Casa Mono- 125 E 17th st, NYC

My mom, dad and I had just gotten a seat at the wine bar at Casa Mono, a restaurant where you can see the chefs cook for you.  All the food looks delicious.  It is a spanish style tapas bar, so the dishes are small.  For an appetizer, my mom ordered the razor clams a la plancha.  I had never tried razor clams before and I thought it was cool that they were very long and skinny-- they were amazing.  They were extremely tender, with a briny taste.  As we were waiting for my dad's appetizer, I looked over at the kitchen and noticed that they made meals in an assembly line.  The first person cooked the meats.  The second chef assembled the salads and put the sauces on the different dishes.  The third person decorated the plates and cleaned it up, making everything look nicer.  Then he brought the food to the tables.  Soon, my dad's appetizer, the pulpo with grapefruit and fennel came.  The octopus was very tender, and the fennel went well with the dish.  I didn't enjoy the grapefruit.  My mom also ordered the artichokes with mint.  She said she loved the dressing on the artichokes.  Then my entree came.  I ordered the Catalan Sausage with black garlic fabada, which are beans.  The sausage was okay.  I thought it was a little too salty, but the sweet sauce balanced it out.  I thought the beans were very good, especially if you dipped it in the sauce.  It looked much better than it tasted, especially since I watched it being prepared.  My dad's entree was the skirt steak with onion mermelada.  I thought the steak was a little too chewy, with a very bland flavor.  My mom also ordered the pork croquetas with porcini mostaza and cider greens.  She sent it back and got the scallops with concord grapes and brussels instead.  It was very good and the concord grape sauce was sweet and tangy.  It added sweetness to the tender scallops.  Casa Mono definitely deserves 4 pineapples.  See u soon - tdg