Mare Opens with Fanfare

The new Mare Oyster Bar on Richmond Street opened with great fanfare and a large crowd late Friday afternoon.

The new Mare replaces the old Mare with a much more pervasive sense of oyster bar than fish restaurant.

Mares’ raw bar is perhaps the most exotic and well presented in the city, with a full array of oysters, shrimps, lobster, little necks, cherrystones, mussels and everything that shellfish lovers go out of their minds over.

There is also Alaskan King Crab, Stone Crab Claw and Jonah Crab claw.

The Mare shellfish tower includes 12 oysters, 6 clams, 4 Jonah Crab Claws, 4 shrimp cocktails and a ½ chilled lobster.

“Mare’s secret is the purveying of the shellfish. We do this to perfection,” said its founder Frank DePasquale. “It is all about products exactly the way fish lovers want them. It is also about great wine and a good atmosphere,” her added.

The new Mare is headed by Chef Greg Gordan.

The antipasti is special, too.

There is Hiramasa Ceviche – Mediterranean Sardines gratinate, Spiced seared Tuna, Octopus Salad Steamed Wellfleet Mussels and Whole Belly Fried Clams among many others.

The Risotto di Mare, which is shrimp, scallops, calamari and clams with Italian cherry tomatoes.

How about grilled Swordfish with stewed white beans, tomato and braised kale. And there is pan-seared salmon with a white bean puree, roasted fennel and shallots with a bagna cauda sauce.

There is truffle crusted tuna, a selection of grilled seafood, sea bass and one of the great specialties of Mare, zuppa di Mare with ½ lobster, scallops, mussels, cockles and clams in a light tomato broth.

And it if it a stuffed lobster that suits your palate, you can order that, too.

Mare offers a raw bar that can be seen by all who enter the restaurant and by all who pass by it on the sidewalk.

The restaurant’s interior features open space, walls of floor to ceiling windows, a lovely polished hard wood floor and stylistic stainless steel designer chairs and matching tables covered with white table cloths.

In its most recent redone incarnation, Mare will suit those who love what it serves.