Terrific Takeout: Marchi Our Coverage Sponsored by Fresh Origins
Christine and Mario Marchi carry on the tradition that Mario's parents started in 1930
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Some of the most charming people you'll meet in all of Manhattan are husband and wife team Christine and Mario Marchi, who take pride in their family business started by Mario's parents in 1930 at 251 East 31st street. Marchi is a one-of-a-kind, timeless venue that literally serves family style meals. Many venues that label themselves family style might mean they serve that size portion of dish, however, at Marchi, the Northern Italian dinner menu never, ever changes and everyone always follows their set menu of beaucoup de courses. Married for 44 years this year, Christine and Mario love meeting new people and you will enjoy meeting them as well.
Like a lot of restaurants we work with, they don't do takeout for anyone else, and you should know we believe the Marchi format works best for very big groups and big families. Marchi is child-friendly. Also, this is among the healthiest restaurants we've tried. If you are someone that is not good at deciding what to eat for dinner, this is also good because everything is chosen for you per their set menu. You should go hungry! Everything is extremely authentic and fresh.
We love their garden, and sat in it for their first feature in 2011:
We enjoyed our experience, so they were among those chosen for an encore feature.
You definitely will feel like you've time traveled to another era, and we love their turquoise bathrooms! Great color.
The First Course
The First Course consists of platters of cold antipasto that look like lovely floral designs and include celery, melon, radishes, finocchio (a delicious Italian winter celery), Genoa salami, and a Lorenzo salad created by Signor Lorenzo Marchi.
It is beautiful, fresh and humongous! Everything at Marchi is simple and straightforward, and they are completely old-school.
A Lorenzo salad is also served composed of tuna fish, olives, capers, chopped celery, parsley and red cabbage. It's chopped to perfection.
We really liked that there were no pits in the olives.
Genoa salami also is a component of this first course, and there's a bread basket.
The second course is their own unique lasagna, which is piping hot and served with their bespoke family sauce.
Like everything else in life, it is enhanced by cheese!
There really is something for everyone throughout these courses, and Marchi indeed covers a lot of food groups. The third course is deep-fried fish, and the fish might be cod, catfish or flounder depending on the night. The night we visited, it was cod. Cold beets and string beans come to the party, marinated in simple oil and vinegar. For wine, you have a choice of red or white-we chose red. The red choices were Merlot, Chianti and Pinot Noir.
Roast chicken stars in the fourth act of the show, and roast veal also is part of this dish. Cooked mushrooms accompany these carnivorous endeavors, as well as a tossed salad.
Dessert is fruit, cheese, lemon fritter above and Crostoli (deep fried twists with powdered sugar) below.
Marchi is a unique under-the-radar experience we believe you will enjoy!
