Jamie and I had tickets to Fuerza Bruta this past Friday in Union Square, and wanted to take advantage of one of the many fine dining experiences in the area. Still riding high from our Babbo experience, we were interested in trying another restaurant within the Mario Batali pantheon. We settled on Casa Mono, the Spanish tapas restaurant styled to bring authentic Barcelona Boqueria food to the U.S..

Openers

In several reviews, one small plate that seemed to stand out were the Pumpkin and Goat Cheese Croquetas ($9). Echoing Thanksgiving Day sweet potatoes with a marshmallow crust, these crunchy, orange-tinted balls offered up a soft, gooey center of goat cheese that simply melted away. Being big fans of truffles, the Duck Egg with Mojama ($13) caught our eye. Probably the standout dish of the evening, it featured a largish, perfectly-cooked duck egg perched on top of a couple of small fried potato halves. Doused with thinly-sliced black truffle, the “mojama” slices on top were an amazing flavor and texture, something like tuna loin prosciutto. Continuing in the seafood area, we also ordered the Sardinas Fritas ($12). Enormous, soft, fresh, and with a delicate fried exterior, these were another highlight of the meal. And yet another that seemed to be interesting was from the “Especiales” section of the menu, the Fried Pigs Feet with Pickled Ramps ($13). Having never grown up with or eaten pigs feet, I was hesitant to try them. They turned out to have the pig foot meat extracted and placed in yet another fried croquette, although actually shaped more like a patty than a round croquette, with something remarkably like tartar sauce gracing the top, on a bed of shaved fennel with preserved lemon. Our waitress, consistently as enthusiastic and knowledgeable as just about every other Mario Batali restaurant employee we’ve run into so far, steered us capably by giving us a clearer idea of what each dish would be like. Having settled on the above three, we wanted a bigger plate to go with our correspondingly “big” wine, a very special Tempranillo. Perhaps uninventively, although definitely successfully, we settled on the Lamb with Sweet Peas and Mint ($16). Smaller than the baby lamb chops that we’d had at Babbo, these were similarly outwardly charred, and perched on a bed of pea puree’ studded with fresh peas and mint.

Our Wine

Highly recommended in the moderate to medium price range, the Condado de Haza 2004 Ribera del Duero ($50) was something of a revelation. Deep purple in color, it exhibited a wealth of fruit immediately upon uncorking, more a brief hike down a path in a blackberry thicket than a big bite of blueberry pie. Chewy and fragrant, it offered nice complexity with hints of cedar and tobacco. Although the finish was somewhat thin at the beginning, as the wine opened, the tannins smoothed out and created a longer, more languid finish that let the Old World intermingle and seep into the New.

Desserts

Our resident chocaholic went out on a limb for the Torta y Helado de Chocolate Chocolate Cake with Milk Chocolate Ice Cream ($7). Wonderful textures of the warm, airy chocolate contrasted with a bed of something that seemed like Cocoa Crispies underneath the very milky and creamy chocolate ice cream. Staying in the Spanish mode, I went for the Crema Catalana con Buñuelos Burnt Vanilla Custard ($7). Probably the forerunner, in some rough-hewn and primordial way, of what the latter-day creme brulee would become this was earthier and wonderfully supple, with a classic brittle caramel covering. The accompanying deep fried sage leaf “doughnuts” were an amusing and fanciful accompaniment to the dessert.

Reflections

As we’ve come to expect within the constellation of Mario Batali/Joe Bastianich eateries, ingredients were Green Market-fresh, and largely left to speak for themselves in deft combinations. Staff was polite, helpful, and extremely enthusiastic. We were rewarded with a wonderful wine far off the beaten path at a decent price. One thing we appreciated a bit less was the plethora of fried items on the menu. While fine in small doses, once my dessert arrived with the several deep-fried doughnuts, I had definitely achieved a point of over-saturation.

Perhaps it’s my lack of familiarity with the food traditions of Catalunya, and the Barcelona Boqueria in particular. Overall, an enjoyable experience that should be tried, I found it to be mired in some of the hits and misses that for me plague Lupa. I would personally look more forward to going back to either Otto or Babbo. Given that everything we ordered a series of shared small plates, it seemed hard to justify how quickly the cost added up, having us pay relatively close to $200 for two. While we were not hungry on leaving the table, it was not a proper “sit-down” meal by any stretch of the imagination. If you have the time and money, it’s well worth the experience to try at least once.

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