Esquire 11/05 Mare

BOSTON From the outside, Mare looks like yet another storefront Italian eatery of which Boston’s North End has dozens. But inside, you’ll find a very cool, minimalist design with a wall of changing colored light. In a whoosh, two hyper Abruzzese women%u2014chef Marisa Iocco and manager Rita D’Angelo%u2014swoop to your table to tell you what you must not miss tonight! And that will be largely extraordinary Italian seafood.

Antipasti range from crudi (raw seafood) to a decadent potato créme brûlèe with crayfish and chive oil. I never order seafood pastas this side of the Atlantic because they are almost always overcooked, soupy, and second rate. Iocco’s are pristine, like the wondrous swordfish with casoncelli pasta dressed in brown butter, sage, and crispy pancetta, or paccheri of jumbo crab with fava beans and black summer truffles. For a main course, share a sweet branzino cooked in a salt crust with a garlicky bagna cauda (“hot bath”), a Piedmontese casserole of olive oil, garlic, and anchovies.

135 Richmond Street; 617-723-6273; mareorganic.com.