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February 05, 2005
Casa Mono
Casa Mono is a one-year-old tapas restaurant at 52 Irving Place. It was in the "Tables for Two" New Yorker column this week so we tried it out. Very impressive. We ordered five dishes to share and two "cuartos" of wine. We started with Pan con Tomate -- a staple of every meal in Catalunia -- which is toasted crusty bread rubbed with tomato and garlic and topped with olive oil and salt. Casa Mono's was good though a bit too salty. The bacalao (salt cod) croquettes over orange alioli (not the Italian aioli, which bothers me on menus because I feel like it's missing an "l", but Spanish alioli) were good -- the orange flavor in the alioli was interesting but not something I would make at home.
Since we were sitting at the bar, we chatted with a neighbor and watched each dish being assembled by the staff. One plate looked absolutely decadent and turned out to be one of ours. It's currently my favorite dish anywhere -- I haven't gotten over it yet. It's a sunny-side-up duck egg on top of sautéed fingerling potatoes and topped with salt-cured tuna (Mojama) and, the kicker, truffle sauce. The egg and potato and Mojama and sauce perfectly complement each other. I barely tried the cauliflower with capers (good) and passed on the sweetbreads because I was busy taking a bite and closing my eyes because it was sooo goooood. Must go back soon. I'm a sucker for luxury ingredients (truffles, duck eggs, anything imported).
Here's the menu and the NY Times review.
Posted by csageday at February 5, 2005 11:08 PM