FOOD
A Mark of New York at Mark’s Off Madison
Chef Mark Strausman continues his world-class work — now at his own restaurant
BY HEATHER CASSELL
Mark’s Off Madison,
also known as MOM,
is exactly what New
York’s tiny North of
Madison Square Park (NOMAD)
neighborhood needed: An upscale
diner that isn’t a diner. The food
that comes out of Mark Off Madison’s
kitchen has all the warmth
and love of home, but with a refi
ned palette of a world-class chef.
The restaurant and bakery,
which celebrated its one-year anniversary
in November, is the rendering
of Chef Mark Strausman’s
long career refi ning his craft.
The celebrated chef at Fred’s at
the top of the now-bankrupt Barney’s
of New York, fortunately, already
had his foot out the door
when the hedge fund executives of
the high-end department store unceremoniously
fi red him. He was
simply standing up for his rosy sautéed
chicken livers over sourdough
toast. They didn’t appreciate his or
others’ taste after nearly a quartercentury
of celebrities, high-powered
business people, locals, tourists,
and everyone in between clamoring
to get reservations to dine at Fred’s
at the top of the posh department
store. The store ceased to exist, for
the second time at the end of 2019.
Fred’s disappearance appeared
to be a loss to the city, a chip off
the Old New York that was vanishing
during the pandemic. However,
Strausman was a step ahead of
his hedge fund critics and already
signed the lease for the former A
Voce space at Madison Square
Park, the New York Times reported.
At the corner of Madison Square
Park and East 26th Street, Strausman
launched Mark’s Off Madison
in November 2020, allowing
the devoted fans he has collected
since 1988 — when he was a chef
at Sapore di Mare in East Hampton,
New York — to fi nd him again. His
fandom grew as he became part of
the Tuscan wave that hit New York
during the early 1990s, cooking
in the kitchens at Coco Pazzo and
Campagna and fi nally to the top of
Barney’s New York in 1996, where
Chef Mark Strausman in his new kitchen at Mark’s Off Madison in New York.
he reigned for 24 years. The store
brought him to fans from Chicago,
Los Angeles, and San Francisco (the
last Fred’s he opened at the top of
Barney’s, he told my dinner guest
and me as he fl oated from table-totable
engaging with and thanking
diners) as the high-end store fanned
out from New York to the west.
Everything is on the table at
Mark’s Off Madison. The cuisine
highlights Strausman’s fi ne European
dining training, especially
Italian cuisine, to the Flushing
kitchen in his childhood Jewish
home in Queens. It is there where
he started his storied career cooking
up Jewish favorites like his
down-home, hand-rolled bagels
and bialys that fl y off the shelf.
Mark’s Off Madison is decidedly
Jewish and European with all the
love and warmth of the two communities
melded into one space,
which is quintessential New York.
Because of that, the restaurant emanates
a homey feeling that makes
you feel like family, a family with a
refi ned palette for elevated comfort
foods from bagels to lasagna. After
all, the restaurant’s tagline is
“where uptown meets downtown.”
Diners can get a window view
into Strausman’s kitchen to see
the sous chefs working their magic
to deliver his fusion of American
farm-to-table Italian classics and
breakfast creations in Mark’s Off
Madison’s main dining room.
The restaurant’s interior is also
an American-Italian fusion, a diner
inside a home, with its chestnut
frame and furniture accented by
cream ceilings and walls brightening
the room, which is lighted by
COURTESY OF MARK’S OFF MADISON
retro 1960s sphere lights refl ected
in the arched mirror and window
inside the 100-seat indoor dining
room on one side. At the restaurant’s
entrance is the breakfast
and takeout side, brightly lit with
marble tabletops supported by the
same Italian-style furnishings as
in the dining room. Outside is an
85-seat outdoor dining area along
26th Street.
Born during the pandemic, the
restaurant was created for the
global health crisis and beyond inviting
everyone to dine while offering
others the comfort to pick up
their meals to bring home.
While he was limited at Fred’s,
Strausman feels free at Mark’s Off
Madison. Reaching into his early
days in the kitchen at a farm-to-table
restaurant, he is creating fresh
dishes that he longed to make, but
could not, such as the local suckling
pig with Hudson Valley potatoes,
for his seasonal menus.
Nearly a year after the Mark’s
Off Madison’s opening, I found
Strausman. I was searching for
what happened to Fred’s and I was
relieved he was easily fi ndable. My
memories of his food were satiated.
I was served two perfect fi lets of
sole encrusted with Latke lightly
bathed in a savory lemon herb
sauce. I swapped out the fall vegetables
of the day (the vegetables
change daily according to availability)
for sauteed spinach. It was
enough for a meal and leftovers
that I dreamed of heating up to savor
again before my fl ight back to
the Pacifi c Coast.
My glass of Altesino’s 2019
Toscana Rosso was a fruit-forward
estate red that was light enough
that it didn’t overpower the fi sh.
The table also entertained a bitter
greens salad with artichokes
tossed with hot and sweet sausage,
olive oil, garlic, and Parmesan
cheese that my dinner guest raved
about. I’m not a fan of bitter, spicy
things, so it wasn’t my garden of
delight. The lamb shank dipped in
a brown gravy on a bed of mashed
potatoes accompanied by the evening’s
selection of fall vegetables
— Brussels sprouts and pumpkin
squash — was perfect for warming
up on a cold night.
The meal was topped off with traditional
black and white cookies.
Mark’s Off Madison hit the
mark. It strikes the perfect balance
between a warm and inviting
atmosphere and good taste. It is
a must-dine spot for New Yorkers
and visitors alike.
December 30, 2021 - January 12, 2 8 022 | GayCityNews.com
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