IntroMontenapo - Recommended
250 W 41st St, New York 10036
At 8th Ave
Phone: (212) 764-7663
I've been wanting to check out this joint for a while as the fellow dudes have given their thumbs up. Glad I did as the pasta courses truly brought me back to Italy - granted I asked the chef to make the pasta al dente. Montenapo as two different styles on the menu - traditional Italian dishes as well as a modern take on pasta dishes. I've sampled from both and I can say they're equally delicious - with the modern take having the Frenchified intensely flavored sauces. Either way - the wife and I had a great time and the food was excellent
Our Menu
Potato Chips **
Parmiggiano-Reggiano and Truffle Oil
These were like crack and you definitely can't have just one.
Crab and avocado amuse *
Fresh sweet crab with nice creamy avocado, cut with some great acidity and the crisp bitter endive. Perfectly balanced.
Spaghetti *
spaghetti pasta with sea urchin, cured mullet bottarga, garlic, spicy pepper & olive oil
Phenomenal WTF texture on the pasta going with the nice salty/meaty flavor. Super al dente and totally bringing me back to my memories of the pasta in Italy. Caveat here is we asked the chef to make it very al dente. Normally, most Americans consider al dente pasta undercooked, but this differs to the pastas in Italy.
Tagliatelle **
tagliatelle pasta with maine lobster morsels, chervil, dry vermouth, tomato, chiodini mushrooms, and light lobster bisque
Texture on the pasta was great and the bisque was insanely flavorful. Lobsters were perfectly cooked and nicely sweet
Agnoltti *
ravioli pasta filled with braised beef cheeks, served atop of celery root puree and veal stock reduction
Intensely flavored veal stock reduction that was pretty delicious. Texture of the pasta was good, but not as good as the spaghetti and tagliatelle.
Halibut *
Pan seared filet of west coast halibut served with squid stew, basil - lemon emulsion
Great flavor on the basil sauce - nice bright and good acid which complemented the flaky fish.
Polipo **
sauteed octopus with taggliasche olives, tomatoes, porcini mushrooms cannelloni, fava beans & chick pea served on top of roasted bell pepper emulsion
Insanely tender octopus and almost a spanish feel with the pepper sauce. Nice play of saltiness with the olives.
Parmiggiano-Reggiano and Truffle Oil
These were like crack and you definitely can't have just one.
Crab and avocado amuse *
Fresh sweet crab with nice creamy avocado, cut with some great acidity and the crisp bitter endive. Perfectly balanced.
Spaghetti *
spaghetti pasta with sea urchin, cured mullet bottarga, garlic, spicy pepper & olive oil
Phenomenal WTF texture on the pasta going with the nice salty/meaty flavor. Super al dente and totally bringing me back to my memories of the pasta in Italy. Caveat here is we asked the chef to make it very al dente. Normally, most Americans consider al dente pasta undercooked, but this differs to the pastas in Italy.
Tagliatelle **
tagliatelle pasta with maine lobster morsels, chervil, dry vermouth, tomato, chiodini mushrooms, and light lobster bisque
Texture on the pasta was great and the bisque was insanely flavorful. Lobsters were perfectly cooked and nicely sweet
Agnoltti *
ravioli pasta filled with braised beef cheeks, served atop of celery root puree and veal stock reduction
Intensely flavored veal stock reduction that was pretty delicious. Texture of the pasta was good, but not as good as the spaghetti and tagliatelle.
Halibut *
Pan seared filet of west coast halibut served with squid stew, basil - lemon emulsion
Great flavor on the basil sauce - nice bright and good acid which complemented the flaky fish.
Polipo **
sauteed octopus with taggliasche olives, tomatoes, porcini mushrooms cannelloni, fava beans & chick pea served on top of roasted bell pepper emulsion
Insanely tender octopus and almost a spanish feel with the pepper sauce. Nice play of saltiness with the olives.
Tiramisu ***
lady finger cookies soaked in double espresso, and layered with marscapone cheese
All I have to say is wow and WTF! Maybe it's me, but I used to love Tiramisu as a kid - gimmicky I know, but it was a great childhood memory. For some reason, I never order tiramisu much anymore - not sure why, but I never do. The one here was light as a cloud and hugely flavored.
Ricotta *
Ricotta Italian cheese cake, marsala marinated raisins and wild black cherries
Rating Systemlady finger cookies soaked in double espresso, and layered with marscapone cheese
All I have to say is wow and WTF! Maybe it's me, but I used to love Tiramisu as a kid - gimmicky I know, but it was a great childhood memory. For some reason, I never order tiramisu much anymore - not sure why, but I never do. The one here was light as a cloud and hugely flavored.
Ricotta *
Ricotta Italian cheese cake, marsala marinated raisins and wild black cherries
--- What the F - in a bad way * Good ** Great *** What the F – in a good way
Overall Restaurant Experience
- Food – Everything was executed very nicely. No bad dishes with most being good to great. Again, the pastas here were so f'n on.
- Service – Food came out in an incredibly timely manner and the waitress was very nice.
- Atmosphere – Gorgeous place. Very high ceilings and a nice sense of openness as the tables are set a good distance apart. There's also an atrium in the NY Times building that let's you forget about NYC for a while. The place had a relaxed feel, but still classy. Crowd was a mix of young groups/couples and older lawyer / banker looking types.
- Price – Prices were reasonable as most pastas were around $20. Great deal is you can order three pastas to share for $25 per person. Price per happiness factor was pretty solid.
Definitely have to go back and check out more of the pastas. Great stuff.
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