Tuesday, February 23, 2010

Family Owned Italian at Monte's Trattoria in the Village

Monte's Trattoria is a romantic Italian restaurant located in the heart of Greenwich Village on MacDougal Street. This vintage Italian restaurant has been family owned and operated since 1918, with the Mosconi family currently continuing the rich tradition. Monte's features an assortment of the most delicious Italian cuisine around. The food is prepared fresh daily by the chef and owner Pietro Mosconi, who delivers authentic Northern Italian dishes from his region of Emilia Romagna.

Renowned Chef Pietro Mosconi learned how to cook at an early age while living on his family’s farm in Vincenza, Italy, a province in the Emilia Romagna region. His father was a soldier in World War II where he was captured as a prisoner of war and eventually transferred to England. With his father away from home, Mosconi spent a lot of time with his mother and six siblings. Mosconi would spend hours helping his mother with arduous tasks in the kitchen like kneading dough, and making fresh noodles. His family would frequently pick the farm for some of the best potatoes, and make fruit hors d’ oeuvres from the produce they got from local orchards. Pietro’s grandparents came to the United States and got married in the Lower East Side in the early 1900’s. Pietro didn’t come to the States until 1966 after his aunt convinced his father that they could live a better life in the United State’s food industry. Pietro took a seven day voyage from Genoa to New York on a ship called the Michelangelo. He quickly began working at some of the city’s top restaurants to gain experience in food preparation. After working in a kitchen for almost a decade, Pietro decided he wanted to own his own restaurant. So he purchased a building on MacDougal, and named the restaurant Village Mosconi. Pietro and his brother Giovanni wanted to open a place together, so they took over Razzazco, which was half a block down from Village Mosconi. This new place was later called Monte’s Trattoria.

Although Monte’s Trattoria is located in New York City, Chef Mosconi’s dishes still mirror the authentic cuisine of his birthplace. His famous creative flare can be savored in his daily creations.

Fan Favorites:
Clams Oreganata—Baked clams topped with breadcrumbs, herbs and olive oil
Shrimp Scampi—Shrimps in a lemon, butter, garlic and white wine sauce
Filet Mignon alla Marsala—Two mignonettes in a Marsala wine sauce with white mushrooms
Eggplant Parmigiana—Sliced eggplant topped with tomato sauce and Mozzarella cheese
Gnocchi Sugo di Pomodoro—Potato dumplings with pasta sauce
Chicken Parmigiana—Breaded chicken cutlet in tomato sauce topped with Mozzarella and Parmigiano

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