We're two weeks in to Sam Sifton's stint as dining critic and his second effort is pretty great: "The very first item on the menu at Marea is ricci, a piece of warm toast slathered with sea urchin roe, blanketed in a thin sheet of lardo, and dotted with sea salt. It offers exactly the sensation as kissing an extremely attractive person for the first time – a bolt of surprise and pleasure combined. The salt and fat give way to primal sweetness and combine in deeply agreeable ways. The feeling lingers on the tongue and vibrates through the body. Not bad at $14 a throw – and there are two on each plate." As someone who once compared an uninspired General Tso's chicken to a handjob from an ugly broad ("You'll take it, but you're not going to be bragging to your friends about it later"), I rather enjoyed that. The rest is just as good: sharp, funny, conversational. I've been a fan of Sifton's reviews since his New York Press days—God, remember that?—so I'm not exactly surprised, but I am indeed appreciative. 17