The Marrow is Harold Dieterle’s newest NYC restaurant located in the former West Village Paris Commune space.  We were fans of Paris Commune, if not for the food, for the excellent location and rather large space for the West Village.  When it closed we were disappointed.  They had a great bar upstairs and a wine bar in the basement.  It sat vacant for quite some time, but then we heard Harold Dieterle was picking up this location for his third restaurant.  Great news!

Dieterle did a great job with the space.  The bar was moved out of the center of the room to the rear, making for much more usable dining space.  Round red banquettes were added in the center and black and white damask wallpaper.  The only failing is Paris Commune had an entry space, whereas the Marrow has seating right up to the door by the hostess station.  As people pile in the door, the front tables are disturbed by the waiting customers and constant door opening.

Dieterle and his partner Alicia Nosenzo also own Perilla, their first venture, and Kin Shop in the West Village.  While Perilla we never visited Perilla regularly, Kin Shop is a favorite.  There he serves edgy Thai cuisine and fantastic cocktails.  They’ve managed to stay within one neighborhood, which likely makes it easy for them to rotate restaurants to oversee service.  Even better, my office is blocks away.

The menu here is really like no other.  It reflects Dieterle’s Italian and German heritage in a family tree format.  The menu opens with an assortment of meat plates after which it splits down the center for Starters, Mains and Sides.  The left is side is called Famiglia Chiarelli from his mother’s side of the family and the right, Familie Dieterle, from his father’s.  We weren’t sure if we should mix it all up or go with one cuisine.  We decided to do one of each cuisine right down the middle and share plates.  We knew we wanted the bone marrow at the very least!  The wine list is also a mix of Italian and German/Austrian wines with a few French where needed.

Lighting is not conducive to iPhone shots, so unfortunately I had to borrow others.  They aren’t all fabulous, but I am always happy to find somebody who captured the dish!  Credit and website are provided by photo.  Next time, we’ll go in daylight.

From the Meat Plate selection, we chose two great dishes.  The first was cotechino, which is an Italian charcuterie product which is cooked and generally served with lentils on New Year’s Eve to bring good luck.  The second dish was marinated lamb ribs with an out of this world caraway yogurt dip.

Cotechino with Lentils and Black Pepper Agrodulce $12

Lightly Sauerbratened Lamb Ribs with Caraway Yoghurt  $13

From the Italian side of the Starters Menu, we chose the bone marrow.  This was the best bone marrow we’ve had, as we’d expect.  After all, you don’t name your restaurant after a dish unless it is perfect.  The sea urchin is an unexpected addition with a lemon aioli and toasted Italian Bread.  From the German, we had the crispy duck served huckleberry.  It was crispy, yet falling apart with a hint of tart huckleberry.

The Bone Marrow with Sea Urchin, Fried Potatoes, Meyer Lemon Aioli & Baby Celery Greens  $16

Crispy Braised Duck with Parsley Root, Watermelon Radish & Spiced Huckleberry Jus  $15

We’ve learned to stick with shared plates, so when it came to choosing from the Main Dishes, we decided the evening’s special, a cut of pork we’d never had which is more common in Italy.  It would be pork collar or coppa fresca.  When cured it is capocollo (known in the US as capicola) which translates as ‘top of the neck’.  Good to know.  It is clearly slow roasted and tastes quite ham-like but with some sophistication.  Of course we were stuffed by this time, but we devoured this very winter-warming dish.

 

 

Coppa Steak on a bed of Canneloni Beans  $25

Well, we could not leave without dessert.  We asked our serve what her favorite was on the dessert menu and ordered it up with two glasses of port wine.  Little did we know how awesome that pairing would be.  What a way to end a meal!  We oohed and ahhed our way through the entire thing.  I am not a big dessert eater, but this MUST be had.  So save room.

Ginger Stout Cake with Roasted Pear & Honey Ice Cream  $10

We did make reservations a few weeks in advance.  Plan ahead as it is well worth the wait.  There are several items left untasted, but so many restaurants to visit.  Check out some of the websites I credited in the photos for more dishes.

http://themarrownyc.com
99 Bank Street – West Village