Review: Marta, New York

On a recent trip to New York, I was craving good pizza and decided to treat myself to something new. I stumbled across Marta, a modern Italian restaurant located in The Redbury New York hotel, just north of Madison Square Park.

The chic hotel dining room was flooded with natural light and features an open kitchen, so customers can watch pizzas being made in the large brick oven. The restaurant features an impressive wine list and a full menu of traditional, authentic Italian dishes with a creative, contemporary twist.

Marta is known for its cracker-thin pizza, and it did not disappoint. For antipasti, we started with the Insalata Di Farro, a salad of farro piccolo, grilled Brussels sprouts, honeycrisp apples and piave vecchio. We followed this with a Margherita pizza, loaded with fresh basil and mozzarella. Don’t let the thin crust fool you: These pizzas are loaded with flavor. It was difficult to choose, as every pizza on the menu sounded delicious and creative, from the Maccelaio with soppressata, guanciale, pork sausage, mozzarella and Grana Padano, to the Mercato, with marinated sweet peppers, crushed tomatoes, provolone and ricotta. There are also several white pizzas which I plan to try next time, like the Pollo with grilled chicken, market greens, red onion, béchamel, mozzarella and Fontina or the Carciofi, made with artichokes, mozzarella, Fontina and garlic breadcrumbs.

We ended the meal with a perfect espresso and a cookie plate that came with chewy almond cookies, salted chocolate hazelnut, lemon sugar, chocolate almond biscotti and soft-glazed anisette cookies.

As a note: If you plan to visit, Marta is a non-tipping restaurant and hospitality is included.

Marta, The Redbury Hotel

29 E 29^th St.

New York, N.Y. 10016

212 651 3800