Beautifully lighted and refined, the new Il Monello brings back classic Italian xuisine.
Back in the 1970s a slew of Italian restaurants opened on Manhattan’s east side that elevated the cuisine and décor well above the Italian-American model of the past. Two of those were Il Monello (1974) and Nido (1979), stylish ristoranti opened by Tuscan-born Adi Giovanetti, who introduced a sophisticated service, many dishes never served in New York before and had a wine list of the best Italian wines then coming into the country.
The homey dish of veal parmigiana is here a lavish and sumptuous antipasto.
Il Monello—the name means “little rascal”—then on 76th Street and Second Avenue, closed, re-opened and then was sold to Steve Haxhiaj, who had worked for Giovanetti, but shuttered again in 2008. (Il Nido closed a few years later; Giovanetti passed away soon after.)
Now re-opened at a different location by Haxhiaj and Chef -partner Jaime Chabla, Il Monello has the same soft luxury of the original though in a more modern décor. The lighting is finely modulated, helped by small lamps that throw a glow onto the white tablecloths. The front window faces the street, and there is a handsome bar as you enter. There are 120 seats, but the well-separated tables, with comfortable leather chairs, make it appear smaller, more intimate. The sound level in the room is ideal, perhaps because Il Monello draws a crowd that does not shout to be heard nor need to.
The menu fits on one broadside and is well balanced in categories that begin with salads, and the one to share is the Il Monello ($14) of baby arugula, goat’s cheese, shaved pears, seedless grapes, toasted almond flakes and a lemon truffle oil dressing.
Among the antipasti the stand-out is the eggplant parmigiana ($19), a hefty square whose lavish tomato and mozzarella cheese looks as delectable as a Wayne Thiebaud still life. Tender Littleneck clams are gently dressed with moist breadcrumbs and fresh oregano.
Ear-shaped orecchiette comes with broccoli di rape, garlic and olive oil.
There are six pastas, and I was impressed by the straight-from-the-flame risotto with wild mushrooms (market price) so impeccably textured and suffused with flavor. Fettuccine al ragù ($29) is veal and tomato based and a good winter pasta. The ear-shaped orecchiette, which have a special texture, are here treated to chunks of sweet sausage and broccoli with plenty of garlic and olive oil ($28). The only disappointment was bucatini cacio e pepe ($26), a dish now ubiquitous in New York and one that takes a careful hand to get right. Here there was little taste of coarsely ground black pepper in a dish whose only two ingredients are pecorino and pepper.
Sea bass is carefully rendered to be moist and served with white wine sauce.
Consummate care does go into the sea bass that is potato crusted and served with a white wine-based caper -lemon sauce with hearts of artichokes ($39). So, too a flavorful Dover sole (market price) was perfectly rendered with a tangy lemon and white wine sauce.
A generous dish of chicken parmigiana some in a circular shape like pizza.
There is chicken scarpariello on the menu ($35), a dish that usually contains sausage, but instead you’ll find that addition in the “Il Monello” chicken ($35) along with both white and dark chicken, potatoes, roasted peppers and a white wine sauce. Best of all was a bountiful pollo parmigiana ($34) that takes the basic ingredients of pounded, breaded chicken breast with tomato sauce and mozzarella and plates themas a generous and attractive circle the size of a pizza. The ingredients are key to this dish, and more than a match for the far more expensive veal parm at Carbone’s for $72.
Haxhiaj also owns the Theater District Tuscany Steakhouse, so his meat and seafood suppliers are of the same high quality, and it shows in the massive bone-in ribeye we enjoyed ($69). There is also a bistecca alla Fiorentina here ($63 per person) under the name “Tuscany porterhouse.” By the way, the French fries ($12) are terrific
I do, actually, wish there were more Tuscan dishes on the menu like pappa al pomodoro and pappardelle con lepre, and perhaps they will be specials sometimes. One dish I’m begging them to bring back from the original Il Monello was Giovanetti’s ravioli malfatti—“badly made ravioli”—which has no pasta wrapping at all, instead consisting or a spinach-ricotta filling cooked on its own and lashed with butter.
Desserts take as much attention to detail as the rest of the menu.
I highly recommend a dessert ($14) or two at Il Monello, all freshly made, perhaps the tiramisù or the cheesecake, and with the fruit platter you get a big dollop of whipped cream for spooning onto the dessert plates. It’s a generous gesture.
But then, everything at Il Monello is, including the service. No little rascals here, just veteran professionals who aim to please. It’s good to have Il Monello back and very good to come back to.
IL MONELLO
337 E 49th Street
917-675-7491
Open nightly for dinner from 4 PM.
