Turquoise Seafood Restaurant (CLOSED)

The corner of East 81st Street and Second Avenue has long been owned by Etas-Unis, until a number of restaurants attempted to make their own mark at the intersection. One of them is Turquoise, a spin-off of an eight-year-old restaurant in Great Neck. The color scheme is as the name suggests—sea-green and white stone walls—and the menu is all about seafood: quality fish, hand-selected by Israeli-born co-owner Sam Marelli every morning from the Fulton Fish Market. Diners can choose from more than a dozen kinds of simply prepared shellfish, fillets or whole fish, including tilapia stuffed with crabmeat, shrimp and sun-dried tomatoes; sesame-crusted seared tuna; and fried barbunia.