New Restaurant Brings Superlative Mediterranean Style to Chelsea

Eighth Avenue used to be notorious for a slew of pick-a-protein Thai eateries of varying quality. More recently, it features a greater variety of cuisines presented with the same fast/casual qualities. Now, Marsanne, a beautiful and elegant Mediterranean concept in the old Forager’s Market and Table space, has upended that aesthetic. Named after an obscure grape varietal, Marsanne is a sophisticated oasis bridging the gap between some of the finer restaurants like Cookshop and both Cafe Chelsea and El Quijote in the Hotel Chelsea.

A duo of established restaurateurs, Igor Drca and Miljan Komnenic, are behind the fledgling spot, having begun their empire with Recette in Williamsburg, Brooklyn, and The Consulate on the Upper West Side. Riding on those successes, they enlisted good friend and certified sommelier Milos Kostadinovic, and the new restaurant evolved from a standpoint of sustainability and seasonality, inspired by the unique qualities of the eponymous Marsanne grape. It is a hidden treasure of a fruit, the most common white grape varietal found worldwide, but is never a stand-alone, instead achieving a nuanced symbiosis when paired with other grapes. So too emerges Marsanne the restaurant, with its Mediterranean sensibility but global influences, grounded by a focus on sustainability and community.

Marsanne’s chef, Zivko Radojcic, touts a similar pedigree. His experience ranges from stints at the classic, high-end French of Picholine of yore (it closed in 2015); Geisha’s refined Japanese; Korean at Junksik; and new American modernity from Marlow Bistro. More recently, Radojcic has spent over a decade as a private chef, so accommodating individual tastes and constantly innovating has become second nature. He invests all this industry experiences into his menu, featuring seasonal ingredients, like asparagus and ramps, a favorite of his. He also loves cooking fish, perhaps stemming from a scarcity of fresh fish in his native landlocked Serbia. The branzino is perhaps his favorite item on the menu, simply grilled and served with fresh tomato medley and tapenade. Getting back into the restaurant swing after private cheffing has been a transition; he normally doesn’t get back home to Astoria ’til 1 a.m. But he feels “good and busy,” and, so far, the reception by guests has been overwhelmingly positive, he says.

Though at this time of year, most reservations begin in daylight, the mood shifts palpably with the setting of the sun. With full floor to ceiling glass windows on both the north and east facing facades, the waning daylight creates a sultrier experience, where the shadows play off the greenery suspended from the ceiling, and mirrored walls glitter. A beautiful custom mural of undulating sandstone was made to mimic the le mascaret phenomenon of the tide on river water. Le mascaret is also the name of one of Marsanne’s best cocktails, featuring red fruits and rhubarb in a gin base. Another cocktail, the intensely green, vibrant Jardin kicks up the matcha-infused tequila with jalapeño. Kostadinovic invested as much focus on the creative cocktail list as the extensive wine collection, which runs from a cellar 700 bottles deep and stretches across most of the best wine producing regions, about 150 of which are available by the bottle on any given day.

To pair seamlessly with these tipples is a pretty wonderful menu. The artichoke appetizer teamed up real ‘chokes and sunchokes (actually two completely different species) with zesty salsa verde to a flawless result. The beetroot carpaccio has also been extremely popular, as well as the indulgent egg nest: a sous-vide egg nestled into creamy polenta and sluiced in a bacon sauce. Patrons thus far have proved the Chicken Duo a favorite, with its savoy cabbage and mushrooms, a brown butter hollandaise lightened by foaming it out. The scallops are excellent, either as a starter or main, plush mollusks perched upon savory caponata and a creamy cauliflower puree. For meatier appetites, the Filet Mignon is so tender it lazes into its bed of sunchokes. The $15 fois gras supplement might be gilding the lily, but it certainly amplifies the richness. And vegetarians need not feel shunned: one of the four pasta offerings excludes animal proteins, and there is also a truffled Vegan Risotto with springy asparagus and mushrooms.

Too often, it seems, desserts are either skimpy or oversize; here at Marsanne they seem to have found the Goldilocks proportion. Flavors are indulgent, so the size need not be. The Vanilla Diplomat’s modest scoop of vanilla ice cream is topped with fresh strawberry slices and dollops of jam, surrounded by crumbles of almond biscuit and is easily manageable for one, but would be enough for a couple bites per person shared. The Chocolate Hazelnut Mousse, on the other hand (so far, the most popular), is meant to be shared.

Marsanne, 233 Eighth Avenue, www.marsannenyc.com

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