New York spring preview

Restaurants: Marea

After earning raves, fans and a glowing three-star review from the Times, Convivio honcho and pasta prodigy Michael White has set his sights on haute seafood with Marea (240 Central Park S. between Broadway and Seventh Ave.), which will open in early May at the old San Domenico space.

The restaurant is a throwback to White's memories of the eight years he spent in Italy, slurping up sea urchins in Sicily and taking in the region's rich bounty. Yep, sea urchin will be on the Marea menu, and White will import about a third of its fish from Italy, a third from Hawaii, and the rest from around the world. Keep an eye out for Marea's soon-to-be-signature dish: sea bass carpaccio with fennel and tomato. 

 Also coming up: District's Patricia Williams is at the helm of NIOS, a wine bar with a small-plates menu (130 W. 46th St.; opening in April) … George Mendes mines Spain and Portugal for Mediterranean- influenced bites at Aldea (31 W. 17th St; late April) … Govind Amstrong's highly anticipated Gotham iteration of Table 8, from L.A., checks in at the Cooper Square Hotel (25 Cooper Square; May) … Toloache's Julian Medina expands his popular East Village pan-Latin joint Yerba Buena with a second and and larger location in the West Village (One Perry St.; late May) … and Zak Pelaccio finally—finally!—unveils his long-delayed barbecue spot, Fatty Cue (91 S. Sixth St., Williamsburg; late spring)