NYC’s coastal Italian hotspot Marea is temporarily closed for renovations, but that doesn’t mean New Yorkers have to spend the summer without the restaurant’s iconic shellfish and burrata dish. On June 26, the acclaimed Altamarea Group restaurant took up residency at sibling spot Ai Fiori and will serve its famed Nova Scotia lobster astice along with other Marea signatures until its transformation is complete.
“Marea focuses on Italy and its coast while Ai Fiori takes inspiration from the Mediterranean region at large,” says Lauren DeSteno, corporate executive chef at the Altamarea Group. “Ai Fiori was born from the same sensibilities that form Marea.”
DeSteno and Ai Fiori’s chef de cuisine Yoshiyuki Nonaka join forces to dish up a best-of-both-worlds menu that includes beloved faithfuls from each of the restaurants. Expect summer-friendly seafood hits such as Ai Fiori’s spaghetti with blue crab, lemon, and bottarga, and pan-seared halibut with local squash. The Marea section of the menu features the restaurant’s renowned crudo lineup and housemade pastas including fusilli with red wine-braised octopus and bone marrow. Add wine from Ai Fiori’s Wine Spectator Grand Award-winning list and the restaurant’s elegant floral dining room in the Langham hotel, and you’ve got a culinary collab for the books.
“Luxury, elegance, and hospitality flow through Ai Fiori’s walls, just as it does through Marea,” DeSteno adds. “Bringing the two [restaurants] together was an idea that didn’t need a second thought, it was right from the beginning.”
Aarti Virani is the blog editor at OpenTable.
