Sea Urchin Chic at Marea

by Rebecca Flint Marx, Posted May 1st 2009 @ 4:00PM

Sea urchins, on the face of it, are not likely candidates for the title of Sexiest Seafood. Their spiny shells make them look like porcupines of the sea, and give little hint of the outrageously creamy, briny decadence that they contain. But this saffron-hued roe, whose complex, salty-sweet-sharp flavor profile is beloved by chefs, is now making diners swoon.

David Chang has been using sea urchin roe on his menu at Momofuku Ssam Bar and Ko for a long while, and now Michael White is making them the star of his menu at his new restaurant, Marea. A great article tomorrow in WSJ. magazine provides a peek at both White's droolingly anticipated new restaurant and at sea urchin, which is pictured in all of its spiny, golden glory.

Learn about the delectably slimy urchins after the jump.

We at Slashfood are big old fans of sea urchin and thus clicked through the article's gorgeous, urchin-saturated photo gallery with barely contained zeal.

There's a shot of White scooping urchin roe (which is technically the animal's gonads) out of its spiny shell, a surprisingly seductive portrait of a "tongue" of urchin roe (so-called because of the roe's resemblance to a mammal's tongue), and urchin smeared with lardo on little pieces of crostini.

There are plenty of other beautiful photos, too, but if Michael White has anything to say about it, sea urchin's going to become the next pork belly, and New York's going to be rolling in roe.

[Via WSJ. Magazine]

Filed Under: Food Porn, On the Blogs, Feast Your Eyes, Ingredients
Tags: convivio, food porn, italian, marea, michael white, MichaelWhite, north america, openings, sea urchin, sea urchins, seafoo, seafood, SeaUrchin, SeaUrchins, shellfish