Carne Mare is an Italian chophouse restaurant from Andrew Carmellini. He has opened a number of restaurants in NYC already as well as other places in the U.S. The thing that attracted mem to this restaurant was I was craving for prime rib, and then I noticed they had this gorgonzola cured strip-loin that people have been raving about. To add to this, they also offer baked alaska which is basically one of my favorite desserts of all time.
Ambiance
We had reservations for 6:15 for 4 people on a Friday evening. We arrived about 30 minutes early, and the staff was able to seat us early upstairs. The ambiance feels very familiar to old school steakhouse restaurants with booths and cushy seats. They had music playing in the air, and it was comfortably loud enough where we can still have conversations.
The service was fantastic. They kept our waters filled, and they served everything in a timely manner.
Food
The Alpino ($18 - right) came with vodka, blackberry, Alpine amaro, and limonata. The mixture of liqueur and fruits was very balanced and smooth.
The Tiki Tiki ($18 - left) came with aperol, barola chinato, Smith & Cross rum, and orgeat. This had some slight bubbles and tasted pretty good.
The complimentary garlic bread was simply divine. We had 2 servings. The bread came out warm and was very fluffy with lots of great garlicky and buttery flavors.
The Spicy Crab Lettuce Cups ($24 for 2 pieces) came with an Italian chili crisp. Arguably, this was pretty expensive for what it is, but what was great about this was there huge chunks of crab in it. It’s unfortunate that crab is so expensive in this city, but the crab had delicious sweet natural flavors and textures. It definitely had small hints of heat, but they don’t linger.
The 12 oz Gorgonzola-Cured Wagyu Strip-loin ($115) came alone and was split between myself and my partner. If you are really hungry and don’t want to save room for dessert, this can be finished by one person. The perimeters of the steak had very subtle hints of gorgonzola cheese. The very noticeable sensation from all this was the saltiness of the cheese came out from the cure, and it made the steak quite delicious. According to the waiter, they said they cure the steaks for 3 hours, then take off all the gorgonzola cheese. We ordered this medium rare, and it came perfectly pink with a great char. We really enjoyed this steak, although I do think the price is quite expensive for what it is. If you’re willing to splurge and don’t mind the cost, I think you will be very pleased with this steak. On the other hand if you are price conscious, it is not going to make you want to spend this much again.
The side of Heirloom Polenta ($13) came with herb caprino. Caprino is an Italian cheese made from whole or skimmed goat’s milk. This was delectable. The cheese had no gamey flavors, and it added a great texture and flavor to the polenta.
The Baked Spumoni for 2 ($30) was flambéed table-side. They roll the cart next to your table, and after it was flambéed, they cut it into 4 pieces. We were with another party of 2, so we thought we’d also show them how great a baked spumoni/alaska is.
The insides of the baked spumoni had pistachio(?), cherry(?), chocolate, and vanilla ice cream inside. The outsides were subtly melted burnt marshmallows with some flavors of the flambéed liqueur. It was quite heavenly.
Final Verdict
Carne Mare is a very enjoyable steak restaurant in the South Street Seaport area. The prices are definitely on the high side, but the food was fantastic. The other couple in our party shared the tomahawk, and it looked sublime. We’d love to come back and try this out next time.
Yelp Jabs
Both desserts were excellent, especially the spumoni, but that is really enormous and needs to be shared among several people.
This Elitist is very wrong. For those that love baked spumoni, you can share this between 2 people easy.
the mozzarella sticks with caviar lacked flavor, the Caesar salad didn’t have a lot of dressing, the bread wasn’t that cheesy and the polenta was more like porridge and was cold
I don’t see how in this world mozzarella sticks with caviar would have much flavor. This Elitist got suckered to ordering something that might have expensive ingredients, but may not have the most complementary qualities to each other. The garlic bread had some parmesan sprinkled on top, but I can’t recall a time where the garlic would be overpowered by parmesan.