Lunch at Casa Mono – Take 2

Taken place on September 4, 2009.

Around the second week when Ruskie is in town, we arranged to have lunch at Casa Mono. Both of us went there before but we’d agree that it would be nice to visit there again since it’s been a while and we did like their food (in our disparate ways).

Baguette & Olives in Olive Oil

The baguette and olives were still the same as I remembered – not too crusty with fluffy crumb and the olives were still briny while the olive oil gave it additional richness.

Chopitos

The first dish that arrived was the chopitos with white beans and salsa de tinta. Chopitos are baby cuttlefish, deep fried. The white beans were pureed with a squid ink-based sauce (salsa de tinta) that added that acidic kick to contrast the fried cuttlefish.

Razor clams

Next up, razor clams a la plancha. The clams were griddled to its tender, meaty perfection. The dill, garlic vinaigrette was delicious but a bit too much dill for our liking.

Skirt steak

The skirt steak with onion memelada was cooked to a nice medium-rare sauced with a corn pepper relish that’s quite acidic. The onion marmalade tied everything together and made it all enjoyable. It’s sweet and it’s just simply good.

Setas with garlic

We ordered a side of setas with garlic; mushrooms (I think it’s the royal trumpet) sautéed in garlic. Very simple preparation yet tasty.

House-made chorizo

While we’re eating our previous dishes at the bar, we’ve observed the chef cooking the chorizo multiple times. We gave into temptation and appended this dish to our meal despite the fact I was getting quite full. The house-made chorizo with machengo crujiente was delicious. So tender, flavorful, and the spicing is complex. The red stripe is a red pepper puree and the machengo cheese crisp that’s cradling the salad brightens the dish since the dressing was acidic.

After finishing this great meal, we walked out to Union Square’s Greenmarket to be inspired and pick up ingredients for dinner.

Address:
Casa Mono
125 E 17th Street
New York, NY 10017 (map; website)