Marseille (Chef Urena)

[Liza]

I'm curious as to how you know they were Tim Starck's tomatoes - were they listed on the menu as such?

[cabrales]

Liza -- Only Etats-Unis listed Tim Stark's tomatoes as such. For Blue Hill, Chef Anthony provided a discussion of his tomato supplier in the eGullet Q&A. For last night's dinner at Cafe Boulud, I asked a dining room team member to confirm with the kitchen. For the other restaurants (e.g., Marseilles, USC), there were other sources of information. The only recently sampled heirlooms I could not say for sure were Stark were those at Citarella.

[Bux]

I'm curious as to how you know ...

I don't suppose you've ever tried to withhold information from Cabrales.

[tommy]

i had one of the worst dishes in my life at marseilles recently.

i've often stopped in for a post-work/egullet glass of wine, as they have a decent selection and a nice bar area. so i looked forward to trying it for dinner.

yikes.

started with the vegetable meze, which is described above by cabby. relatively uneventful, and the matbucha flan was actually a bit disturbing in texture and flavor. then again, i don't like flan.

veal raviolo was a special app. it was quite tasty, but certainly lacked the white truffles that the menu claimed.

i went against my better judgment and ordered monkfish, which was wrapped in a leafy green. served with a beet reduction. just passable. nothing stellar. lacked flavor and seasoning.

the scallops in a concorde grape reduction were just horrendous. mealy, dirty, nasty, and inedible. they went untouched.

service was amateurish but friendly.

one saving grace is that it's really not all that expensive. however, i don't see myself returning, 'cept for maybe a glass of wine.

yuck.

[Wilfrid]

Thanks for the warning. Did I read that Urena has now left, or is that my imagination?

[cabrales]

the scallops in a concorde grape reduction were just horrendous.  mealy, dirty, nasty, and inedible.  they went untouched.

tommy -- I appreciate you did not eat much of the scallops. However, how was the Concord grape reduction? Also, you mentioned that Marseilles is not expensive. Could I ask how much your meal was, with tax and tips and wine included?

[tommy]

cabby, i must say that i was not exactly gleefly awash in concorde grape reduction. it was there.

upon further reflection, i should rescind my comment of "it's not that expensive." i do recall thinking that for the same price, i could have gone across the street to Esca and had a brilliant meal.

the meal, if i recall, excluding tip (including it really isn't all that helpful now is it), was about 160.

this included the above dishes, plus one dessert, plus 2 glasses of champagne ($9 and $12), and a bottle of modestly-priced wine ($45 maybe?).

i recall entrees ranging from the high teens to the high 20's perhaps.

[Wilfrid]

For two people (unless you ate two dinners) anything under two hundred bucks is not expensive these days. My basis is that it hard to keep the check under $70 or $80 per head in an ordinary, casual East Village bistro.

[cabrales]

Wilfrid -- I don't know about the definition of expensive. While I did not keep costs down at a recent Union Pacific dinner, I could have ordered the $48 pre-theater three-course meal, drank tap water and ordered two inexpensive glasses of wine (say, at $24 total) and stayed within $70 for a person before tax and tips. Of course, that is relatively difficult to implement.

[Wilfrid]

And if you do add the tax and tips, and drink a moderate bottle of wine instead of two glasses, and even a cup of coffee, I think my point stands.

[Bux]

My basis is that it hard to keep the check under $70 or $80 per head in an ordinary, casual East Village bistro.

And not that much easier on the upper east side these days.

[weinoo]

Can anyone shed any light on this 9th Avenue place? Did the chef come from Blue Hill?

[tommy]

i thought the place was just horrible. Amateurish service. i forget the specifics, but one dish was simply inedible. one of the few meals where i walked away and felt horrible that i spent the money (over 100 for 2 people).

that's based on one visit. multiple visits to the bar side have been pleasant enough, with several non-chardonnay and non-merlot selections.

nice room. flowers and whatnot.

[Sandra Levine]

Previous thread

[weinoo]

Thanks - I'll be avoiding it.

[tommy]

Previous thread

thanks sandra.

it is in fact good to see that my memory is accurate.

weinoo, as you've stated, don't rush there.

[anil]

A healthy singles scene on the bar side - eye candy for both genders abound Oh! you'll wanted to know about their food - Read the older thread on this topic.

Admin: the current active thread for discussion of Marseille under Chef Andy D'Amico may be found here.

Edited December 5, 2004 by slkinsey (log)