adore Michael White, some of his restaurants and their hospitality, including
Ai Fiori and the Barn in Bedford. That said, I’m sad to report that my recent lunch at Marea wasn’t up to the Altamaria Group standards.
We decided on their five-course luncheon tasting menu ($80) with wine pairings ($150), leaving the food and libation decision-making up the the house and socializing to us.
That started with a trio of crudo that we noted were plated backwards. Meaning the more flavorful chunk of Bigeye tuna, sitting on an oyster crema and topped with crispy artichoke was set before the more mild fish. We ate them in the correct order enjoying the Pacific 
snapper with asparagus first, then the Pacific Jack mackerel in a puddle of Castelvetrano olive puree topped with pumpkin seeds. The wine match was a wonderful crisp white from Santorini. The Thalassitis Gai’a 2014.
Our salad course was their twist on a caprese salad with Nova Scotia lobster (albeit slightly overcooked), the creamiest of burrata, two flavorful tomato halves (wished there were more) and basil seeds, matched perfectly with a Sicilian Etna Rosato Rose 2015, Graci Nerello 
Mascalese, from the slopes of Mt Etna.
Loving gnocchi, we made a swap in the pasta course. We shouldn’t have. What should have been pillow-soft, melt-in-your mouth dumplings were more like super al dente pasta with rock shrimp in a plebeian tomato sauce flavored with rosemary. We each left most the dish. That was served with their own Altamarea Evening Land 2013 Pinot Noir fromthe Eola-Amity Hills.
Our main course consisted of two seared sea scallops with a small piece of a grilled plum, some fresh fava beans, crispy speck and sauteed ramps. The best part of this course 
was again the wine, an amazing Burgundian Chassagne-Montrachet 1st Cru, Les Champgains F. & L. Pillot.
Dessert was a refreshing rhubarb rose granita over a Sicilian pistachio panna cotta and raspberries, plus a small pastry with white chocolate espresso crema, served with a dessert wine the Venician Maculan 2011 Torcolato, Vespaiolo.
Other than the leaden gnocci, the food was fine, but certainly nothing special to go out of the way for…
– bonnie
Marea
Midtown West
240 Central Park South
New York, NY 10021
212-582-5100
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