This was not my favorite restaurant year in New York City.
My Bucket List was never lengthy. That is not to say there were not an handful of impressive debuts.
Recently, I dined at Hav & Mar, a stellar seafood establishment from celebrity chef Marcus Samuelsson located in the Chelsea arts district.
The restaurant has been of interest to me for several months.
The location was one of the issues. I like to walk to restaurants. Hav & Mar is isolated by the West Side Highway and 26th Street.
We had attended a Broadway show so I decided to make a reservation since we were halfway to our dining destination.
Chef Samuelsson and Executive Chef Fariyal Abdullahi’s globally inspired menu focuses on sourced seafood and seasonal greenmarket produce.
The 125 seat restaurant is Chef Samuelsson’s first NYC opening since Red Rooster over a decade ago.
Hav & Mar seats 125. The bar area is expansive. We were three so we sat at a table.
The large original artwork by award-winning artist Derrick Adams adorns the walls.
The restaurant takes its name from the countries that have shaped owner/chef Samuelsson’s identity with “hav” translating to ocean in Swedish and “mar” meaning honey in Amharic, the official language of Ethiopia.
Our server, Kwame, was a truly lovely gentleman from Ghana.
To start the ceviche offerings sounded enticing. The Hamachi with Black Ceviche with cippolini onions, granny smith apples and fennel was my least favorite dish of the night. It was tasty, but I usually prefer that the raw fish stands alone ($22).
The Ocean Salad with baby kale, rock shrimp, jumbo lump crab, injera crumble was fresh and crunchy, but, again it did not resonate. We all desired a salad and initially preferred this one to the Autumn Salad ($19).
Applause.:.the second act of the meal was a huge success.
The Whole Branzino was superb with berbere crema, salsa verde, pickled red onion, housemade blue corn tortillas and delicious toppings. The Branzino is one of the best fish dishes I have ever ordered ($52).
The Havatelli Pasta was superb, the sauce was addictive. The bowl of bucatini comes in a shallow pool of uni butter, with crab meat and chopped shrimp on top ($33).
We ordered dessert, a rarity. I think the Chocolate Cake with white & dark chocolate and caramel was the best ever and in my mind the cake was up against my Aunt Mollie’s homemade dark chocolate 8 layer cake. This one won ($16).
Yes, Hav & Mar is a pain to get to. I hate spending $40 on a Lyft, but the food was outstanding, the company incomparable and the service efficient, kind and caring.
Hav & Mar 245 11th Avenue New York City. Open daily for dinner 5-10pm. Monday-Friday 11:30-3pm, Saturday and Sunday Noon to 2:30pm. Reservations on OpenTable.com.
