The Gulch is about to get a little more delicious as Andrew Carmellini opens Carne Mare in the W Hotel, joining the chef’s more casual concept The Dutch at the same property. Located in the back corner of the lobby with a separate entrance, Carne Mare lives in the zone between two recently popular genres of Nashville restaurants, upscale Italian and steakhouses.
Chef Carmellini envisions Carne Mare as a special occasion restaurant for hotel guests, visitors to our city and locals. “We’ve been amazed by the reception of The Dutch and we’re looking forward to opening a second restaurant that’s totally different but just as exciting,” says Carmellini. “Carne Mare is intended to be a night out: We want our guests to feel a sense of familiarity when they walk through the doors, but they’ll encounter unexpected and surprising elements throughout the evening for an experience unlike anything else in Nashville.”
As part of a stable of more than a dozen restaurants under the chef’s auspices, this is actually the second iteration of Carne Mare, joining the original in the Seaport District of New York City. The Italian chophouse officially opens on Friday, Nov. 12, and has already begun to take reservations at the restaurant’s website.
Guests can expect a dead-sexy dining room with lots of leather, brass and walnut beneath a barrel-vault ceiling, creating an old school trattoria vibe. Outdoor seating will be available when the weather allows, and a private dining room will seat more than 20 patrons for special occasions. Large glass windows offer views of the show kitchen where talented cooks will prepare huge steaks over an wood-fired grill. Those steaks are certainly the stars of the show at Carne Mare, with options including a 16 oz. 12-hour porchetta-spiced roast prime rib, a 40 oz. 30-day dry-aged tomahawk and the 45 oz. 45-day dry-aged porterhouse in the style of Bistecca Fiorentina that would satisfy Fred Flintstone’s appetite.
But don’t forget about the “Mare” part of the name either. Other menu standouts include a salt-baked black sea bass wrapped in fig leaves and a dish of spaghetti with peekytoe crab. Vegetarians also have some interesting options. In addition to veggie sides like a cacio e pepe honeynut squash, fire-roasted cabbage and mushroom marsala with porcini cream, Carmellini and crew offer a dish I’ve never heard of before, or even imagined would be possible. Picture a beetroot steak, rubbed, spit-roasted and smoked before being finished tableside on the grill and served with a topping of pooled goat butter. Actually I can’t picture it yet, because I have no idea what pooled goat butter is, but it already haunts my daydreams.
As with any Carmellini restaurant, you can expect a wonderful wine list created by the chef’s longtime beverage director and master sommelier Josh Nadel. This particular list logically focuses on Italian wines, but you’ll also find a few French and California options if that’s more up your alley. Despite the huge steaks, you’ll want to somehow save room for dessert, because the dolce menu features a couple of epic meal closures. A 17-layer chocolate espresso cake might mess up your normal bedtime with a caffeine and sugar rush, but it sure sounds like it’ll be worth it. To finish your special meal with a flourish, order a baked spumoni for two that is flambéed table-side.
A meal at Carne Mare isn’t an inexpensive proposition, but here’s an idea for you. As the media reports, the country is in the middle of a coin shortage. We know you’ve probably been hoarding quarters in a jar since you stopped using actual money a year and a half ago. Drop by your local grocery store that has a Coinstar machine, and you might just be surprised about how much of a windfall you’ve been sitting on. Take that money and treat yourself to a meal and an experience that should be unlike any other in town!
