Mondo Italiano ~ Taos, New Mexico

First visit: Aug 2021

For our first night of our latest trip to New Mexico, we decided to mix it up a bit and go for Italian. We already knew we were going to indulge in New Mexican cuisine for a few meals, and we had the Thai restaurant (Thai Spice in ABQ) circled as well. So how about the old road trip standby of Italian? Taos is a little bit more of a resort-y town, and you can expect all sorts of restaurants to cater to the tourist crowd. The owner of Mondo Italiano comes from New York, and what better place to learn the craft than the Big Apple.

Mrs. RJG and I decided to just keep it simple. A glass of wine each with spaghetti and x, where x = meatballs or sausage. Pardon the programming language. In general, these dishes are rarely cooked properly anymore. Usually the sauce is too tart, sweet, bitter, runny, thick... but not here. Perfectly cooked. The pasta was al dente and the smooth sauce had just the right amount of sweet and tart. The sausage was mild, but tasty. I don't think they make their own, but that's a tough ask. The meatballs were also very good. Not the meatballs of my youth, but no one makes them like that anymore. It's apparently a secret that went down with the Library of Alexandria. I'm older than you thought, huh? The portions are also old school, in that they aren't very large. Honestly we prefer this. For far too long, the meal sizes at restaurants have become ridiculously huge, with prices to match. The red wine can generously be called "table wine", which means in laymen terms that it has a low ABV. Like 11.5, but that's a guess on our part. All meals are also served with bread, which was excellent. We decided to pass on salads. The setting is pleasant with a large open space and plenty of natural light. There is a bar area as well. 

As for that overall cost, the meal was surprisingly affordable, especially in this day and age. And considering it's in Taos. Of course bear in mind that this is the size of meal you would have gotten prior to the 1990s. We're not in Taos enough to come back anytime soon (we like to try new places if we can), but if we are there for any kind of extended stay, certainly Mondo Italiano would be a regular visit.

9/20/21 (new entry)