TONY's 100 Best '09

#26 – RICCI at MAREA

Unctuous. What a great word. And one that I don’t get to use very often. Although when we went to the fancy new seafood palace, Marea just off Central Park to try another list item, I found myself saying the word over and over again.

The list item was number two on Time Out’s Top Ten rated dishes. It’s called Ricci, which is actually Italian for sea urchin. Here we go again with the sea urchin. As much as I’ve been enjoying it, it’s starting to get old (although fortunately not the sea urchin itself because old sea urchin is one of the true horrors in life).

The ricci is served as an item to be shared by the table. It’s presented beautifully and was sort of reminiscent of Aldea’s sea urchin toast. A toasted crostini was the base here with a very thick and generous portion of bright orange sea urchin laying on top and then finally it was all hidden in a translucent skin, which turns out to be lardo (better known as pig fat).

It’s a good thing this was only a bite or two, otherwise it would have killed me. The problem I had here was that there was nothing to take me away from the unctuous (finally got to use it) flavors. No different textures or sweetness or acidity or anything.  The lardo was intensely greasy and earthy, while the sea urchin was briny and salty.

The concept seems really great and the dish was presented beautifully. But it wasn’t terribly enjoyable to eat. It needed something to bring it to life and to add some balance so that it wasn’t all so… wait for it…. you guessed it… unctuous.

Would Marea’s Ricci make my Top 100 of the year? I’m sort of amazed it was number two on the entire list because even though it sounds great on paper, the flavors weren’t varied enough for me. It gets a 5 out of 10because the overwhelming funky richness wasn’t as pleasing as I hoped.

AboutBrian Hoffman

Brian Hoffman is a classically trained actor who is now a full-time tour guide, blogger, and food obsessive. He leads food and drink tours around New York City, which not only introduce tour-goers to delicious food, but gives them a historical context. He has written food articles for Gothamist and Midtown Lunch in addition to overseeing this blog and a few food video series, including Eat This, Locals Know, and Around the World in One City. His latest series is an international cooking show with his son which can be found on this site.

1 Comment

  1. Agreed. This dish was a gutbomb in one bite and not a particulary yummy bite to boot! I’m not a fan.

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