food blog #2 for Crit Writing

Welcome to Due Mari. A place where you wont leave unsatisfied but you WILL leave with an empty wallet. Due Mari is a fancy shmancy upscale italian restaurant on Albany Street in New Brunswick. Lucky for me, 3 of my close girlfriends work there and so through them I've made a whole new group of friends (the due mari staff). I claim to be a "mari wannabe", actually.

Anyway, most weekends that I go home from school, i'll sit at the bar and eat like a queen at this place. I've gone with my whole family before and it was strange being served by my friends who, had to act all prim and proper regardless. But if one of the girls isn't working (it's usually my friend lauren that I go with), we sit, eat and drink the night away. It's actually wonderful (except for the check; yes even with their discount) Just this past weekend, I went with Lauren and her friend Mariam. Let me just say, my hunger took over the fact that I knew i was pressed for money. I ordered a $26 entree and shared a salad, appetizer and dessert with the girls. First we were served pieces of warm foccacia bread, then our salads (which was a simple house salad with vinaigrette) and then out came the calamari. Best calamari to ever touch my tongue. NOW, for my entree, I ordered the "short ribs" meal. It was this unbelievably tender hunk of meat surrounded and topped with pickled garnish (red cabbage maybe?) and potato puree. One of the most delicious plates of food i've had in a long time. On the other hand, everything from Mari is delectable. I housed it; made sure I was getting every penny's worth. Dessert? Oh yes. Tartaletta. Not too sure about the spelling, but it doesn't matter. It's a little rich and chocolaty pie shaped dessert topped with ice cream and RASPBERRIES. YUM. Oh and at this point, I'd like to mention i'm near ready to vomit and entirely satisfied with this feeling. But hey, enough about the food.

Ever had someone stare at you for more than 5 seconds, continuously over a long period of time? IT'S GOD AWFULLY ANNOYING AND RUDE. My goodness what the hell is it that I can help you with, man? Is there something on my face? What is it? I'm trying to enjoy my time out with my friends and this couple across the way from us at the bar, maybe in their late 20's, early 30's, kept staring at me, smirking, and whispering. I was concerned to the point where I texted my parents trying to figure out if maybe it was one of our family friends and then I thought about how maybe they totally knew I wasn't 21 and were getting a giggle out of it? Either way, it was rude and definitely quite bothersome. Once this issue disappeared, 3 lovely men on travel for work, coming from virginia, sat next to me. The one directly to my left, I'll name him.... Peter. Peter was such a nice refreshing person to deal with after having rude man and rude women stare me down for a whole hour. He was asking me all about places to go out and what bars in the area were good. At this point I KNEW I couldn't have looked that young, so those other people were just idiots. Idiots. In the midst of all of this, I had a stomach ache forming into a size larger than Texas. Another successful night at Mari. A food filled belly and 40 bucks short. The best.

P.S. I Highly recommend you try it at least once and who knows, maybe by then i'll also be an employee ;) If not I promise that whoever is your server will NOT disappoint you. Everyone there is wonderful.

P.P.S The pizza is awesome. Gosh, everything's awesome.