First Bite: Marea

White's memories of Sicily: slurping sea urchins

The chef lived and cooked in Italy for nearly eight years—San Domenico (oh, the irony), the Tuscan coast, south Italy—and has been pining to open a fish-oriented restaurant. Among his most striking memories of eating seafood is slurping up sea urchins in Sicily: “You’re swimming and they’re stuck on the rocks and you get to smash them on a rock and eat them with your fingers—briny, salty, delicious.”

Sea urchins, which the novelist Chang-Rae Lee once wrote “taste alive,” are also a favorite snack of Marea chef de cuisine Jared Gadbaw, who likes them stacked like gourmet Peeps in a tray, drizzled with olive oil, sprinkled with sea salt, and spritzed with lemon. They will be on the menu at Marea.