Courtesy of The Marshal
Adventurous diners, ready for some Pig’s Blood Flatbread with Smoked Salmon Roe? Perhaps a decadent Mugwort Foie Gras, or how about the good ol’ Geoduck? Well, you will find none of that at the Marshal in Hell’s Kitchen. Not even close. In fact chances are that you will have a hard time bragging about your meal to your girlfriends and making it sound remotely sexy. “OMG so we had this thing called Meatloaf that was like the most amazing thing ever. Here’s a selfie of me and the meatloaf” Meatloaf, Pot Roast, Salmon.. there’s no conceivable way to make them sound sexy these days. But this 6 month old 10th avenue “Farm to Table” comes as close as you can get
Courtesy of The Marshal
Adventurous Foie seekers should still be able to appreciate the flavors and attention to detail here. Although the menu reads like “American (Old)”, just about every item is listed almost like a paragraph describing the origin of the ingredients. The back of the menu features 14 local farms where they source much of those items. Almost like eating at Da Roberto in the village of Montisi, Tuscany. Almost! “Slow Food” models such as Roberto, and other Farm to Table places in Italy are simply called restaurants, or Trattorias. While in the US, its a concept. But it is what it is. And in ethnic happy Hell’s Kitchen, Solid “American” may seem like a concept in itself.
Rule of thumb – when you see bread on the menu in NYC as opposed to your typical free basket, get it. The warm French Loaf is crunchy and soft in all the right places and will make your taste buds believe it was baked seconds ago especially for you. Bread and butter bliss.
Chicken Liver Pate was solid. Refreshingly fresh Caprese included sizeable sweet tomatoes, with handmade mozzarella, fresh Shushan Valley basil and balsamic reduction. But the early highlight came in the form of the meaty, scrumptious Newfoundland Mussels. Its creamy, garlicky white sauce is so appetizing you want to dip anything in it…bread, fingers, metrocards, anything!
And then there was that meatloaf which was just like at grandmas. That’s after grandma graduated from Le Cordon Bleu Culinary Institute followed by a 2 year stint with the Canadian navy. Similarly, the goat cheese and herb stuffed chicken just doesn’t get much more tender and juicy than this. The wood oven Mac and Cheese with bacon hit the spot. On another visit I enjoyed a perfectly cooked and juicy burger which is only available for lunch.
The sides here require a PHD in sides. We opted for a fine bacon wrapped wedge of white cabbage, simple roasted potatoes, and a sweet potato and kale au gratin which took the gold. And don’t leave home without trying the mammoth hot fudge, walnuts, cherry, vanilla ice cream, or any of the other two desserts featuring ice cream from the nearby Je & Jo. Welcome to the hood Marshal.
Eating With Ziggy 