A night out at Marcel DW, the charming European bistro on Main Street, is a night of the unexpected. Upon first entering the dimly lit dining space, one is thrust into thoughts of a high-society dinner party—an ornate, diamond-chandelier centers the room and gold vases sit atop crisp, white tablecloths. Will the atmosphere be too posh and stuffy, the food elevated to the point of inaccessibility?  Diners will quickly be relieved to find out that the answer, in fact, is no. While the space has the trappings of high society and the fare is definitely elevated, the atmosphere in Marcel radiates a certain kind of warmth, courtesy of the two men behind the restaurant, chef/owners Jeremy Duclut and Jonathan Warfield. “I want the customers to feel welcome as they come in, which helps to have my business partner working up front, because he’s a chef as well,” says Warfield. “It’s a bit of a step outside of the normal direction for both of us, but having him up at the bar gives that personal touch to the customers and tables.”

“We want to be open for everybody,” adds Duclut. “You can come here, have one dish, a nice cocktail and go home, or have five courses, if you feel like it.” Duclut and Warfield purchased the space, then home to Melange and the connected speakeasy Pangea Alchemy Lab in the spring of 2023, with a shared goal: to create an intimate, 30-40 seat restaurant where they could express full culinary control over every dish that left the kitchen. The pair operated as Melange for a couple of months before shutting down and transforming into Marcel that fall. “I have run a lot of places for a lot of other people, but this is my first endeavor as an owner,” says Warfield. “Being able to do it with my best friend of over 20 years is an absolutely perfect scenario for me—I don’t have anybody else to answer to and we have the freedom to create and do what we want to do, how we want to do it. I couldn’t ask for anything else.”

The meal starts off with an unexpected bang in the form of charred green beans, cooked down in an amaretto-brown butter sauce. The dish, Warfield’s take on the French almondine, could challenge even the most devout green bean naysayers to not lick the plate clean. Slivered almonds find their way throughout the pile of charred green beans, bringing a different type of crunch to the plate. Flecks of bright yellow lemon pepper and fresh parsley anoint the dish with pops of color and flavor. 

Everything on the plate, however, is just a vehicle for the sauce. Sweet, sticky, yet with a certain depth from the bastings of brown butter, the amaretto-lemon sauce elevates the traditionally unspectacular green bean into a legume worth coming back for. “You start with a ripping hot pan to get that color on the green beans. You want to do it as fast as possible to lock in that flavor without overcooking the green bean,” says Warfield.

While the menu at Marcel has changed with the seasons, this green bean appetizer has not. The dish is more than just an appetizer, however, it is a sign of what is to come—that every plate that comes out of the kitchen has been handled with a delicate touch. 

That skillful touch extends to the sea scallops with cauliflower puree, English peas, mushrooms and truffle. The scallops—pan-seared to buttery perfection—are just one of the building blocks of the dish. Chef Warfield constructed the plate to build upon layers of flavor and texture, the heartiness of the English peas holding up to the tender scallops and the silky smooth cauliflower puree. “The sweetness of the peas goes with the sweetness of the scallops and the cauliflower puree. That all gets cut with the richness of the truffles, truffle oil and the butter and cream in the puree,” says Warfield. “It’s all building and layering into something more than the individual parts.” While the scallops are first on the call sheet, the truffle demi-glace—infused with lemon juice and fresh herb aromatics—and cauliflower puree threaten to steal the show. The demi-glace and puree ground the dish, quite literally, bringing the flavors of land to the sea. 

Constructing a dish around branzino—Mediterranean sea bass—or any kind of flaky, white fish is a high-wire act. The flavor profile of branzino is mild, slightly sweet, and while easily complemented by whatever it’s cooked with, it also runs the risk of being overpowered by the other ingredients that accompany it. Warfield walks that tightrope with precision in the pan-seared branzino that sits atop a bed of lobster, spiraled zucchini and pan sauce derived from an almond aillade and garden pesto. The branzino and lobster alike are tender, flaky affairs that match up well together, the spirals of zucchini evocative of fettuccine pasta and the almond aillade provides a surprising, yet welcome nuttiness that binds the flavors into a cohesive dish. “Aillade is basically another take on a pesto, but it’s more nut-heavy. It’s a thicker, chunkier version of a pesto, but instead of being herb-forward, the base is made from nuts,” says Warfield. “The two types of pesto help create the pan sauce along with the liquid from the zucchini and butter.”

Chocolate is a mysterious thing. Good chocolate is just that—tasty, dependable chocolate—but great chocolate is a time machine. Great chocolate takes you back to your childhood, to those core memories of licking cake batter off a spoon or swiping an extra glob of frosting with your thumb, a cacao-bean-induced smile plastered on your face. Don’t be surprised if that same smile returns when indulging in the chocolate ganache tartalette, a deceptively simple dessert made excellent by its nimble balance of flavors. A graham cracker tartlet shell is warmed and filled with silky chocolate ganache and topped with a drizzle of sea salt caramel. The dessert is rich, but not overpowering, luscious, but not overly sugary, resulting in a dish that one might not plan on finishing, yet does so anyway. Micro leaves of mint anoint the tartallete, elevating the dessert to the next level. “As of yet, we’re not known as the ‘dessert place,’  and we don’t have the privilege of having an off-site space to make into a dessert bakery area, so most of our desserts are more straightforward,” says Warfield. “That’s the thing about baking—you can use very simple ideas and simple ingredients and still make some great, high-quality desserts.”