A Little Bit About a Lot of Things

As we were driving through Charlestown to get to Monument, I was telling my friend about this great little Italian place my husband and I used to love coming to, but how it had been ages since we had been there. As we pull up, I felt like the place had a familiar feel to it.

Turns out that the old Italian place, Paolo’s has since gone out of business, and Monument took over the space (and the laundromat that used to be next to it). Apparently this place gets pretty packed – but we lucked out and were able to score a high top table in the back.

Move over honey butter, my former love, whipped ricotta and honey is my new beau. They serve it with fresh rolls, and like guacamole, I could eat just this as my dinner.

Sometimes I like to be a grown up, so I order real food. We start with the Kung Pao Brussels Sprouts ($11). I’ve recently taking a shining to Brussels Sprouts, given that you top them with bacon and throw on some delicious sauce. These come topped with szechuan peppercorns, shishito peppers, honey roasted peanuts, and sweet chili sauce. Just the right amount of heat and I was totally digging the crunch from the peanuts, it was something a little different.

Next we had the pork and spring onion dumplings, seared ($12) that also came topped with that sweet chili sauce I loved from the Brussels Sprouts dish.

Everything on the menu sounded so delicious, it was hard to choose. Sorry in advance about the lighting, the restaurant was a little dark and I was THAT person in the back trying to light my dishes quickly before the annoying glares started. So I went with the lobster gnocchi (market price), the dumplings were hand rolled and the Maine lobster was topped with Newborn sauce and pea tendrils. Very light, the pasta and the sauce, and the lobster was sweet. A+ for this entree.

How amazing does the roasted pork chop ($21) look? Brined pork with fresh thyme and butter, bacon braised kale, confit heirloom carrots and crispy snap peas, spring onion and bacon marmalade with a perfectly beautiful sunny side up heirloom egg.

Dessert was a butterscotch pudding that we dove into so quickly I didn’t remember to get a picture beforehand. It had vanilla whipped cream and some espresso brittle, YUM!!!

Service was top notch.

Monument Restaurant and Tavern

251 Main Street, Charlestown, MA

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Tags: brunch, casual dining, dinner, lunch, restaurant, saturday brunch