Chef puts personal twist on traditional Italian entrees

BOULDER — When you think about Boulder’s finest restaurants, many are trattorias: “friendly, informal places where you find very good, fresh food made with local products," said chef Marco Monnanni, co-owner of Bacco Trattoria and Mozzarella Bar. Boulder’s food scene, in fact, practically defines the concept.

But when Monnanni decided to open his own restaurant after working for 10 years in Boulder, he knew he wanted to do something different. He had seen a mozzarella bar in Rome (where he was born, incidentally) a few years ago, but so far only one chef in America — Mario Batali — had done one, and that was in faraway Los Angeles. “I had the idea it would work here," Monnanni said.

Photo by Jonathan Castner - After working in Boulder for 10 years, chef Marco Monnanni became co-owner of Bacco Trattoria and Mozzarella Bar. “To have a restaurant in Boulder is a privilege,” he said. “I traveled the world, went all over the place and when I found Boulder, I found peace.”

And so it does. On any given night, the eatery in North Boulder is jammed with patrons — especially on Mondays, when happy hour goes until closing. Most diners sample from the mozzarella menu before ordering entrees, Monnanni said.

Two of the four types of mozzarella — the fresh cow’s-milk mozz and the fior di latte — are made in-house; the bufala and deliciously gooey burrata are imported every couple of days from Italy. For diners who have had only supermarket mozzarella, these fresh cheeses are likely to be life-changing. Pushing the whole experience over the top are the five condiments that accompany the creamy white delicacies, such as the green tomato marmalade (my and my dining companions’ favorite) and the marinated organic eggplant.

Before we got to our entrees, we also sampled the paper-thin Sardinian flatbread, also known as piano bread or music bread — because of the black marks the intense baking process leaves, resembling musical notes, our server explained. It was a special when we were there, but Monnanni said it’s been so popular that he’s putting it on the regular menu. “I’m the first restaurant in Colorado to (make) this," he said.

Using pizza dough, he puts the bread in a 900-degree oven for five to seven seconds before removing it. “It’s like a balloon — then I cut it in half," before putting on the toppings, he said. During our visit, the garnishes included prosciutto, Haystack Mountain goat cheese and honey. But he’s also prepared it with tomato basil sauce and a poached egg on top.

That sort of inventiveness is what he says defines his cooking philosophy. “I introduce people to new things. I can take a traditional dish from Rome and put my creativity on the dish," without going overboard, he said. “Italian cuisine is a very simple cuisine. A lot of people want to complicate it. I use a minimum of ingredients — that way, you can taste the flavor of the food."

That twist on the traditional shows up in his entrees, as well — such as the homemade tagliatelle with duck ragu or the chicken al mattone, a brick-pressed, grilled poultry dish that he serves with a special olive-oil sauce. His caciucco — a seafood broth usually made with white wine — features a red wine base instead.

It also colors his presentations, which are simple yet elegant. We had to send back a piece of swordfish that seemed to be off, and it was cheerily replaced with a lovely piece of salmon — not just slung on a plate, but artfully surrounded by capers and olives.

Monnanni came by his love of cooking honestly. “My mamma is a costume designer. She always traveled the world, so I grew up with my grandmother. My grandmother (made) everything from scratch — polenta, she used to make the cavatelli, gnocchi — she always was in the kitchen all the time," he said. “When I was 6 years old, I played with pots and pans in the kitchen, and I always loved to cook. When I was 14 years old, I got a job in a restaurant."

After that, Monnani got serious about cooking, studying at a culinary school in Verona for a year, then working in restaurants in Switzerland, Germany, even on Princess cruise ships. The latter was one of his greatest learning experiences, he said. “We used to do every day a different type of cuisine for the guests. I was working 18 hours a day because it was the breakfast till midnight buffet."

Now, he’s happy to be settled in one place. “To have a restaurant in Boulder is a privilege," he said. “I traveled the world, went all over the place and when I found Boulder, I found peace."