Salt Lake City Ice Queen Meredith Marks Feeds Us Spoonfuls of Caviar

TUESDAY 6:24 PM NOVEMBER 12, 2024 TRIBECA

Welcome to OFF MENU, a column where we gossip and gorge with our favorite tastemakers. In the last installment, Summer House star Paige DeSorbo took us to city’s hottest new Italian spot and revealed her lifelong obsession with meatballs. This month, we opted for something a bit more upscale with Salt Lake City’s resident ice queen, Meredith Marks, who invited us to Maison Close to try her brand-new line of caviar, a delicacy she developed a penchant for after coming upon a fresh tin in her mother’s refrigerator. Over spoonfuls of 24 Karat Kaluga, Diamond Osetra, and White Sturgeon, Marks speculated on her castmate Whitney Rose’s enduring vendetta against her (“it’s just so odd,” she said) and explained how she and Lisa Barlow reconciled after season three’s infamous hot mic meltdown. As for what she’d choose for her death row meal? Well, that’s an easy one.

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JAKE NEVINS: Welcome to New York, which I know you like to call your second home.

MEREDITH MARKS: Thank you. I love it here. I’m a very urban person. I grew up in Chicago and moved around a little bit, and I never lived in a suburb until I went to Park City, which is an unusual suburb because it’s really a ski resort.

NEVINS: Well, we love having you here. Do you remember the first time you tried caviar?

MARKS: I was a child. My mother loved caviar and I found it in our refrigerator. I’m like, “Mom, what’s this?” I was ready to open it. She’s like, “Don’t open that,” because it spoils after you open it. So that was the first time I saw it, and I was like, “Well, I want to try it.” So at some point shortly thereafter, she opened it up and let me try it and I loved it. To me, it’s such a special food, and it’s something that when I was younger and I wanted to lose a few pounds, I’d go on a caviar diet, because you can’t eat that much. It kind of restricts you automatically, and you’re fulfilled and happy. It’s one of my favorite things.

NEVINS: What’s your preferred way to eat it?

MARKS: I really love the traditional blini, a little bit of sour cream, caviar, and then I like a drop of red onion sometimes. But I also love it on potato chips, pizza, pasta. Brooks and I made caviar tacos. He’s a bit more ambitious than me, so we actually made the little baby taco shells too.

NEVINS: Like mother, like son.

MARKS: Exactly. Even on a bagel with cream cheese, it’s a great breakfast. Or with eggs.

NEVINS: What kind of caviar are we having tonight? One of your reps told me you can spot it from a mile away.

MARKS: So, here we have the 24 Karat Kaluga, the Diamond Osetra, and the White Sturgeon. And I love all three, or I wouldn’t have my name on them, obviously, but they’re all a little bit different. Some are a little stronger, some are a little milder, and everyone sort of perceives tastes a little differently too. It’s illegal to have caviar in the wild, so it’s all farmed. The Kaluga’s farmed in China, the White Sturgeon is farmed in Italy, and the Osetra is farmed in Poland.

NEVINS: Fascinating. Let’s talk Housewives. I’m really enjoying the season so far. What do you think it is that keeps the core four of you intact? Because those friendships do seem to ebb and flow quite a bit.

MARKS: I think at the end of the day, we’ve been friends for a while. We’ve gone through a lot together and, love it or hate it, that does bond people. There is no one in this world who has had these similar experiences to the core of us. We have gone through things that are unusual and different, and for the most part have supported each other through them. Oh, a little present. I think that’s a huge part of it, but it’s different with the different women. I have a very different relationship with Lisa, Heather, and Whitney. Obviously, Whitney and I have a bit a disconnect, but if you look at mine and Heather’s relationship, or you look at mine and Lisa’s relationship, I love them both and I’m close to both of them. And by the way, that’s what makes our show great, that we are all so completely different.

NEVINS: Right. I have to say, it’s heartwarming but also confusing to see the way you and Lisa have fought your way back to friendship. A few seasons ago, she said you’d fucked half of New York.

MARKS: Well, for Lisa and I, when we look back at what we went through and how we got to the point where we just were not friends, of course we had our own issues, but they were fairly mild. They were also exacerbated by some of the other women around us. But now, we’re both hyper-aware of that, and it’s not happening again. But you see how they try…

NEVINS: And yet you’re still stuck like glue.

MARKS: Yeah. And we made a commitment. When Whitney and Angie were soliciting me to go turn on Lisa, we made a commitment to each other, because I was not going to do that. A lot of the women have this tit-for-tat view, and I don’t live my life that way. It’s not going to work, so don’t try it.

NEVINS: What would you say if Whitney tomorrow dropped a line of caviar tomorrow?

MARKS: I’d laugh. It wouldn’t surprise me in the slightest.

NEVINS: That would be a pattern.

MARKS: Yeah, 100%. It’s strange. She definitely has an unusual fixation on me and on Lisa and I don’t really know why. I really don’t. I try to focus on myself, focus on my own life, focus on my growth as a human being, which is exactly why I’m not down for tit-for-tat. I want to try to do the right thing and do better and be better, not just do to others what they do to me. I’m not saying I’m perfect. Don’t misunderstand me; I have definitely retaliated at times. But I’m trying to do better and not just look at you and say, “Oh, you did this to me, so I’m going to do it to you.” I think that’s so lowbrow.

NEVINS: Vendetta’s are not cute.

MARKS: It’s just so odd. And then these weird accusations [that a castmate spread a rumor Whitney stole her jewelry designs]. First of all, this was on her own website, so why are we even talking about anybody tipping someone off? If it was on her own website, she tipped everybody off herself. The whole thing is so obvious to me. First, she was accusing me, then she was accusing Lisa. I mean, who’s next?

NEVINS: Maybe me.

MARKS: Maybe you. Did you tip them off?

NEVINS: I confess.

MARKS: I would love to know who actually has enough time on their hands to figure it out to begin with. That’s the crazy part.

NEVINS: Well, she’s Whitney Drew, as Lisa said. [Food is served] Well, this looks really good. If you were on death row, what would your final meal be?

MARKS: I mean, caviar. How could you not?

NEVINS: Actually, though?

MARKS: I don’t know what else I’d rather have.

NEVINS: You really love it.

MARKS: That’s probably what I would want.

NEVINS: This is delicious, by the way.

MARKS: Thank you.

NEVINS: So I was watching last week’s episode and there’s some tension between you and Seth because he was trying to leave the Palm Springs trip early. When you two watch that back, is it awkward? Or does it maybe give you a chance to relitigate those squabbles more sensibly?

MARKS: I mean, fortunately for us, we worked through all of that. You’ll see how things kind of unfold. It’s still a difficult situation. We basically see each other on long weekends at this point, and we both make efforts to fly to each other, but it’s hard. I miss him, and I like having him with me, and he feels the same about me, fortunately. So, watching it back  is kind of enlightening in a weird way. I’ve said from the beginning that I really do feel that Real Housewives coupled with COVID saved my marriage the first go-around. And if you embrace this process, it gives you a moment for introspection and self-reflection. So I think it’s helpful to let us grow.

NEVINS: That’s very evolved. By the way, this caviar is really good.

MARKS: This is fabulous.

NEVINS: Let’s talk about your Bat Mitzvah. Did you have a theme? I had a theme.

MARKS: What was it?

NEVINS: It was a nightclub theme. My name is Jake and we called it “Club J.” It was very precocious.

MARKS: That’s very cute. Of course, mine was diamonds and caviar. I mean, come on.

NEVINS: Duh.

MARKS: But I’m not 13 now. At 52, it’s a little different. You’ll see. The service was absolutely spectacular, in my view. It was a very emotional moment for me. It was very unexpected.

NEVINS: How so?

MARKS: I just didn’t expect to get that emotional, I didn’t realize how deeply spiritual it would be and moving and what an incredible bonding moment it was for me with my family. When you’re 13 and you do it, you are kind of feeling an obligation rather than a choice. When you’re 52, it’s 100% a choice. I’ve made it my whole life without being Bat Mitzvah’d and I never really had this desire to do it. Seth had asked me when each of the kids were doing it if I would do it with them. And I was like, “No, no. This is their moment.” But for me, it was very much a spiritual connection and a connection to my heritage. I’m not a hugely religious person, but I am proud of my heritage and I am spiritual/

NEVINS: Right. My experience of Judaism is that it’s all about family and food and civic engagement.

MARKS: Exactly. And for the holidays, that’s what it always is. It’s just the time to be together and enjoy each other, so that’s what it means to me. To do something that just furthers that connection is incredible to me. And also, it’s something that was meaningful for my husband, so it really deepened and furthered our connection, too.

NEVINS: That’s lovely. And so is this escargot, which you haven’t tried.

MARKS: I have to try.

NEVINS: What do you make of the Internet’s fascination with your pronunciation of certain words?

MARKS: I mean, look—I’ve always been made fun of from my voice and the way I speak. It’s always been a thing, so it’s not surprising to me. My sister and my mother both sound like me. And we definitely do speak a little bit differently. I pick up vocal patterns from wherever I’m around. So if I’m with friends from the South, I’ll walk away with a little bit of a southern drawl. But then that goes away when I talk to the next person. I don’t know why, but it’s just a part of me. It’s very strange.

NEVINS: You’ve got a bit of that 1950s lilt, like the Bette Davis Mid-Atlantic accent.

MARKS: I mean, that’s not so bad. I’ll take old Hollywood. 

NEVINS:  What do you think of the new castmates thus far?

MARKS: I withhold all thoughts and judgments until I see the whole season unfold, because I’ve had a lot of surprises in the past.

NEVINS: Oh, okay. By that you mean, someone ended up saying things about you  that you weren’t privy to at the time?

MARKS: Exactly. With people who are new, you don’t really know what their behavior is going to be. And I don’t want to stand behind someone and be blindsided by it. [Points to caviar] Look, you can see the difference in the way this caviar looks versus this one.

NEVINS: Right. It’s a little darker.

MARKS: You’ve got a nutty, buttery kind of flavor to this one, I think.

NEVINS: Yeah, you’re right. Let’s close with some New York-specific questions, since you’re an honorary New Yorker.

MARKS: Okay, I love that. It’s the best city in the world.

NEVINS: What’s your favorite neighborhood?

MARKS: Oh my gosh, that’s impossible. I mean, I have an apartment in Greenwich Village, which is obviously fabulous. But I love SoHo. I love Gramercy Park. I love Uptown, too. I love everywhere, but there are pockets that I don’t love as much, obviously.

NEVINS: Like what?

MARKS: There was a little pocket between SoHo and Tribeca that just aren’t as charming or as cute, but then they all have something to them. And I don’t really know the Upper West Side at all.

NEVINS: You’re too hip for the Upper West Side anyway.

MARKS: And I really don’t know about Chelsea down on the west side, so I can’t speak to that because I just don’t know it. But I kind of love it everywhere. Everything has something. Where do you live?

NEVINS: I’m out in Brooklyn.

MARKS: Brooklyn’s great. I just don’t like getting on that bridge. That’s the only downside. But it’s great once you’re across the bridge

NEVINS:

And I get a taste of Manhattan four days a week, and I’m in the office. [Takes a bite] I wouldn’t have ever thought to include the fruit with the caviar. That would’ve never really occurred to me, but it totally works.

NEVINS: Right.

MARKS: I don’t think I’d put caviar on a real piece of fruit, but with a little fruity flavor, it’s great. But really, you can put it on any form of protein, on any carbohydrate, any vegetable, any grain.

NEVINS: That’s why you went into the business. 

MARKS: Yeah, it works. Caviar pizza.

NEVINS: Caviar is your way of showing affection, right?

MARKS: It’s my love language.

NEVINS: Well, who on the cast at this present moment are you most likely to give a spoonful of caviar to?

MARKS: Lisa.

NEVINS: And who are you least likely to give a spoonful of caviar to?

MARKS: I would say probably Whitney. I mean, you saw how Whitney thought that asking me to gift caviar to her was doing me a favor. But I think we can stop those favors. I don’t need to make her do me a favor by gifting her my caviar. She thinks someone gifting her something is her doing them a favor, which is the oddest thing I’ve ever heard in my life.

NEVINS: Right. Like, I’m not following. By the way, which hotel in New York has the best bathtubs?

MARKS: Oh gosh. I mean, there are a lot that don’t have bathtubs. But the suites at the old Surrey used to have gorgeous bathtubs. After all these years, it’s reopening. And you know what else I like? The bathtubs at The Dominick, because you can look out the window onto Soho.

NEVINS: That’s really good to know. By the way, is Brooks coming tonight?

MARKS: He’ll be here tonight. He’s been spending a lot of time between here and Austin and L.A., but he’s based here. He’s doing great. He’s getting ready to launch a new collection in the new year. I’ve seen the samples. It’s beautiful. He did a great job, so I’m really excited for that. I’m obsessed with my kids.

NEVINS: As you should be.

MARKS: I can’t help that.

NEVINS: Are they obsessed with you back?

MARKS: Usually. But they have their days where they’re like, “Okay, I’ve had enough of you.”

NEVINS: Well, I can’t get enough of you. This was lovely. Thanks for your time and your caviar.

MARKS: Thank you so much. I’m so glad you got to try it.