Monteverde’s End of Summer Flavors

I was finally able to secure a reservation to the acclaimed Monteverde, an Italian restaurant in Chicago’s west loop. These delicious, end of summer flavors were perfect on a sunny September afternoon. Here’s what we ordered:

We started with Oma’s Green Mountain Salad, a yummy lil appetizer to get in some of those fresh greens. It was filled with little gem lettuce, avocado, and crunchy vegetables. 

The Artichoke and Sunchoke Crostino was lovely! It was stacked with housemade lemon ricotta, shallot, fontina fonduta, and savini truffle. The Ricotta Stuffed Squash Flower changed my life though. I’ve never had squash flower before, and the crispy flower with the creamy cheese in the middle was heaven. This dish featured charred sweet corn, spicy sesame togarashi, and mieli thun honey. I wish I ordered five more of these.

As a corn lover I thought the Sweet Corn Agnolotti was incredible. This dish featured quattro formaggi, gran pecorino, toasted hazelnut, and fresh shaved burgundy truffle.

The Gnocchetti Con Pesto exploded with the green pesto once I stirred the pasta. This pasta was made with housemade ricotta, basil, tuscan pine nut, and sardinian pecorino, and was hearty and delicious.

I’m glad I tried the Chocolate Dipped Forgotten Cookie, but it wasn’t my favorite. The cookie was a lil harder than I typically enjoy, but was still fun to taste all these flavors together: toasted coconut, dark chocolate, and meringue. 

Hoping I make it to this restaurant more than once, if I am lucky enough to get another reservation!