I met Charlie Marshall at Holiday Hacks, a food writer event in town where he was serving root beer-flavored popcorn balls. The event was successful for both of us as his recipe for those sweet treats ended up on the pages of In Style magazine; and, he invited me to sample his cooking at his rustic-chic eponymous restaurant in Hell’s Kitchen.

This chef grew up in the business; he was raised on a farm and worked in his family restaurant in the San Juan Islands just off Seattle (WA), learning to appreciate the art of buying locally.

Charlie takes his locavore concept seriously, with everything on the menu sourced as close to NYC as possible. (You’ll find a description of the farms he uses on the back of the menu.)  That includes what’s offered in his full bar. All of his wines and most of the libations are produced in New York. He gets the liquors that aren’t available from New York from neighboring states, from as far north as Vermont as far south as Maryland.

We tried a crisp Albarino, Aquebogue ($54) from the Palmer Vineyards in the North Fork of Long Island. With that we ordered his small loaf of French bread baked in the wood-burning oven, served warm with homemade whipped butter ($6.50).

We started with the Brussels sprouts salad ($16) with Phillips Farm roasted plus shredded raw sprouts all tossed in a housemade Caesar dressing with shaves of what The Marshall calls  “Farm”esan cheese, a  hard, rind aged cow’s milk cheese from Tonjes Farm.  And from the Hudson Valley, we checked out the ball of mozzarella cheese injected with heavy cream (AKA burrata) served with basil pesto, chopped hazelnuts, some sea salt and rainbow carrots ($16).

Theo, our knowledgeable waiter, told us not to miss the wood-oven roasted meat loaf (a blend of ground Arcadian Pastures sirloin and flank steak stuffed with Bailey Hazen blue cheese) with Dagele Brothers turnips, parsnips, rutabaga and carrots; and Phillips Farm kale topped with an onion gravy ($26.50). The portion served was so gigantic that I think it could feed four women.

And on a lighter note, we tried their fresh filleted but skin-left-on, wood-oven roasted Sullivan Country Farms rainbow trout ($26.50) topped with a hearty ragu of Bulich Farms portobello, crimini and shiitake mushrooms all drizzled with Sutter Buttes white truffle oil.

Don’t miss the Phillip Farms sweet potato kale au gratin ($8.50) with layers of orange potatoes and green kale in a light cheese sauce. We didn’t leave a drop. A classic example of the new root-to-tail trend (using every piece of the veggie) was that same farm’s roasted rainbow carrots covered with a carrot top pesto ($8.50).

To end the meal we shared their bittersweet chilled chocolate fudge topped with blue marble vanilla ice cream Andrew’s honeycomb and bee pollen ($12).

 

 

– bonnie

BonnieBOTB
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The Marshal
Hell’s Kitchen
628 10th Avenue (at 44th)
New York, NY 10036
(212) 582-6300
The Marshal Menu, Reviews, Photos, Location and Info - Zomato