G e t t i n g t h er e
tastes
Due Mari Pesce e Vinoteca 78 A lbany St. New Br unswick 732.29 6.16 0 0 duemarinj.com The Frog and The Peach 29 De nnis St. New Br unswick 732.846.3216 frogandpeach.com
for thought
The elegant dining room at Due Mari
Due Mari Pesce E Vinoteca When Francois Rousseau was growing up in the south of France, he went with his mother to the market ever y day to buy fresh fish. “I would wait for the sea urchin to be fished, and I’d eat it as soon as it came out,” he remembers. “Nothing could be any better than that. Nothing fresher, nothing tastier.” He strives to offer
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that same just-off-the-boat taste in the dishes he serves at his modern Italian restaurant in New Brunswick. Due Mari opened in 2008 and is run by the same team who brought the successful Due Terre Enoteca to Bernardsville. Because that restaurant had an ear th mindset (Due Terre means “two lands” in Italian) Rousseau and his par tners decided to make this location more seafood-focused (Due Mari means “two seas”), although they also offer plenty of meat and other options. And the fish isn’t the only thing that is incredibly fresh. “Pret t y much ever y thing in the restaurant is homemade, from bread to pasta to ice cream,” says Rousseau. “We try to get everything organic, and we use a lot of Jersey products, which promotes local business. We know these people. They come to the restaurant, and we know the passion they put into their produce.” Due Mari offers gluten-free pasta, and whole-wheat linguini is served in a popular dish with a shrimp sausage that is made in the restaurant. Other signature menu options are the octopus (“so tender and made to perfection,” says Rousseau) and the grilled Mediterranean branzino, ser ved with escarole, ovenroasted tomatoes, Caribbean white shrimp and black olive vinaigrette. “I love that people know they can trust us for fresh fish,” he says. “If you get bad seafood, it’s terrible, and it turns you off seafood. But if it is fresh and cooked the right way, there’s nothing better.” Rousseau believes in keeping things simple so that the true essence of the dish comes through. “It’s funny when people learn about the food and they’re surprised it isn’t complicated,” he says, “just simple dishes made of fresh food.”
COURTESY OF Due Mari Pesce e Vinoteca AND The Frog and The Peach
Man y restaur ants are preparing dishes in a way that is se asonal, lighter and more health-conscious than ever before— without sacrificing fl avor. Here, a couple of our favorites
middlese xHEALTHandLIFE.com
2/25/11 9:40 AM