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Check out the review for the new Due Mari from Star Ledger:

If you liked Due Terre Enoteca in Bernardsville, you’ll love Due Mari Pesce e Vinoteca in New Brunswick.

Opened last month by the same team that put together the highly successful Due Terre, Due Mari hit the ground running with top-notch food, ambience and service. While Due Mari has an alternate concept emphasizing seafood, the biggest difference between the two in my view is the more peaceful nature of the new restaurant.

Despite valiant attempts to stifle the decibels at Due Terre, it could never be described as quiet. But at Due Mari, conversation can reign in the main dining room. There’s a nice distance between tables, the floor is carpeted and the entire picture is soothing. While chatter is audible it does not become din, and background music is not foreground music.

Due Mari occupies the location formerly used by Nova Terra. Much has been changed, but the round bar still is a focal point for those who want a drink or are after casual dining in an area apart from the more formal space.

The restaurant’s name refers to the “two seas,” the Atlantic and the Mediterranean. In keeping with that, the interior, done by Diane Gote of Design Works in Summit, features shades of blue and sea green interspersed with tan, bronze and brown. Frosted glass backs the curving banquettes that separate the dining room from the bar. Wooden shutters keep out the street and lend character to the room, along with oak-framed mirrors. It’s stylish, but not fussy.

The emphasis here, obviously, is on seafood with preparations that have roots in various regions of Italy. The Sicilian Swordfish Involtino ($25) is robust with tomatoes, pine nuts, olives and capers over broccoli rabe. Fennel-crusted tuna ($27) utilizes wild oregano, roasted pepper and green olives to make its statement. Seared sea scallops ($28) play off caramelized Brussels sprouts (even sprout-haters should fancy these), highlighted by Cremini mushrooms with brown butter and lemon. This is a dish to be eaten slowly, sharing the joy the ingredients express in being together.

The menu has many highlights. Clam chowder ($8) happily does not have the thick, almost gluey consistency that some chefs seem to believe is synonymous with the word “chowder.” Despite the presence of potatoes and pancetta, it’s rather light, with saffron adding a different note to the proposition. Sicilian lemon crema brightens the crispy calamari ($11) with a swath of citrus flavor on the side for dipping, to be utilized in the quantity that best suits the patron.

Those who enjoy their seafood straight will focus on a crudo bar offering the likes of the Due Mari Cocktail ($16), featuring scallops, shrimp and calamari and a Maine Lobster Cocktail ($24), as well as oysters and other crustaceans.

The lovely hand-made pastas also present seafood possibilities, such as the linguine with clams and mussels in a red or white sauce ($22.) Those who want neither seafood nor meat should try the adorable ricotta gnocchi ($16), delectable morsels stepped-up with fresh tomato and torn basil. The Robiola cheese ravioli ($17), however, is even better. Butternut squash, brown butter, sage and vin cotto (”cooked wine”) are used judiciously to a stunning effect. The danger with these elements could be an overdose of sweetness, but all the moving parts are perfectly managed for a lick-the-plate experience.

Despite the restaurant’s name, there are limited (but sufficient) opportunities for meat and fowl eaters to enjoy their preference with generally straightforward dishes. Skirt steak charred at the edges ($25) is sliced and arranged around a little salad of wild arugula and grape tomatoes topped with shaved Parmigiana. Portobello mushrooms add a welcome undertone. There’s a burger ($15) on brioche with grilled red onion and cheese, as well as crispy organic chicken ($23) dressed up with pancetta, Cipollini onions and rosemary potatoes.