“…I ate the best Cioppino I think I have ever had there. The broth was fantastic and it was crammed with seafood - mussels, clams, shrimp, calamari and some nice fish. The bowl was huge and I could only eat about half of it. We will definitely be back.”
“…We have been going to Marco Polo for years and have always enjoyed it. My favorite is their Cioppino and my hubby always orders the Linguine with seafood.”
“…After attending a party catered by them, stopped in for dinner. Very impressed. Great lasagna and pizza. My DC had rack of lamb and loved it. Fabulous prices on wine also.”
“…I love their food, especially cioppino and linguine frute de mare.”
“…I've tried their grilled salmon dishes, some pizza, and pastas. I have really not been disappointed yet. They cook the pizzas in a huge stone grill with a smoked log fire. Mmmm
"I’ll just take a teeny taste of this
risotto," said my companion, lifting a forkful of creamy, veal and porcini mushroom-laden
arborio rice and sniffing it appreciatively.
"When it comes to
risotto," she explained, "I’m a one-bite gal."
Nonetheless, during lunch at Marco Polo, a new Italian restaurant in Newport Beach’s Newport North shopping center, we managed to polish off nearly a whole order of risotto, and I wasn’t the only one eating the stuff.
Suffice to say Marco Polo’s
risotto is one of the best I’ve ever eaten – anywhere.
Shortly after the restaurant opened, Marco Polo mini menus started turning up in my mail bag…on my desk in the newsroom…and in various and sundry other places where I’d be sure to find them.
One friend, a Roman with a particularly good palate for Italian food, said she didn’t think much of the restaurant’s
gnocchi…but another professed an addition to the crab sandwich. Others raved about the food…and the atmosphere.
And not a day went by that someone didn’t call and ask me if I’d tried Marco Polo yet. The opinions they offered were mixed, but more were favorable than not.
So, OK, I’ve tried Marco Polo, and guess what? I absolutely love the place.
While having a gem of a restaurant turn up in a small suburban shopping center is no new trick - Showley-Wrightson, Sapori and Zov’s Bistro (Tustin) are good examples – Marco Polo has managed to generate enough interest in its cuisine and ambiance to fill its table at lunchtime, no mean feat in what is basically a residential area.
Where are all of these people coming from?
Why they’re coming is no secret. I can give you a bunch of reasons, like the lemon butter-sauced crab, scallop and shrimp-filled mushrooms, the spinach salad, or fresh-from-the-over, rosemary-dusted pizza bread,
focaccia. Taken together, these three items turn into a splendid meal.
But don’t stop there; all of the pastas are made on the premises – and pizzas (white or wheat) are baked over an open flame fired by a pungent mixture of ask and mesquite that sets up an incredibly interesting flavor.
Of the pastas, the most interesting include the ravioli filled with ricotta and romano cheeses – sauced with parmesan and gorgonzola – or a meaty spaghetti
bolognese, or the lasagna, which is made with a rich
béchamel sauce.
Of course, the two risottos are a must try.
I never did get around to sampling the
gnocchi. And I was completely under whelmed by the highly-recommended crab sandwich - don’t you hate it when that happens? made with, of all things, capers, olives, zucchini and sprouts – an off combination if ever there was one.
But this restaurant is so appealing, and so reasonably priced that you can forgive them the occasional contrived menu item - or the slight lapses in service that will always be the hallmark of a young restaurant striving to familiarize recent hires with a somewhat intricate menu.
Judy Chamberlain, Daily Pilot Weekend, October 4, 1990
