Marea

Marea, Michael White's Italian seafood restaurant at 240 Central Park South, is one of the finest pasta restaurants in New York and one of the most distinguished Italian restaurants in the United States. White, who trained in Italy under celebrated chefs before returning to New York, built at Marea a restaurant that combines the flavors and traditions of Italy's coastal cooking regions with the finest available American and imported seafood, anchored by a pasta program of extraordinary depth. The fusilli with octopus and bone marrow — a preparation where the pasta is served in a rich, briny sauce enriched with braised octopus and bone marrow that melts into the liquid — is the most talked-about dish in the restaurant's history and one of the definitive pasta preparations in New York. A crudo section opens the meal with pristine raw seafood — scallops, hamachi, tuna, sea urchin — dressed with olive oil, citrus, and herbs in the Italian crudo tradition. The dining room occupies a limestone-and-marble space at street level looking out toward Central Park South, with a warm, upscale ambiance appropriate to the Columbus Circle location. The wine list is one of the most comprehensive Italian lists in the city, with particular depth in the Piedmont, Campania, and Sicily regions. Lunch is available Monday through Friday and is considerably easier to book than weekend dinners. Reservations should be sought two to three weeks in advance via the restaurant's website or OpenTable.