THE FOCACCIA, WHICH had emerged from the oven just minutes before we took our seats, was airy, crackly, and accompanied with a bowl of briny caponata emboldened with citrus peel and a pinch of cocoa. The arancini, plump with smoky mozzarella and peas, broke into tender morsels to be dragged through pools of truffle aioli. The menu offered a spare quartet of pastas, which were springy and lightened by condiments, especially the bucatini with a sunny lemon sauce, scant nuggets of artichoke, and a shower of Parmigiano. We sensed the structure of the semolina it was made with and the care of the kitchen staff rolling it by hand. If this sounds less like the marinara-heavy, cheese-topped fare of an Italian American spot and more like the provincial dishes you had (or dream of having … one day) on a trip to Salerno or Bologna, that’s because Francesco Settanni, the exuberant general manager and mastermind behind Monti Aperitivo & Cucina, the authentic yet understated spot that opened this spring steps from the heart of Fountain Square, scripted it this way.
“Don’t get me wrong,” Settanni says. “I love a good chicken Parm or a bowl of spaghetti Bolognese. But I wanted to open my own place where the food was just like it was back home.” For Settanni, who has worked for decades at landmark Italian eateries including New York City’s Scarpetta and, most recently, the short-lived Tre in Carmel, that home is Puglia in Southern Italy. “My father wasn’t a farmer, but he had a piece of land he leased. We always had access to the freshest vegetables of the season, and we had lamb for special occasions. It’s a very personal dish.”
Given how much Italian cuisine is available in Indianapolis, Settanni considered opening a Mediterranean restaurant. But he feared people would expect the food to be Greek. So he doubled down on the most authentic recipes from his homeland, bringing in and training a staff headed up by executive chef Trey Christianson, whom Settanni worked with at Tre and who has experience at Vivante in Carmel’s Hotel Carmichael. Monti’s staff arrives early to its modest kitchen, located on Shelby Street in what was most recently Wine Market & Table, logging long hours prepping the food for each night’s six-hour service. Settanni had to school his kitchen on the foundations of Italian culture, which is steeped in a passion for food. “We get everything that we can from Italy,” he says, “or, like our burrata, made in America from Italian milk. We don’t even use any butter, and we don’t have accounts with big food supply companies. It’s freshness and little else.”
To highlight Italy’s vibrant cocktail culture, Settanni handpicked bar manager and sommelier Zoë Hayes, formerly of Ambrosia Hospitality Group, Tinker Street, and Spoke & Steele, to build a menu of amaro-enriched aperitivos, such as a restrained Negroni made all the more interesting with plum vermouth and damson gin. For lighter pours, a short list of spritzes includes the low-ABV Figaro with Brucato Woodlands, a California amaro, plus bitter Ramazzotti liqueur, fig, and ginger. It’s a perfect sipper with any of the menu’s small plates. This includes not only the focaccia and arancini but also a verdant fritto misto plate of shrimp, calamari, and artichokes, as well as meatballs made from beef and Old Major Italian sausage, mortadella, and ricotta salata.
Other highlights include a whole branzino lavished with salsa verde and lemony salmoriglio, as well as the lamb so dear in Settanni’s upbringing, sourced from Kentucky’s Freedom Run Farm and served in perfectly rare chops with a toss of roasted potatoes. Fans of lesser-known Italian recipes will want to get the pasta alla Nerano, the invention of the Amalfi Coast popularized by Stanley Tucci on his CNN series Searching for Italy, while it’s still on the menu.
All of Monti’s painstaking yet unfussy plates are made more enjoyable by the whimsical atmosphere, which Monti owner and Bovaconti founder and designer Minda Balcius oversaw. Rustic exposed brick and stripes of black and white tile applied in an intentionally off-kilter fashion give the dining room a stylishly informal vibe, as though the place has been serving regulars for years.
Desserts are about the only part of the meal that might need some work. A poached pear with zabaione was a bit too al dente and needed a bit more pizzazz, but a slice of moist, citrusy olive oil cake more than hits the mark. In lieu of dessert, there’s always another spritz, a soothing pour of vermouth, or espresso from the bar, even another slice of focaccia to nibble as you linger. And you’ll want to, as much for planning your next visit to Monti as to Italy itself, though you’re awfully close already.
The focaccia, which had emerged from the oven just minutes before we took our seats, was airy, crackly, and accompanied with a bowl of briny caponata emboldened with citrus peel and a pinch of cocoa. The arancini, plump with smoky mozzarella and peas, broke into tender morsels to be dragged through pools of truffle aioli. The menu offered a spare quartet of pastas, which were springy and lightened by condiments, especially the bucatini with a sunny lemon sauce, scant nuggets of artichoke, and a shower of Parmigiano. We sensed the structure of the semolina it was made with and the care of the kitchen staff rolling it by hand. If this sounds less like the marinara-heavy, cheese-topped fare of an Italian American spot and more like the provincial dishes you had (or dream of having … one day) on a trip to Salerno or Bologna, that’s because Francesco Settanni, the exuberant general manager and mastermind behind Monti Aperitivo & Cucina, the authentic yet understated spot that opened this spring steps from the heart of Fountain Square, scripted it this way.
“Don’t get me wrong,” Settanni says. “I love a good chicken Parm or a bowl of spaghetti Bolognese. But I wanted to open my own place where the food was just like it was back home.” For Settanni, who has worked for decades at landmark Italian eateries including New York City’s Scarpetta and, most recently, the short-lived Tre in Carmel, that home is Puglia in Southern Italy. “My father wasn’t a farmer, but he had a piece of land he leased. We always had access to the freshest vegetables of the season, and we had lamb for special occasions. It’s a very personal dish.”
Given how much Italian cuisine is available in Indianapolis, Settanni considered opening a Mediterranean restaurant. But he feared people would expect the food to be Greek. So he doubled down on the most authentic recipes from his homeland, bringing in and training a staff headed up by executive chef Trey Christianson, whom Settanni worked with at Tre and who has experience at Vivante in Carmel’s Hotel Carmichael. Monti’s staff arrives early to its modest kitchen, located on Shelby Street in what was most recently Wine Market & Table, logging long hours prepping the food for each night’s six-hour service. Settanni had to school his kitchen on the foundations of Italian culture, which is steeped in a passion for food. “We get everything that we can from Italy,” he says, “or, like our burrata, made in America from Italian milk. We don’t even use any butter, and we don’t have accounts with big food supply companies. It’s freshness and little else.”
To highlight Italy’s vibrant cocktail culture, Settanni handpicked bar manager and sommelier Zoë Hayes, formerly of Ambrosia Hospitality Group, Tinker Street, and Spoke & Steele, to build a menu of amaro-enriched aperitivos, such as a restrained Negroni made all the more interesting with plum vermouth and damson gin. For lighter pours, a short list of spritzes includes the low-ABV Figaro with Brucato Woodlands, a California amaro, plus bitter Ramazzotti liqueur, fig, and ginger. It’s a perfect sipper with any of the menu’s small plates. This includes not only the focaccia and arancini but also a verdant fritto misto plate of shrimp, calamari, and artichokes, as well as meatballs made from beef and Old Major Italian sausage, mortadella, and ricotta salata.
Other highlights include a whole branzino lavished with salsa verde and lemony salmoriglio, as well as the lamb so dear in Settanni’s upbringing, sourced from Kentucky’s Freedom Run Farm and served in perfectly rare chops with a toss of roasted potatoes. Fans of lesser-known Italian recipes will want to get the pasta alla Nerano, the invention of the Amalfi Coast popularized by Stanley Tucci on his CNN series Searching for Italy, while it’s still on the menu.
All of Monti’s painstaking yet unfussy plates are made more enjoyable by the whimsical atmosphere, which Monti owner and Bovaconti founder and designer Minda Balcius oversaw. Rustic exposed brick and stripes of black and white tile applied in an intentionally off-kilter fashion give the dining room a stylishly informal vibe, as though the place has been serving regulars for years.
Desserts are about the only part of the meal that might need some work. A poached pear with zabaione was a bit too al dente and needed a bit more pizzazz, but a slice of moist, citrusy olive oil cake more than hits the mark. In lieu of dessert, there’s always another spritz, a soothing pour of vermouth, or espresso from the bar, even another slice of focaccia to nibble as you linger. And you’ll want to, as much for planning your next visit to Monti as to Italy itself, though you’re awfully close already.
Monti Aperitivo & Cucina
1110 Shelby St.
317-602-2037
Hours
Wed–Sat 5–11 p.m.
Vibe
Cocktail-forward
Italian trattoria
Tasting Notes
Scratch-made Italian dishes, such as hand-rolled semolina pasta
Neighborhood
Fountain Square
Must-Order
Fluffy fresh-baked squares of focaccia; arancini with smoked mozzarella and peas scented with saffron; tagliatelle tossed with golden fried zucchini and a pecorino cream sauce; an arresting whole branzino with salsa verde and a bracing lemon sauce; lightly sweetened olive oil cake
