Hav & Mar
The first time I dined at Hav & Mar, a miracle occurred. No, it wasn’t that I got a glimpse of chef/owner/food TV star Marcus Samuelsson, although that happened, too. It was that the waiter said to my husband and myself, totally unprompted: “Our entrees are all quite big. You should probably share one of those, and each get an appetizer.” Why was that such an event? Because it makes Hav & Mar possibly the only restaurant in town where waiters aren’t being trained to try and get their customers to over order. The standard advice from the waitstaff is usually “we always recommend a minimum of 2–4 dishes per customer, and then dessert” (no, I’m not joking). So, bravo for ethics! But the primary reason Hav & Mar gets my thumbs up is because the food, which follows Mr. Samuelsson’s own journey (he grew up in both Ethiopia and Sweden before moving to the United States), is off-the-charts awesome. Dishes mix culinary traditions, so the “Swedopian” appetizer features silky salmon cured with berbere spices, and my favorite entree, the Addis York, is a plate with both classic southern-fried chicken and doro wat, a spicy Ethiopian chicken stew. Desserts and cocktails are delicious, too, and the spacious restaurant, decorated with curvaceous wood screens and painted black mermaids cavorting on the walls, is one of the buzziest scenes in this buzzy city.
The first time I dined at Hav & Mar, a miracle occurred. No, it wasn’t that I got a glimpse of chef/owner/food TV star Marcus Samuelsson, although that happened, too. It was that the waiter said to my husband and myself, totally unprompted: “Our entrees are all quite big. You should probably share one of those, and each get an appetizer.” Why was that such an event? Because it makes Hav & Mar possibly the only restaurant in town where waiters aren’t being trained to try and get their customers to over order. The standard advice from the waitstaff is usually “we always recommend a minimum of 2–4 dishes per customer, and then dessert” (no, I’m not joking). So, bravo for ethics! But the primary reason Hav & Mar gets my thumbs up is because the food, which follows Mr. Samuelsson’s own journey (he grew up in both Ethiopia and Sweden before moving to the United States), is off-the-charts awesome. Dishes mix culinary traditions, so the “Swedopian” appetizer features silky salmon cured with berbere spices, and my favorite entree, the Addis York, is a plate with both classic southern-fried chicken and doro wat, a spicy Ethiopian chicken stew. Desserts and cocktails are delicious, too, and the spacious restaurant, decorated with curvaceous wood screens and painted black mermaids cavorting on the walls, is one of the buzziest scenes in this buzzy city.
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