Thalassa - Mediterranean in Style

I recently went to Thalassa (179 Franklin St. New York, NY 10013) in Tribeca for an impromptu dinner. We were supposed to be out of town, and miraculously our flight was canceled. At the last minute, we were added to the reservation with no problem on a holiday weekend. The restaurant was extremely accommodating to us. 

Upon entering the restaurant we were greeted with the most fabulous fresh fish display. This restaurant is known for having fresh fish with a large assortment. 

Before even looking at the menu, we were given the most amazing bread to snack on. It was so soft and had some spices on it to give it that perfect Mediterranean flavor. MMM....I could use some of that right now! 

Amazing Bread

The bread was also accompanied with a platter of olives, baba ganoush, and olive oil. 

I know everyone at the table enjoyed the olives and said they were very fresh (I am not an olive eater, so I can't concur...eeeww). The baba ganoush was extremely interesting and tasty. My boyfriend and I both thought it had a crab flavor, but in reality it had red peppers in it! It was very delicious. The olive oil was very fresh and tasted very Mediterranean. They put some capers in it to add a nice touch of salt flavor and also make it visually appealing. 

There were bottles of Thalassa Olive Oil downstairs near the bathroom, which makes me think you can purchase their olive oil! 

Olives, Baba ganoush, housemade olive oil 

We were also given a complimentary conch fritter that was to die for! It was so full of flavor and the conch was very moist and fresh. Luckily, two of the women in my party were gluten-free, so more Conch fritters for me!!!

Complimentary Conch Fritter

The octapodi was so fresh and the chunks of octopus were very generous. The sauce that was poured over it was very light and refreshing. Also, sun dried tomatoes were a nice addition to this dish giving it a little more zest. I would never think to pair these items together, but they really complimented each other.

OCTAPODI - from Portugal - grilled - micro organic greens - 
olive oil - red wine vinaigrette

The calamari was phenomenal! When I think of calamari, I think of the typical fried calamari where you lose all the flavor of the fish and are eating a "heart attack special." This calamari was stuffed with feta, tomatoes, and pine nuts and had tons of flavor! I definitely liked this approach to calamari.

CALAMARI - stuffed with Dodonis feta - tomato - pine nuts

The seafood saganaki was a whole array of seafood together sitting in a delicious tomato garlic sauce. If I could drink the sauce, I would! Thanks to the waitress for giving us more bread to soak up this sauce when we were finished with the seafood.

SEAFOOD SAGANAKI - whole shrimp - baby clams - mussels slowly baked
in a fresh tomato - feta - robola wine sauce

The colossal crab meat salad was so refreshing with an amazing truffle flavor. The crab meat sat below the bed of lettuce and the other ingredients as a nice surprise under all the healthy "stuff". There was definitely a generous amount of crab in this dish with an amazing flavor of truffle.

COLOSSAL CRAB MEAT SALAD - frisee - arugula - truffle vinaigrette

For the meal, I split two dishes. The first one, Seafood Thalassina   was similar to the seafood saganaki, whereas it had an assortment of shellfish in it, but it had a totally different flavor. The seafood sat in a white wine sauce atop a helping of orzo. The orzo soaked up the very buttery garlicy sauce. MMM...Sometimes white wine sauces can be bland and flavorless, and luckily this was not the case with this dish! It had tons of flavor while still maintaining that lightness that you would want from a white wine sauce. 

SEAFOOD THALASSINA - diver scallops - gulf shrimp - langustines - PEI mussels - steamed in white wine and orzo

Our second dish, the Alaskan King Crab Leg with truffle oil salad was similar to the Colossal crab meat appetizer, but had tons more crab in it! The only surprising thing about this dish was I was expecting the crab to be still in its crab leg cluster. Part of me was upset I couldn't spend my time picking at the shells, and part of me was happy because I got to easily eat this very meaty dish without fighting with my food. Also, I had the option to have the crab legs beer battered, but opted for the fresher chilled version. Very delicious!

ALASKAN KING CRAB LEG - chilled  - frisee truffle oil salad 

We also received a complimentary dessert from the restaurant which was pieces of chocolate that were very rich in flavor. I can't say no to chocolate! Along with this complimentary dessert, the restaurant gave the whole table complimentary dessert wine! Very sweet and thoughtful. 

Complimentary Dessert

Lastly, we ordered my favorite dessert, the Molten chocolate cake. If this dessert is on any menu, its a must order for me! This one was very good, not the best I have ever had, but very good! It had the right consistency, with the warm melty inside, and soft outside, but wasn't as rich as other's that I have had.

Valrhona Molten Chocolate Cake

All in all our experience was great. The only negative was that when we ordered bottles of wine from the menu, our first 2 choices were not available. It seemed as though all the moderate priced wines were sold out, and they only have the pricier ones available. The restaurant let us taste one to see if we liked it, and offered to give it to us, compliments of the house since we had ordered two others previously with no luck of retrieval. Definitely a nice way to make up for not having the wines we wanted.

I would definitely go back to this restaurant again, as it was very enjoyable in atmosphere, flavor, and service!