New to the 'Scene'
We still have 9 months to go in 2016 but the Restaurant of the Year might already be locked down. No disrespect to what else is out there as there have been quite a few notable openings and I'm not claiming to have been to all of them not to mention the ones yet to come. Still though the early reviews on Monteverde have been very enthusiastic. The city waited more than a year for the opening of former Top Chef contestant Sarah Grueneberg's restaurant and pastificio but the people didn't take long in making it the city's go-to pasta spot. I checked them out this past February.
New City Favorite on West Madison
Monteverde is pretty large and the ceiling extends high. Like always we chose to sit at the bar. This is where you'll find a bit of a stage with the ladies making fresh pasta amongst those mixing drinks. Pretty much every publication and actual food writer in this city has been here so I'm not sharing anything new I just thought I'd give my two cents. A complimentary app of some fried cheese balls. I forget exactly what was in them but it was definitely sharp. They worked well with a beer.
Rice Balls
Moving on we went with the tortellini in brodo. This dish might have been a bit too heavily salted but I still loved it for the fact it was similar to something I ate in my youth but stepped up times ten with a deep chicken broth that was almost beef like. Same for the tortellini which were filled with mortadella. I'm sure the menu will switch soon if it hasn't already but I hope I can get this again.
Tortellini in Broth
Moving on we decided to try the Fegattini Calabrese. Described on the menu as "wok fried chicken livers, tomato, peperoncino, lima beans, soft polenta" this was another great dish. I loved the smoothness of it both in texture and also flavor and feel like we need more dishes with lima beans.
Fegattini Calabrese
Lastly the pasta. The star of the show here. They display a few choices on the menu and all sounded good. We ended up rolling with the Arrabbiata with wok fried strangozze pasta, head-on gulf shrimp, tomato, garlic, and hot pepper oil. Just wonderful I love me some spicy tomato based pastas and will never dislike big plumpy juicy shrimp so this was a dish that if I saw in a cookbook or something would immediately attempt to make. I'm already excited for my subsequent visit to see what's next.
Arrabbiata
Monteverde
1020 W Madison St
Chicago, IL 60607
(312) 888-3041
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